IEEE Robotics and Automation Society AdCom Meeting Minutes Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Friday, October 31, 2003

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Welcome and introduction to the meeting

The meeting was called to order by President Paolo Dario at 9:00 am at Bally's Hotel, Las Vegas.

1.2 Approval of the Agenda and Minutes of September 19, 2003 Mtg

A motion to accept the agenda and approve the minutes of the previous September 19, 2003 AdCom meeting without any changes was then passed by the AdCom.

1.3. Introductory address by Division X Director

Division X Director Henrique Ruspini gave a brief report of the general situation of IEEE and of the status of Division X. He also informed the AdCom about this working document which is going to be further discussed at IEEE TAB level.

1.4. Report on Status of Society and Summary of 2-year term achievements

President Paolo Dario distributed this written report, providing a summary on the status of the Society and of the main achievements in the 2-year term.

1.4.1 Reports on business conducted outside of meetings

No business was conducted outside the AdCom meetings after last meeting in Taipei.

PART 2 ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES Session I

2.1 Constitution and Bylaws Committee Report

2.1.1 Proposed amendments to Constitution and Bylaws - discussion

The Chair, Paolo Dario, presented this report that included the exact wording of the proposed amendments to the RAS Constitution & Bylaws. Exact wording of proposed amendments was also distributed to all AdCom members in these two written reports: proposed amendments to the RAS Constitution and proposed amendments to the RAS Bylaws. After an extensive discussion some modifications of the proposed amendments to the RAS Bylaws were requested by AdCom members. The President asked the Secretary to edit this new release of the proposed amendments to the RAS Bylaws and to start the formal procedure for approval of such amendments.

2.2 Ad Hoc Nominations and Awards Procedure Committee Report

Steve Hsia, Chair of the Nominations Committee and of the IEEE RAS TFA Committee, summarized next IEEE and Society awards. He also gave this brief report on the work being carried out for designing a medal for the Robotics & Automation IEEE Field Award and described the current procedures for nominations and elections.

Paolo Dario, Chair of the Ad Hoc Nominations and Award Procedure Committee, presented this report and distributed to all AdCom members this draft version of the new proposed RAS Standing Rules on Nominations and Awards.

After an extensive discussion, a motion to approve this final version of the proposed RAS Standing Rules on Nominations and Awards was moved by the President. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the AdCom.

PART 3 INTERNAL ACTIVITIES Session I

3.1. TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES

VP Bruno Siciliano presented this report on the technical committees activities, including a summary of the 2-year term achievements.

3.2. FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

VP Dave Orin presented this report including a summary of the 2-year term achievements.

3.3. PUBLICATION ACTIVITIES

3.3.1. Vice President for Publications Report

Dick Volz presented this report on publications activities including a summary of the 2-year term achievements.

3.3.2. T-ASE Advisory Committee Chair Report

This report was given by Kenneth Goldberg, Chair of the T-ASE Advisory Committee.

3.3.3. T-ASE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering EIC Report

The Editor in Chief of the T-ASE, Peter Luh, gave this report.

3.3.4. T-RA/T-RO Transactions EIC Report

Alessandro De Luca, Editor in Chief of the T-RA, now T-RO, presented this report.

3.3.5. RAS Magazine EIC Report

The Editor in Chief of the Robotics and Automation Magazine Kimon Valavanis presented this report.

3.4. CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES

3.4.1. VP for Conferences Report

Vice-President Norman Caplan gave a short introduction and presided over the presentations of the reports on different conferences and Conference Board activities.

3.4.2. 2003 ICRA Conference

ICRA2003 General Chair Ren Luo and Program Chair Li-Chen Fu presented a summarizing report on the successful results of ICRA 2003. A hard copy was distributed to participants.

3.4.3. 2004 ICRA Conference

The Program Chair, Kimon Valavanis, presented this report including the latest updates on ICRA 2004.

3.4.4. Other conference reports and 3.4.5. Technical co-sponsored conferences

Shigeki Sugano, member of the Conference Activities Board, presented a report on sponsored, co-sponsored and technically co-sponsored conferences and distributed hard copies of this list of approved conferences.

PART 4 ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES Session II

4.1Nominations Standing Committee Chair Report

Steve Hsia, chair of the Nominations Standing Committee and of the Advisory Committee, presented this report on the adopted procedure and the overall list of candidate nominations for the different offices.

4.2 Elections of the President-Elect

Steve Hsia illustrated in detail the procedure for the elections of the President-Elect and the five Vice-President and presided the overall process, by also introducing candidates. A two-member Tally Committee was designated to count the ballots, composed by Bruno Siciliano and Kimon Valavanis.

4.2.1Nominations for the President-Elect

Steve Hsia briefly introduced the two candidates: Dick Volz and Oussama Khatib

4.2.2Statements by each President-elect candidate (3 minutes each + Q&A)

After the introduction, each candidate expressed his statement and answered to questions from the voting members, for 5 minutes in total.

4.2.3Closed discussion

A discussion was held among participant without the candidates, who were asked to leave the room.

4.2.4Voting for President-Elect (secret ballot)

Each voting member was distributed a ballot paper sheet on which he/she was asked to indicate a preference. The ballots were then collected for counting by the Tally Committee.

Richard A. Volz was elected as RAS President-Elect.

4.3Elections of the five Vice-Presidents

4.3.1Nominations for VPs

Similarly to the case of the election of the President-Elect, Steve Hsia presided the procedure for the election of the five VPs. He briefly introduced candidates for each position.

4.3.2Statements by each Vice-President

Each candidate expressed his statement and answered to questions from the voting members, for 5 minutes in total.

4.3.3Closed discussion

A discussion was held among participant without the candidates, who were asked to leave the room.

4.3.4Voting for VPs

Each voting member expressed his/her preference on purposive ballot paper sheets, which were then counted by the same Tally Committee. The results of these elections are the following:

VP for Technical Activities: Roland Siegwart

VP for Publications Activities: Bill Hamel

VP for Conferences Activities: T. J. Tarn

VP for Member Activities: Makoto Kaneko

VP for Finance Activities: Tony Maciejewski

PART 5 INTERNAL ACTIVITIES Session II

5.1. MEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES

5.1.1. Vice President for Member Activities Report,

5.1.2. Education Activities Committee Report

5.1.3. International Activities Committee Report

Paolo Fiorini, Chair of the Education Committee, and Kazuhiro Kosuge, Chair of the International Affairs Committee, gave an overall report on member, education and International activities.

5.2. President-Elect Report

5.2.1. President-Elect activities Report & LRPC Report on RAS Business Model

President-Elect Kazuo Tanie presented this report of his activities and of the activities of the Long Range Planning Committee, including a description of the proposed business model for the RAS. He also presented a preliminary feasibility study on the proposal moved by the Membership and Admission Committee for increasing RAS membership. Prof. Tanie asked to the incumbent President Paolo Dario to establish an Ad-Hoc Committee for implementing this proposal by next ICRA2004. The President, Paolo Dario, declared his intent to agree on this request and promote such a Committee.

5.2. RAS Secretary Report

Eugenio Guglielmelli, RAS Secretary, presented this report.

PART 6 NEW BUSINESS

6.1. NEW ISSUES

No new issues were raised.

6.2. NEXT ADCOM MEETING AND ADJOURN

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM to convene next on Saturday, May 1^st, 12:00 AM to 6:00 PM, in New Orleans, LA (USA), in conjunction