Brooks created subsumption, an architecture for designing layered real-time control of complex robotic systems that has enabled a wide range of robotic innovations, including the human-robotic interaction exemplified by the Roomba vacuum cleaner.

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) is most pleased to announce that RAS Member Rodney Brooks has been selected as the recipient of the prestigious 2023 IEEE Founders Medal. Professor Brooks was selected “for leadership in research and commercialization of autonomous robotics, including mobile, humanoid, service and manufacturing robots.”

Rodney Brooks

Rodney Brooks is a robotics visionary. Early on, he saw the future of robotics, then found ways to create that future and bring robots to everyday life. The impact of his work is found everywhere, from the research lab to the consumer market, from the living room to the planet Mars. Brooks realized in the 1980s that robots were large, slow, expensive, and unreliable. A large part of the problem was robot control. Traditional control architecture was centered on the sense, think, act loop. A typical robot used sensors to make a model of the world, reasoned about the model, then took action. It wasn’t uncommon for a robot to spend 5 minutes deciding how to move 5 centimeters. So Brooks developed a solution: subsumption architecture, a groundbreaking behavior-based system that enabled mobile robotics. In addition to his distinguished research career, Brooks is also an entrepreneur, founder of three trail-blazing companies: Rethink Robotics, Robust AI, and iRobot (the first successful service robotics company). One early iRobot product, Grendel, led directly to NASA’s Sojourner Mars rover. iRobot’s groundbreaking PackBot reconnaissance and disposal robot changed how bomb disposal is conducted. It was the most widely adopted man-portable robot deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving thousands of lives. It even helped with the immediate aftermath of the tsunami at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. On the domestic front, iRobot’s Roomba is the top-selling vacuum cleaner in the U.S. and has forever changed how people think about robots. Recently, Brooks has focused on building robots for manufacturing. His Baxter and Sawyer industrial robots are safe, can learn by humans showing them how to do tasks, and can cope with variations on the assembly line unlike any other industrial robot. Technology has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past 20 years. The leading edge of this transformation has been in artificial intelligence and robotics, fueled by the introduction of mobile robotics and advances in machine learning. Brooks has been a visionary, pioneer, and leader in this space.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Brooks is the Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

About the IEEE Founders Medal

Sponsored by the IEEE Richard and Mary Jo Stanley Memorial Fund of the Foundation, the IEEE Founders Medal honors “outstanding contributions in the leadership, planning, and administration of affairs of great value to the electrical and electronics engineering profession.” More information on the Medal and its history can be found here; a list of past winners is available here.

We are pleased to announce that Volume 39, Issue 1 of IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) is now available on IEEE Xplore. Click here for the table of contents and check out the issue now on Xplore!

Intelligent Automation Systems, such as automated storage and retrieval systems, self-driving vehicles, various types of autonomous robots, and unmanned workshop plants, act independently of direct human supervision. Their impact on society and human life will be significant. These automation systems are safety-critical, complex, and powerful with a higher-level functionality. Safety and reliability are key challenges and can become costly and difficult to achieve.

The objective of this Special Issue is to compile recent research and development efforts contributing to advances in safety-critical control for autonomous intelligent systems.

Please see the flyer for more details.

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Paper submission deadline: 1 August 2023
  • Tentative publication date: 30 December 2023

mult soc discount

As an IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) member, you can take advantage of the Multiple Society Discount Program. This program allows you to connect across several IEEE Societies to expand your expert network and collaborate on the latest cutting-edge technical research, policy, and innovation at a discount when you become a member or renew your membership of two or more participating IEEE Societies.

If you’re already a member of two or more participating IEEE Societies, the discount will automatically be applied when you renew. If you’ve always been interested in a complementary IEEE Society, this program provides you with the opportunity to join at a discounted rate.

IEEE Societies that may complement your IEEE RAS membership include:

  • IEEE Computer Society
  • IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society
  • IEEE Computational Intelligence Society

We are pleased to announce that paper submissions are now open for the 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), which will be held October 1–5, 2023 at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

The theme of IROS 2023 is The Next Generation of Robotics; the conference thus aims to highlight the contributions of younger researchers and to help accelerate the future contributions of all those just entering the field.

Prospective authors are invited to submit high-quality papers representing original work. Submissions spanning all areas of intelligent robots and applications are welcome.

Please note that the paper submission deadline is 1 March 2023.

Check out the flyer for more details.

The 40th IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2023) is coming to London! The conference takes place from 29 May–2 June 2023 at the iconic ExCeL London.

ICRA is the flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society; it brings together the world's top researchers and leading companies to share ideas and advances in robotics and automation. The conference will include plenary sessions, contributed paper sessions, workshops and tutorial sessions, forums, videos, exhibitions, and robot competitions. Click here for the overview of the conference program.

Register now here; please note that the deadline for discounted early bird registration is 1 April 2023.

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • RAS Travel Grants Applications Open: 31 January 2023
  • Registration Site Open: 1 February 2023
  • Final submission of papers open (PaperPlaza): 8 February 2023
  • Application for RAS Travel Grants Closes: 22 February 2023
  • Author Registration Deadline: March 2023
  • Deadline for final submission of papers (PaperPlaza): March 2023
  • Submission of Final Video & Graphical Abstract (InfoVaya): 20 March 2023
  • Early Bird Registration deadline: April 2023
  • Deadline for Final Video and Graphical Abstract Submission: 11 April 2023

ICRA Save the Date Banner

We are pleased to announce that Volume 8, Issue 3 of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) is now available on IEEE Xplore. Check out the issue now!

The purpose of the IEEE/IFR Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA) Award is to highlight and honor the achievements of the inventors who value creating ideas and entrepreneurs who propel those ideas into world-class products. In a joint event, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) will therefore recognize and honor outstanding personal achievements of entrepreneurs in the commercialization of innovative robotic and automation technology.

These achievements will be recognized in a specially organized IEEE/IFR Joint Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation, which is being held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) that will take place from 29 May–2 June 2023 in London, UK.

The selected finalists will have the opportunity to present their story of the genesis of a successful innovative product in robotics and automation from its very inception to the final state of commercialization in a series of plenary lectures. The ultimate winner will be chosen by an evaluation board consisting of distinguished individuals from industry and academia. A certificate will be awarded to each finalist, and the winner will receive a prestigious plaque as well as a US$ 2,000 prize.


Check out our handout for more details on the award and how to apply. Please note that applications are due by February 28, 2023; they may be submitted either to secretariat@ifr.org or to ras@ieee.org.

The IEEE RAS Women in Engineering Committee (WiE) wants to support the community and people interested in robotics and automation research by introducing new travel support that encourages Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA). 

The main goal of IDEA is to further support our community by providing the opportunity to attend one of RAS’s major flagship conferences (e.g., ICRA, CASE, or IROS). This new IDEA travel support will focus on supporting: 

  • Secondary/undergraduate/graduate students interested in robotics or automation topics
  • Underrepresented groups
  • People with disabilities
  • People who have stepped down from the field for some time and want to return (e.g., due to illness or parental leave)

Our first call for applications will open on 27 January with the following schedule:

  • Deadline to submit applications: 15 Feb 2023
  • Decisions: 17 March 2023

To apply for IDEA travel support, please follow the steps in the Application Form

The IDEA committee will select three applicants to attend the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in London from 29 May–2 June 2023.

Please read the full call for applications at this linkhttps://www.ieee-ras.org/women-in-engineering/idea-travel-support.

Each year, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) offers financial support for its Technical Education Program (TEP), also known as its “Seasonal Schools” program. The RAS TEP program is jointly run by the RAS Educational Activities Committee (EAC) and the RAS Technical Activities Board (TAB). The program sponsors schools around the world, to be held in person, virtually, or in a hybrid format.

The submission form can be found here. More information can be found on this handout; reach out to ras@ieee.org with questions.

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Submission deadline: 15 April 2023
  • Notification: 15 June 2023

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) membership will elect six new members of the Administrative Committee (AdCom) in 2023, each to serve a three-year term beginning 1 January 2024. The AdCom is the governing body of the Society.

Responsibilities of AdCom Members

AdCom members must attend two formal meetings each year, one in conjunction with ICRA and the other usually in October/November in conjunction with another major conference. Each AdCom member is expected to serve on at least two boards and/or committees of the Society.

Eligibility

Any higher-grade member of the Society is eligible to serve and all higher-grade members plus graduate students may nominate candidates and vote.

To Nominate a Candidate

To nominate a candidate, whether someone else or yourself, contact the Society at ras@ieee.org by 1 May 2023.

Petition Candidates

Candidates may also petition to be on the ballot. All persons who, by the deadline, submit petitions with valid signatures and IEEE member numbers of at least 2% of the previous year-end voting membership will be placed on the ballot. Only original signatures on paper or electronic signatures submitted through the RAS petition website will be accepted. Faxed or emailed signatures are NOT acceptable. Contact the Society at ras@ieee.org to obtain a paper petition form or to set up an electronic petition.

Note: Completed petitions must be received by 1 May 2023 to be placed on the ballot.

Selection of Final Ballot

The Nominations Committee will consider all nominations and petitions and select the candidates to be placed on the ballot.

We are pleased to announce that Volume 20, Issue 1 of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) is now available on IEEE Xplore. Click here for the table of contents and check out the issue now on Xplore!

The RAS Member Activities Board (MAB) awards a limited number of Chapter Initiative Grants to local RAS Chapters for professional development, educational outreach, and other programs. Grant proposals will be reviewed by the MAB at its meeting in late May 2023 and funds up to USD $2,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis. The deadline for proposals is 15 April 2023. Click here for submission details.

We invite you to submit short abstracts and papers to the HRI 2023 Workshop on Robots for Learning, to be held in Stockholm, Sweden on 13 March 2023. This year’s theme is A Look from Stakeholders’ Perspective.

Talking about “HRI for all” raises the importance of reflecting on how to promote inclusion for every type of user and carefully consider the different layers of people potentially impacted by such systems. The 7th edition of R4L focuses on the issues that HRI experiments in educational environments may cause to stakeholders and how to better bring stakeholders' points of view into the loop. The goal of the workshop is to discuss and propose guidelines for good practices regarding how to promote the inclusion of stakeholders, especially teachers, in educational HRI activities.

R4L 2023 invites contributions on topics including but not limited to the following:

  • Educational robots for adults, children and people with special needs
  • Implementing robots into school curricula
  • Measuring educational and qualitative outcomes like learning gain, relationships, etc.
  • Reflections on best practices for working with stakeholders
  • Stakeholders’ perspectives
  • Robots for learning that focus on a variety of stakeholders
  • Robots for inclusion
  • Ethnography for robots in education

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • For notification by January 20, 2023, please submit your abstract or paper by 16 January 2023
  • Final deadline for submissions: 23 February 2023
  • Notification of acceptance: 29 February 2023
  • Camera-ready deadline: 3 March 2023
  • Workshop registration deadline: 8 March 2023
  • Workshop date: 13 March 2023

Other Information

The 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2023) will be held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 28 to 31 August 2023. This conference is an annual event where state-of-the-art results, the latest developments, and future perspectives that relate to robot and human interactive communication are presented and discussed.

The theme of the IEEE RO-MAN 2023 is Design a New Bridge for H-R-I, where “H” stands for Human Health, Happiness and Hope, “R” for Robotic Recovery and Reconnection, and “I” for Intelligent Interface and Interaction. RO-MAN 2023 will be a hybrid conference. We look forward to your active interest and participation, whether in-person or online. For more information, check out the handout and conference website.

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Special Session proposal submission deadline: 13 January 2023
    • Notification of acceptance: 27 January 2023
  • Initial paper submission deadline: 17 March 2023
    • Notification of acceptance: 26 May 2023
    • Camera-ready deadline: 30 June 2023
  • Workshop/tutorial proposal submission deadline: 3 February 2023
    • Notification of acceptance: 3 March 2023
    • Website link for workshop/tutorial due: 28 April 2023

Submissions are now open for the 3rd edition of the Lifelong Learning and Personalization in Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction (LEAP-HRI) workshop, which will be held as part of the 18th annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2023), in Stockholm, Sweden and virtually. The workshop will take place 14:00–18:00 CET on 13 March 2023.

This year’s LEAP-HRI workshop aims to gather and present interdisciplinary insights from a variety of fields, such as education, rehabilitation, elderly care, service and companion robots, for lifelong robot learning and adaptation to users, context, environment, and activities in long-term interactions. The workshop aims to promote a common ground among the relevant scientific communities through invited talks and in-depth discussions via paper presentations, break-out groups, and a scientific debate. In line with the HRI 2023 conference theme, HRI for All, our workshop theme is Adaptivity for All, and is meant to encourage HRI theories, methods, designs, and studies for lifelong learning, personalization, and adaptation that aim to promote inclusion and diversity in HRI.

Check out the website for more information. Manuscripts can be submitted here. Please reach out to hatice.gunes@cl.cam.ac.uk with questions related to submissions.

Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Early Bird submission deadline: 22 January 2023
  • Early Bird notification of acceptance: 31 January 2023
  • General submission deadline: 19 February 2023
  • General notification of acceptance: 28 February 2023
  • Camera-ready deadline: 9 March 2023

Congratulations and welcome to the following newly organized RAS Chapters:

Region 8

United Arab Emirates

  • American University of Sharjah, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Region 9

Ecuador

  • Universidad Tecnica de Cotopaxi, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Chile

  • Universidad Andres Bello, Robotics and Automation, Computational Intelligence and Computer Societies Student Branch Chapter

Mexico

  • Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Region 10

India

  • Chalapathi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
  • Indian Institute of Technology-Indore, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
  • KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
  • Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
  • Santhiram Engineering College, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
  • Sreenidhi Institute of Science & Technology, Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Thanks to all for participating in the 2023 AdCom Election. The votes have now been counted, and the following candidates have been elected to three-year terms (1 January 2023–31 Dec 2025):

Copy of Shaeffer 2019 07 09 9

Alin Albu-Schaeffer (GEO Area 2 Representative)

Sabine Hauert small

Sabine Hauert (At-Large Representative)

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Yasuhisa Hirata (At-Large Representative)

Copy of lk 20

Lydia E. Kavraki (GEO Area 1 Representative)

Copy of Eiichi2022

Eiichi Yoshida (GEO Area 3 Representative)

Copy of RAS photo Hong Zhang

Hong Zhang (GEO Area 3 Representative)

RAS extends our hearty congratulations to the incoming AdCom class and our sincerest thanks to all candidates for their willingness to serve.

This Special Session will be held at the 19th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2023), to be held in Berlin, Germany from 5–7 June 2023.

One of the growing trends in social robotics is their use as socially assistive agents, i.e., agents that assist via social interaction. Application areas of such agents include the after-care management of patients coming out of neurological disorders such as depression, or the assistance to the elderly who might be dealing with loneliness, cognitive decline, or physical disability. When considering human health professionals, regardless of the assistive goal pursued, real-time awareness of the patient’s physical and psychological status seems to always play a key role in the caregiver’s decision-making process.

This session aims to bring together sociological and technical perspectives and concerns to advance research in socio-empathic assistive agents and foster this community’s interdisciplinarity.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Perception and modeling human behaviors to inform interventions
  • Methods and strategies for empathic decision making 
  • User-driven behavior design 
  • Participatory design approach for socio-empathic agents
  • Reflection on values and norms in socio-technical contexts

Key Dates and Deadlines: 

Initial Paper Submission Deadline: 31 January 2023

Notification of Paper Acceptance Notification: 1 April 2023

Final Paper Submission Deadline: 30 April 2023

Organizers:

Jauwairia Nasir, jauwairia.nasir@epfl.ch, EPFL/University of Augsburg

Barbara Bruno, barbara.bruno@epfl.ch, EPFL

Linda Nierling, linda.nierling@kit.edu, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

If you have any questions, please contact jauwairia.nasir@epfl.ch.

Competitions provide a unique venue for state-of-the-art technical demonstrations from research labs, academia, and industry. Conference attendees and media representatives will have the opportunity to experience live demonstrations of robotic technology via these competitions. We invite proposals for competitions that span the range of robotics disciplines. This is open to both well-established competitions and new competitions. 

Proposal Content 

Competition organizers should submit their proposal as a PDF by email to iros2023competitions@ieee.org with the following information:

  • Title of the competition
  • Organizers of the competition, including previous experience organizing similar activities
  • A brief description of the competition, including the task to be evaluated and its connection to research topics covered at IROS
  • Draft rules and means of assessment
  • Draft time schedule for competition day(s)
  • Award planning, including financials
  • A list of potential participants
  • Facilities request, including space (area and minimum height), power, telecommunications, human resources, and other infrastructure

Please indicate if you are proposing a new competition; certain content can be reduced/amended accordingly.

Key Dates and Deadlines

Proposal Deadline: January 15, 2023

Notification: February 1, 2023

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Competitions Chair, Josie Hughes, at iros2023competitions@ieee.org.

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