CFP: AIJ special issue on "AI and Robotics"

[Alessandro Saffiotti]

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Artificial Intelligence Journal
Special issue on: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
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The fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics were strongly
connected in the early days of AI, but have since diverged. One of
the early goals of AI consisted of building complete intelligent
robots. Such a goal however has shown to be quite challenging, and AI
and robotics researchers have isolated its many distinct facets and
focused on making progress on each facet separately. With the
advancements in both fields, there is now a renewed interest in
bringing the two disciplines together towards the development of fully
integrated intelligent robots.

Robotics has matured enormously in the last two decades: common
robotic platforms are now available, together with reliable techniques
and shared tools to solve basic perception, navigation, and
manipulation tasks. There is a growing consensus that the next
quantum leap in robotics will come by adding capabilities which lay at
the core of AI research, including task planning, knowledge
representation, learning, and human-robot interaction. Symetrically,
AI researchers are now showing substantial interest in embedding their
algorithmic techniques in robotic platforms that can perceive, reason
and act in real physical environments, including terrestrial, aerial,
and underwater.

This special issue on "AI and Robotics" aims at providing a venue for
the two communities to share their findings and goals and report such
successful integrated efforts. Such a venue is particularly critical
to foster a much needed conceptual integration, cross fertilization,
and dialogue. We hope that this special issue will be the first of a
series of special issues on this theme, with the desired outcome of
building a community of AI and Robotics researchers working across
their traditional boundaries towards an ultimately shared scientific
goal.

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

We solicit original contributions, which report novel and mature
inter-disciplinary work in the integration of AI and Robotics
techniques. Submissions will be peer reviewed for scientific value
and presentation quality, according to the standard criteria of the
Artificial Intelligence journal. Relevance to the topic of this
special issue will be of paramount importance.

We encourage papers which contain a mixture of strong theory and sound
experimental validation on real robotic systems. Results in
simulation should clearly show a path towards encapsulating in a
situated robot. Papers that clearly show the added value of using
existing AI techniques in robotic systems are welcome, as are papers
that push the state of the art of AI techniques in order to make them
applicable to robotic systems. Papers should clearly present
contributions that enable AI and Robotics researchers to build upon
each other's work. We do NOT encourage papers that focus just purely
on robotics or on AI, with little attention to their integration.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Authors should prepare and submit manuscripts according to the Guide
for Authors as published in the Journal website at:

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/artificial-intelligence/

Submission length should not exceed 25 pages in the submission format
(single column). Manuscripts must not have been previously published
or currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

GUEST EDITORS

* Alessandro Saffiotti (contact editor)
AASS Cognitive Robotic Systems Laboratory
University of Orebro, Sweden

* Kanna Rajan
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Moss Landing, CA, USA

* Manuela Veloso
Computer Science Department
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA

SCHEDULE

Jul 31, 2013: Submission deadline
Oct 31, 2013: Notification sent to authors
Dec 6, 2013: Revised versions due
Jan 31, 2014: Camera ready versions due
Spring, 2014: Expected publication date

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Up-to-date information about this Special Issue will be posted on the
web site:

http://aass.oru.se/Agora/AIJ2014/

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[Alessandro Saffiotti]

Please note: the submission deadline is 10 days ahead and firm.

Make sure to select "Special Issue: AI and Robotics" as article type
in the submission process. There will be a 25 page limit on the final
version (about 12,000 words) so initial submissions should not be
longer than that. In LaTeX, you can produce a format similar to the
final one using "\documentclass[final,3p,times]{elsarticle}" in the
preamble. The page count does not include references and figures.

Manuscripts must not have been previously published or currently under

consideration for publication elsewhere. The submission deadline below
is firm.

GUEST EDITORS (contact email: a...@aass.oru.se)

* Alessandro Saffiotti (contact editor)
AASS Cognitive Robotic Systems Laboratory
University of Orebro, Sweden

* Kanna Rajan
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Moss Landing, CA, USA

* Manuela Veloso
Computer Science Department
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA

SCHEDULE

Sep 6, 2013: Submission deadline
Dec 20, 2013: Notification sent to authors

Spring, 2014: Expected publication date

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Up-to-date information about this Special Issue will be posted on the
web site:

http://aass.oru.se/Agora/AIJ2014

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[Alessandro Saffiotti]

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First Örebro Winter School on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
December 9-13, 2013
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SYNOPSIS
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The fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics were strongly

connected in the early days of AI, but have since diverged. Today,
and with few exceptions, they are regarded as separate fields, with
separate communities and scientific traditions. Typical graduate
student curricula concentrate on AI or on robotics, but rarely on
both. Students in one area are seldom aware of the concepts, methods,
and achievements in the other one. This separation is often
exacerbated by the barriers among traditional academic disciplines.

Despite this separation, many now feel that the two fields ought to be
brought together towards the development of fully integrated
intelligent robots. In particular, there is a growing consensus in
the robotics community that the next quantum leap in robotics will
come by incorporating capabilities which lay at the core of AI, like
knowledge representation and reasoning, action planning, learning and
adaptation, and human-robot interaction.

This Winter School aims at filling this educational gap, and creating
the next generation of researchers who will realize integrated
intelligent robots. These researchers should be familiar with the
methods in the two fields, and should be able to work across their
traditional boundaries. They should combine theoretical insights from
both areas with practical understanding of physical robotic systems.
As an example, one such researcher might push the state of the art in
semantic maps in robotics by leveraging the rich tradition on
knowledge representation in AI.

This Winter School will provide graduate students in AI and in
Robotics a unique training and human experience. Students will be
exposed to technologies at the forefront of research in AI and in
Robotics, and will apply some of these through exercises on real
robots. They will have the opportunity to discuss their research work
with top level scholars as well as other students, and to extend their
networks.

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FORMAT
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The School will run for one week, Monday to Friday, December 9-13, and
will offer a mixture of traditional lectures and innovative features,
including:

o Students will be given an opportunity to present their experience
and research topic to everyone.

o There will be two day-long sessions on specific topics, complemented
by hands-on exercises on real robots.

o There will be a final round table with a selection of international
scientists, open to the students, to discuss the integration of AI
and Robotics.

Students will be assigned preparatory work to be done before the
school. This will ensure that all students are sufficiently familiar
with basic tools (e.g., ROS, the Robot Operating System) and theories
needed to fully leverage lectures and the exercises. Assignments will
be made in groups that mix students from different backgrounds.

Ample room will be provided during the School for group discussions,
interactions between students and teachers, and social activities.

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TOPICS
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o Automated Constraint-based Planning and Execution for the Real World
Full day session with hands-on exercises
Teachers:
- Dr Kanna Rajan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Inst (MBARI), California
- Dr Frederic Py, MBARI, California
- Dr Federico Pecora, University of Orebro, Sweden

o Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Robotics
Full day session with hands-on exercises
Teachers:
- Prof Daniele Nardi, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy
- Dr Guglielmo Gemignani, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy

o Robots and the Internet
Teacher: Dr Moritz Tenorth, University of Bremen, Germany

o Towards Focused Reasoning in Robotics
Teacher: Prof Joachim Hertzberg, University of Osnabruck, Germany

o Robots with Humans
Teacher: Dr Rachid Alami, LAAS/CNRS Toulouse, France

o Artificial Cognition and Robotics
Teacher: Prof David Vernon, University of Skovde, Sweden

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ATTENDANCE AND APPLICATIONS
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PhD students from any institution in any part of the world can apply
to the School. Applications by motivated early-stage postdocs are
also welcome. Applicants are not expected to have any specific
previous experience in the above topics, but they are expected to have
a strong background in robotics or in artificial intelligence, along
with the curiosity and drive in exploring the integration between the
two. Applications by women and minorities are strongly encouraged.

The total number of participants is limited to 30. To apply for
admission, send the following material as a single ZIP file:

- a full CV, specifying the start date of the PhD
- a 1/2 page description of the PhD thesis topic
- a recommendation letter by the PhD advisor
- a transcript of records of the BSc and MSc courses
- a motivation letter: what do you expect to gain from the school,
and what experience you will bring to the school, not to exceed 1 page

Applications must be received by October 25, 2013. Late applications
will not be processed. Admission decisions will be mailed on November
4, 2013. Quality and motivation of the applicant will be the main
selection criteria; field, gender, and geographical balance will be
considered all other things being equal.

There is no registration fee. Admitted students will be offered
accommodation in shared rooms, course material, lunches and social
dinner. All other costs, including transportation, will need to be
covered by the student or her/his sponsor

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SPONSORSHIP
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This School is fully supported by Orebro University, Sweden, through a
special strategic grant.

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ORGANIZATION
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o Chair:
Alessandro Saffiotti, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden

o Advisory committee:
Joachim Hertzberg, University of Osnabruck, Germany
Daniele Nardi, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy
Kanna Rajan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, California

o Secretariat:
Monica Wettler, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden

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IMPORTANT DATES
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Oct 25, 2013: Deadline for applying to the school (strict)
Nov 4, 2013: Admission decisions mailed
Dec 9, 2013: School starts
Dec 14, 2013: School ends

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SCHOOL HOMEPAGE
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http://aass.oru.se/Agora/Lucia2013/

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[Alessandro Saffiotti]

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The AAAI-14 Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
Quebec Convention Centre, Quebec, Canada -- July 27-28, 2014
http://aass.oru.se/Agora/AIRob2014/
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OBJECTIVES

One of the early goals of AI consisted of building complete intelligent

robots. This goal has shown to be quite challenging, and AI and
Robotics researchers have isolated its many facets and focused on making
progress on each facet separately. Both AI and Robotics have matured
enormously since those days, and today there is a growing interest in
getting the two fields back together. Many in Robotics believe that the
next quantum leap will come by adding capabilities which lie at the core
of AI research, like task planning, knowledge representation, learning,
and natural interaction. Symmetrically, AI researchers show interest in
embedding their techniques in platforms that can perceive, reason and
act in real, dynamic physical environments.

Despite this mutual interest, there is no mainstream venue where the AI
and Robotics communities can meet. Researchers in either field are thus
often unaware of the methodology, the successes and the limitations in
the other one. The goal of this workshop is to contribute to the
creation of a joint community of AI and Robotics researchers that can
fill this gap.

TOPICS

The workshop will focus on inter-disciplinary works in the integration
of AI and Robotics, with an emphasis toward the development of complete
intelligent robots. The workshop will discuss questions like: (a) What
are the methods and tools that can be transferred between the two
fields? (b) What are the new research questions that must be addressed
to enable this transfer? (c) What new application opportunities will be
created? (d) What is the scientific profile needed to make progress in
this combined field? (e) How can we foster the creation and
consolidation of a truly integrated community?

FORMAT

The workshop will consist of invited talks, presentations of accepted
contributions, and an open-floor discussion. In a true workshop spirit,
ample room will be left for both spontaneous and guided discussions.
The latter will be guided by a set of questions similar to (a-e) above,
and provided to the presenters before the workshop.

SUBMISSIONS

We invite papers describing work on the above topics. Papers should
enable AI and Robotics researchers to build upon each other's work, and
should be relevant to the questions above. Papers only focusing on AI
or on Robotics, with little attention to their integration, are not
suitable for this workhop.

Contributions can be full-length papers (up to 6 pages in AAAI format)
or work-in-progress papers (2 pages). They should be submitted in PDF
to https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=airob2014. All papers
will be peer reviewed.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Alessandro Saffiotti, University of Orebro, Sweden (chair)
Nick Hawes, University of Birmingham, UK
George Konidaris, MIT CSAIL, Cambridge MA, USA

Moritz Tenorth, University of Bremen, Germany

IMPORTANT DATES

* Submission deadline: April 10, 2014
* Notification date: May 1, 2014
* Camera-ready deadline: May 15, 2014
* Workshop: July 27-28, 2014

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