Fwd: IEEE Robotics & Automation Society eNews June 2015

[Piero Torpoco]

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Subject: IEEE Robotics & Automation Society eNews June 2015
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IEEE Robotics & Automation Society e-News MM DD YYYY In This Issue CFP RAM Special Issue on Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation Reminder: CFP RAM Special Issue on Educational Robotics Deadline 15 July IEEE RAS Award Nominations due 1 August SAC Works to Assist Student Chapters through Regional Representatives Registration Deadline Extended for RAS Summer School in Spain June 2015 Issues of T-RO and RAM Available Now Loss for the RA Community - Antal (Tony) K. Bejczy Quick Links RAS Calendar of Events IEEE CASE 2015 IROS 2015 Latest in Robotics and Automation IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - Special Issue Call for Papers The IEEE Robotics & Automation has a special issue on Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation scheduled for publication in September 2016 and is currently calling for submissions with a deadline of 10 November 2015.   Soft robotics and morphological computation are two recent exciting trends in robotics that are expected to provide novel approaches and high-impact applications. The use of soft and deformable materials in robotics system is crucial to deal with uncertain task and environments such as locomotion in rough terrains, grasping and manipulation of unknown and unstructured objects. Soft robots can be characterized by elastic and deformable bodies, a large number of degrees of freedom, the use of unconventional functional materials, and the involvement of intrinsic passive dynamics. All of these properties could provide significant advantages to adaptability of robotic systems if they are treated properly. The research field of morphological computation, on the other hand, explores the concepts and theories of computation in physical systems, where we investigate how motion control processes can be distributed over informational and physical dynamics. It has been previously shown that, by properly designing the dynamics, physical systems such as soft robotic grippers can benefit from simplified control architectures and improved overall performances. The special issue of "Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation" in IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (IEEE-RAM) aims to summarize the state of the art of soft robotics and morphological computation research areas, and to provide a venue for the fruitful collaborations between these two research fields. The desired outcome of this special issue is to develop a general consensus about the scientific goals, perspective and challenges of the two research fields, as well as high impact applications.   Topics We invite review/position papers of topics related to soft robotics, morphological computation and the intersection between the two fields. The topics include but not limited to: · Artificial skin and stretchable sensors and electronics · Bio-inspired or biomimetic robots based on passive dynamics and unconventional materials · Continuum robots, flexible robots, reconfigurable robots · Functional materials, morphologies, and assembly for adaptive robotic systems · Modeling and simulation of soft bodied robots and structures · Natural computation, unconventional computation for adaptive robotic systems · Physical human-robot interactions based on soft technologies · Wearable robotics   Guest Editors: Fumiya Iida (University of Cambridge), Cecilia Laschi (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna), Dario Floreano (EPFL), Robert Wood (University), Surya Nurzaman (Monash University), Andre Rosendo (University of Cambridge)   Complete details are available here. REMINDER 15 July Deadline for Special Issue on Educational Robotics The scope of this special issue is to advance knowledge in the field of robotics applied to formal and informal education. The idea of robots as educational tools goes back to the late 60s, when Seymour Papert formulated the theory on learning called "constructionism", which points out the relevant role played by artefacts in the learning process. Educational robotics broadly refers to the use of robots for educational purposes. There are several ways in which robotics and robots have been employed in educational activities: from object of study to medium that facilitates the transfer of knowledge and even companion, in which the robot performs the role of tutor or peer during the learning process. For more click here.   Important Dates Deadline for paper submission: 15 July 2015  First review: 30 September 2015  Final review: 20 January 2016  Publication: June 2016   RAS Award Nominations Are Due 1 August IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Awards include:   RAS Pioneer Award: which recognizes individuals who by virtue of initiating new areas of research, development or engineering, have had a significant impact on development of the robotics and/or automation fields. The award is intended for people who are in the mid or late portions of their careers IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation: which recognizes outstanding contributions of an individual for his/her exceptional leadership, innovation and dedication that benefit the Robotics and Automation community. The award is named in honor of Professor George Saridis, the Founding President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Council, which later became the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, who exemplified the characteristics sought in nominees for this award. Up to two awards will be given each year.  IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award: which recognizes individuals who have performed outstanding service for the benefit and advancement of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS). RAS Early Career Award: which is bestowed on individuals in the early stage of their career, who have made an identifiable contribution or contributions which have had a major impact on the robotics and/or automation fields. Two awards are presented, the RAS Early Career Award - Academic and the RAS Early Career Award - Industry or Government. IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production: which recognize original innovative research and concepts. Conceptual innovation has been evolved into a commercialized product based on the fundamental robotics and automation technology introduced by the researcher(s). Nominations should cite and describe the original work that has been translated into commercial application as well as the commercial product and its success. The current and future impact of the commercial product is a fundamental element of the merit for selection. IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for Product Innovation: identifies a company which made an innovative commercial product using Robotics and Automation Science and Technology. Up to three awards will be given annually at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). RAS Most Active Technical Committee Award: encourages the efforts among IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Technical Committees and to annually recognize outstanding performance by a Technical Committee (TC). RAS Chapter of the Year Award: encourages IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Chapters to serve their members, and recognize the outstanding performance by an RAS Chapter in serving its members.   The deadline for all the awards is 1 August and complete details can be found here. Student Activities Board Appoints Regional Student Representatives Regions 1-7 Thassyo Pinto Thassyo Pinto is a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at Michigan State University, focusing on robotics research. He is a motivational leader, supporting and developing activities that promote technology awareness for the enhancement of local communities. The IEEE RAS Student Activities Committee (SAC) has recently implemented a new structure to facilitate communication between the RAS SAC and RAS Student Chapters around the world.  Regional Student Representatives, introduced here have been appointed to represent Regions 1-7, 8, 9 and 10.  The RSR will act as ambassadors from the RAS SAC to the student branch chapters and will facilitate activities and communication within their regions. To learn more or get involved, please contact the RSR in your region or email for general questions about the program.   Region 8 Emad Omari Emad Omari is a Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering student at The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan. He is the chairman and the technical manager at IEEE-HU RAS chapter, has a good robotics and automation skills and great organizational skills. Region 9 Victor Carranza Víctor is a 23 years old electronics engineering student, passionate about technology and its application for the benefit of humanity. He wants his country, region and the world to improve through technology, particularly through the exciting fields of robotics. Region 10 Tony K James   Tony is a graduate student (B. Tech, Electrical and Electronics Engineering) at the College of Engineering, Chengannur (Cochin University of Science and Technology). He is the founding member and Ex-Chair of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Chapter at the College of Engineering, Chengannur Kerala, India.   Registration Deadline Extended to 5 July 2015 IEEE RAS Summer School on Experimental Methodology, Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking in Robotics 14-18 September 2015 Intur Bonaire Hotel, Benicassim, Spain   Organized by the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Performance Evaluation & Benchmarking of Robotic and Automation Systems (TC PEBRAS) As the complexity of robotic and intelligent systems grows, it is more and more necessary to adhere to sound experimental approaches and benchmarking procedures. It is of fundamental importance that the next generation learns good experimental, performance evaluation and benchmarking methods as part of their technical education.   The Program will consist of morning lectures and afternoon experimental sessions. There will be panel discussions and complementary activities such as informal discussions and poster presentations. The school will take place in a cosy hotel at Benicassim on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Attendance is limited to 50 students. Pre-registration is necessary by providing a recommendation letter, research statement and vita summary. Accepted applicants will be invited to register. The pre-registration deadline extended to 5 July 2015. The registration fee, covers tuition, course material, accommodation and meals, and is 700 euros for IEEE members.   For further information and pre-registration please visit the website.   The 2015 June Issues of T-RO and RAM Available Now The IEEE Transactions on Robotics, June 2015 Issue is available.   Access it here.          The IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, June 2015 Issue is available.  Access it here.  The RA Community Saddened by the Loss of Antal (Tony) K. Bejczy (16 January 1930 - 25 June 2015) Dear Colleagues,  It is with deep sadness that we inform the robotics community of Antal Bejczy passing, last Thursday. We have known him for decades and he has been a close friend and a professional mentor for many of our generation of robotics scientists. It is a great loss for us and for the whole community. Paolo Fiorini, Hari Nayar, Edwin Kan, Blake Hannaford, Sukhan Lee, Ed Barlow, Susan Sease, Eva Bokor, Wayne Zimmerman. ============ Antal (Tony) K. Bejczy (January 16, 1930 – June 25, 2015) passed away peacefully in Los Angeles (CA), after several months of illness. During his 50-year distinguished career in science and engineering, Tony made unique and fundamental contributions to robot modeling and applications, by developing the first robot dynamic algorithm and by enhancing teleoperation systems with automatic functions and novel human-robot interfaces. Tony received his bachelor's degree from the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, and his master's and doctorate in applied physics in 1963 from Oslo Science University, Norway. After teaching at the Oslo Science University for 3 years, he began working at Caltech in 1966 on a NATO/Fulbright fellowship. He transitioned in 1969 to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where he developed the first dynamic model of robotic manipulators based on the Lagrangian formulation. Prompted by the need of space exploration, he moved to the field of teleoperation, where he developed, and sponsored through NASA Telerobotics program, a number of prototypes aimed at achieving full telepresence in space as well as undersea. He pioneered the development of several innovative robot components such as "smart hands" with "smart sensors" and a novel telerobotic system using a general-purpose force-reflecting hand controller for remote robot arm control, which contributed to the birth of haptics research. During the course of his career at JPL, Tony was awarded 43 NASA innovation awards, 7 US patents, published more than 160 technical papers, and 11 book chapters. He was principal investigator of a flight experiment using a force-moment sensor enhanced "hand" on the space shuttle arm of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1994. He was president of the IEEE Council on Robotics and Automation in 1987 and helped move it to Society status, later serving as a member of the Society's governing board. He received several IEEE awards, including the Pioneer in Robotics and Automation (2004), the Distinguished Service (2007), and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Award (2009) awards, and many NASA awards, including the Exceptional Service Medal and Group Achievement Award (both 1994). An IEEE Life Fellow, Tony retired as a senior research scientist from JPL in 2001. Following his retirement, as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, he continued to give lectures and talks around the world on space and medical applications of robotics, two areas of special interest to him. He took an active interest in robotics education and research in Hungary later in his career. For his efforts, he was awarded the Gabor Baross and György Széchenyi awards in 1997 and 1998 respectively. He was also made an Honorary Professor at the Bánki Donát Polytechnic in Budapest in 1999. In his honor, the Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics was inaugurated in January 2015 at the University of Óbuda in Budapest. Tony was a popular figure at the conferences and meetings he attended. His friendly and unassuming personality generated many close friendships and national and international collaborations. He mentored many young researchers who have become leaders in the robotics community today. Besides his passion for robotics, Tony enjoyed classical music and gardening. He was an avid collector of fine art.  He was also an active member of the Hungarian community in the Los Angeles area. He is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years, Margit (Margo). A Memorial Service will be held at St. Stephen Catholic Church3705 Woodlawn Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011 on July 11 at 12:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, please make donation to saintstephencatholic.org (St. Stephen Catholic Church, 3705 Woodlawn Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011) and/or the Hungarian Scouts Association (c/o Attilla Toth, 32316 Phantom Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275). - email from Paolo Fiorini to the RA community via Robotics-Worldwide Contact Details 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA or call +1 732 562 5832 r...@ieee.org www.ieee-ras.org You are subscribed to IEEE Robotics & Automation Society e-News. To unsubscribe, visit: https://LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=MEMBERS-RAS&A=1

445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854-4141

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Piero Daniel Torpoco

Estudiante de Pregrado - Ingeniería Electrónica

Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería

Presidente RAS IEEE UNI - Chair at RAS IEEE UNI

Lima, Perú

cell phone: +51-999612062

e-mail: pier...@ieee.org