oliver.obst.eu » Robotics

The First Australasian Workshop on Computation in Cyber-Physical Systems

oliver — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:19:06 +0000

You are invited to submit to and/or attend The First Australasian Workshop on Computation in Cyber-Physical Systems (CompCPS-2010).
We are organising this event here in Sydney, on the 15-16 July, in the Lecture Theatre at the CSIRO Marsfield site.

The name “cyber-physical system” (CPS) was chosen by the NSF and other United States federal agencies for systems that coherently combine computational and physical elements.

The CPS field builds up on knowledge and practical experiences of embedded systems, sensor networks, multi-robot teams, modular/swarm robotics, amorphous computing, programmable materials, evolvable/adaptive hardware, etc., and yet promise to form a unique field.

This Workshop will focus on distributed computation in CPS – the computation processes that integrate multiple data streams, compress and structure high-dimensional information, synchronise the distributed dynamics, adapt to topological changes within networks, optimise multiple sensorimotor loops, etc.

Several prominent invited speakers from Australia, Spain and USA will present different aspects of this rapidly developing research field.

Anyone interested in participating in the workshop is encouraged to submit a two-page extended abstract by May 16, 2010. Notifications will be sent by June 11, 2010 to all those who will be invited to the workshop. All accepted submissions will be allocated an oral presentation slot. See the Workshop Web Page for details.

cyber-physical systems, workshop, australia, call for papers, Sydney, australasia, sensor networks

Inverse Steering Behaviors

oliver — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:41:31 +0000

I was excited to find one of my approaches being used in a commercial product for emergency egress simulation, sold by a company in the US: Back in 2006, Heni, Jan and I published an approach we called Inverse Steering Behaviors in the chapter “Fast, Neat, and Under Control: Arbitrating Between Steering Behaviors” of AI Game Programming Wisdom 3. The technique builds on Steering Behaviors by Craig Reynolds – reactive procedures for physical agents (like robots or simulated creatures) to move in a lifelike way within dynamic environments. Developed in the late 80s, steering behaviors found applications for example in movies like Lord of the Rings. Our Inverse Steering Behaviors improve the arbitration between individual behaviors, which results in less collisions. Back when we did the work, we used the approach in our robotic soccer team for navigation and to dribble around opponents. The agent-based emergency evacuation simulation system sold by Thunderhead Engineering, is called Pathfinder.
There’s a free 30-day trial available, and also short video.

Watch the video.

steering behaviors, inverse steering, robotic soccer, emergency egress simulation

CFP: ICDL 2009, 8-th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning

oliver — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:56:18 +0000

ICDL is a multidisciplinary conference pertaining to all subjects related to
the development and learning processes of natural and artificial systems,
including perceptual, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and all other mental
capabilities that are exhibited by humans, higher animals, and robots. Its
visionary goal is to understand autonomous development in humans and higher
animals in biological, functional, and computational terms, and to enable such
development in artificial systems. ICDL strives to bring together researchers
in neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence, robotics and other
related areas to encourage understanding and cross-fertilization of latest
ideas. ICDL2009 is held in Shanghai, June 5-7, 2009.
For a list of topics of see the CfP at http://www.icdl09.org/.

icdl, conference, cfp, learning, development, robotics

Computers in Sport

oliver — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:01:18 +0000

Finally, the book Computers in Sport (edited by P. Dabnicki and A. Baca) appeared. In this book, my colleagues and I have a chapter “Approaching a Formal Soccer Theory from the Behavior Specification in Robotic Soccer“, where we discuss a top-down approach to modelling soccer knowledge, as it can be found in soccer theory books. The goal is to model soccer strategies and tactics in a way that they are usable for multiple robotic soccer leagues in the RoboCup. We investigate if and how soccer theory can be formalized such that specification and execution are possible. The advantage is clear: theory abstracts from hardware and from specific situations in different leagues. We introduce basic primitives compliant with the terminology known in soccer theory, discuss an example on an abstract level and formalize it. The formalization of soccer presented here is appealing. It goes beyond the behaviour specification of soccer playing robots. For sports science a unified formal soccer theory might help to better understand and to formulate basic concepts in soccer. The possibility of the formalization to develop computer programs, which allow to simulate and to reason about soccer moves, might also take sports science a step further.
Get your copy of the book at your local book shop or at Amazon .

Technorati Tags: book, sport, computers, robocup, robots, theory

Jobs: Open PhD positions on Brain-Computer Interaction at IDIAP

oliver — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:30:00 +0000

The Idiap research institute (http://www.idiap.ch) seeks several PhD
students in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to work in the
team of Prof. José del R. Millán (http://people.epfl.ch/jose.millan).

The doctoral student will work in the framework of European and Swiss
projects related to the development of noninvasive brain-actuated
devices in areas ranging from communication to neuroprostheses, and from
interaction to rehabilitation. Projects aim at developing practical BCI
technology, but will also investigate basic questions such as online
adaptation, cognitive processes, multimodal signal fusion, and
brain-robot interaction.

Interested candidates should apply through the Idiap online recruitment
system http://jobs.idiap.ch and send the requested material.

Technorati Tags: job, phd, positions, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, bci, europe

CFP: 2008 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation

oliver — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:25:15 +0000

The 2008 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA’08) will be held at the Australian National University (ANU) Canberra, during 3-5 December 2008.

We invite participation in the conference by researchers in all areas of robotics, automation and mechatronics. At this year’s conference we will be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of ACRA. For more information, please visit the
conference website. Submission of papers deadline is 5 September 2008.

Technorati Tags: cfp, robotics, conference, australia, robots, canberra

Summer School on Monitoring and Coordination Across Networked Autonomous Entities

oliver — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:13:25 +0000

Heterogeneous networks of sensors and unmanned vehicles open avenues for a class of novel applications. Tasks ranging from environmental monitoring to user support within emergency-response scenarios require fundamental, multidisciplinary research, typically spanning Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering topics.

This summer school sets out to survey the state of the art in several highly important subareas of the above research domains. The lectures and tutorials will be held by top speakers from academia and industry.

August 18-22, 2008, Castle Ebernburg, Germany. For details, see http://www.gkmm.de/summerschool.

Technorati Tags: sensor networks, robotics, monitoring, summer school, call for participation, cfp

RoboCup 2008 on hold

oliver — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:33:25 +0000

The RoboCup 2008 competitions are on hold. In a message to all RoboCuppers, Prof. M. Asada, the president of the RoboCup federation, wrote that “due to the Olympic related issues, the Government in Suzhou, China will not be able to hold RoboCup 2008 IN JULY”.

Participants have been advised not to make any reservations for flights and/or accommodation. At this point in time, it seems to be unclear if RoboCup 2008 will be held at a later stage, or moved to a different place.

Technorati Tags: robocup, china, suspended, 2008, olympics

CFP: Inaugural Issue for International Journal of Social Robotics

oliver — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:50:47 +0000

There is a new international Springer journal on social robotics, covering quite a range of topics in this field. Authors are invited to submit scientific, technological and philosophical advances in social robots, and their interactions and communications with humans, especially innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, as well as novel applications on the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of Social Robotics, distinguished developmental projects, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy, studies on social impact and influence pertaining to, and its interaction and communication with human beings and its social impact on our society.

The submission deadline is the 1st July, 2008. For details, check http://www.editorialmanager.com/soro/.

Technorati Tags: cfp, springer, journal, robotics

Contest: Win a NAO robot

oliver — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:43:58 +0000

“Robotstadium” is an on-line simulated Nao RoboCup competition based on the new Nao RoboCup Standard League. This official RoboCup competition will take place on the Internet from April 15th, 2008 to June 30th, 2008 and the finals will be held in Suzhou, China during the RoboCup event on July 2008. The competition relies on a Webots-based realistic simulation. The competitors will have to program a team of 4 Nao robots using the URBI middleware and the Java programming language. This contest is open to anyone and free of charge. The winning team will receive a real Nao robot and a software package including Webots PRO and URBI for Webots.Registration is open from today April 8th, 2008, till June 30th, 2008 on www.robotstadium.org.

Technorati Tags: RoboCup, competition, Nao, robots