1st PhD Symposium on Robotic Computing

at IEEE IRC 2019

The PhD Symposium on Robotic Computing is meant for PhD students working in the fields of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics. The intent of the PhD Symposium is to bring together PhD students who have their research focus within the combination of these fields and to offer them the opportunity to present their work, meet with peers and experienced researchers, obtain feedback, and learn from each other’s experiences.

The main goal is to provide each PhD student with concrete feedback and advice that are directly relevant to their research. Each participant will also take part in the review process for the other participants.

The 1st PhD symposium on Robotic Computing is based on a range of learning activities:

1. Learn by writing:
Participants need to write a short paper of max. 4 pages about their PhD research and ideas. The paper should present the planned research in a concise and comprehensive way.
2. Learn by constructive criticism:
Established researchers from the PhD Symposium Advisory Committee will provide constructive feedback to the submitted papers by means of a non-adversarial review process.
3. Learn by reviewing other papers:
Participants are part of the review process and will each be writing two reviews. Furthermore, they are involved in the (supervised) decision process (i.e., the acceptance of submissions).
4. Learn by exchange of ideas:
Doing good research goes beyond writing a good paper – it includes networking and perspectives on a career in research. Besides the presentations, coffee breaks and discussions will be used to exchange ideas and ask questions about all aspects of pursuing a PhD and a research career in general.
5. Learn by presenting:
Accepted contributions will be presented at the PhD Symposium to other PhD students and established researchers from the PhD Symposium Advisory Committee.

Furthermore, there will be a keynote from Prof. Bruno Siciliano sharing personal insights on his experiences and time as a PhD student (details below).

Topics of Interest

The 1st PhD Symposium on Robotic Computing has the same topics as its hosting conference (IEEE IRC 2019). Hence, it invites PhD students to submit papers addressing the synergies between Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics in all applications:

Topics related to Computer Science

• Formal methods for analysis and design
• Software architectures
• Middleware infrastructures
• Model-driven engineering
• Component-based engineering
• Software product line engineering
• Data, ontology, and knowledge engineering
• Autonomic computing
• Service oriented computing
• Cloud computing
• Multimedia computing
• Internet of Things
• Virtual reality
• Computer security

Topics related to Artificial Intelligence

• Natural language understanding
• Machine learning
• Reasoning
• Multi agent system
• Context and intention awareness
• Affective computing
• Conversational computing
• Planning
• Problem solving
• Semantic computing
• Knowledge representation
• Human computer interaction

Topics related to Robotics

• RAMS abilities of robotic systems
• Hardware modeling and abstraction
• Resource awareness
• Sensor fusion, integration
• Place recognition, localization
• Object recognition, tracking
• Scene interpretation
• Robot cognition
• Manipulation, grasping
• Robot kinematics, dynamics
• Motion planning, control
• Navigation
• Task planning, monitoring
• Human-robot Interaction
• Robot simulation
• Multi-robot systems

Invited Keynote speaker

We are very proud that the keynote will be held by
Prof. Bruno Siciliano (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy)

He will be sharing personal insights on his experiences and time as a PhD student.Bruno Siciliano is Professor of Control and Robotics, Director of the Interdepartmental Center for Advanced RObotics in Surgery (ICAROS) and Coordinator of the PRISMA Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at University of Naples Federico II. His research interests in robotics include manipulation and control, human–robot cooperation, and service robotics. He has co-authored 14 books, 100 journal papers and 270 conference papers/book chapters. He has delivered more than 150 invited lectures and seminars at institutions worldwide, and he has been the recipient of several awards. He is a Fellow of IEEE, ASME and IFAC. He is Co-Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics series, the Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics series, and has served on the Editorial Boards of several journals as well as Chair or Co-Chair for numerous international conferences.

Important dates

Submission deadline: December 17, 2018
Paper acceptance notification: January 6, 2019
Camera ready deadline: January 14, 2019
PhD symposium on conference: February 25-27, 2019

Submission Guidelines

All PhD Symposium submissions must be written in English and follow the technical instructions given on the IEEE IRC 2019 website. All papers should use the IEEE US letter format.

PhD symposium papers should be no longer than four (4) pages. The paper should clearly state:
• the problem to be solved in your thesis. Explain why the problem is important and show that previous research work has not yet solved that problem.
• the objectives of your research and possible contributions that can be expected due
• the methodology you plan to use. Please state also how to evaluate your results.
• a description of the results achieved until now and a research timeline.

All papers should be submitted electronically in PDF format through EasyChair:

https://easychair.org/my/conference.cgi?conf=phdsympirc19

Submissions will be reviewed by members of the PhD Symposium Advisory Committee. Furthermore, everyone submitting a paper must be willing to take part in the reviewing process by writing two (2) reviews.

The participants will be selected on the basis of their anticipated contribution to the topics of interest as well as the potential benefit to the PhD students.

There will be a reduced special fee for IEEE IRC 2019 for participants of the PhD Symposium.

Accepted papers will appear as part of the IEEE IRC 2019 Proceedings.

Organization

Dr. Alwin Hoffmann
Institute for Software & Systems Engineering, University of Augsburg, Germany
hoffmann@informatik.uni-augsburg.de

Dr. Ulrik P. Schultz
SDU UAS, Maersk Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
ups@mmmi.sdu.dk
PhD Symposium Advisory Committee

The following members are already approved:

• Davide Brugali, University of Bergamo, Italy
• Nico Hochgeschwender, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• Bruce MacDonald, University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Eric Matson, Purdue University, USA
• Daniele Nardi, Sapienza-Università di Roma, Italy
• Wolfgang Reif, University of Augsburg, Germany
• Christian Schlegel, University of Applied Sciences Ulm, Germany