AAAI-08 Mobile Robot Competition
AAAI is pleased to announce the Seventeenth AAAI Mobile Robot Exhibition and Workshop, to be held in conjunction with the Twenty-Third AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, July 13–17, 2008, in Chicago, Illinois.
Important Dates
March 23: One-page Exhibition Proposal Due
March 30: Acceptance Notifications
April 6: Two-ppage Abstract for Proceedings due
Call For Exhibits
The committee seeks proposals to exhibit work that demonstrate "Robotics and Creativity" or "Mobility and Manipulation." Invited exhibitors will receive travel, lodging, and equipment transport support. Support levels will depend on the number of applicants and availability of funds. Technical prizes and blue ribbons will be awarded in various categories. The AAAI conference proceedings will include short papers submitted by invited exhibitors.
A day of workshops will precede the exhibition. The workshops host panelists like NSF and DARPA program managers and leading scholars from both academe and industry. This will give exhibitors strong exposure to showcase cutting-edge work.
Category 1: Robotics and Creativity
Exhibits are sought that look at the roles creativity plays in robotics. The first role looks at research where robots display creativity. Such research often employs cognitive models and computation that explains or simulates creativity. The second role examples cases where creativity is combined with design and engineering to stimulate robotics research. Collaborations that involve people from diverse backgrounds often generate a creative synergy that stimulates breakthroughs.
Examples include the following:
- Robots involved in gaming, dancing, painting, and instrument playing. Such work demonstrate cognition for the strategy, interpretation and expression needed in creativity.
- Research that involves performance artists, therapists and linguists that discover new ways for human-robot interaction and socialization.
Category 2: Mobility and Manipulation
Exhibits are sought that demonstrate advanced perception and cognition that significantly advances and/or speeds robot mobility and/or manipulation. The underlying motivation is that current implementations often are too slow to be useful. For example, autonomous urban driving at real-world speeds and unprepared settings will demand systems that can quickly recognize traffic patterns, forecast actions and strategize reactions to update driving behavior. Another example is manipulation where robot arms and grippers must quickly recognize part shapes, plan motions in the robot's workspace, and configure appropriate grasps.
Examples include the following:
- Applying new cognition and perception models in multi-robot coordination, human-robot interaction, path planning, or gait generation
- Live exhibit or three-minute research videos demonstrating the most interesting thing your robot Has manipulated
Application Process and Schedule
Those interested in exhibiting should prepare a 1-page proposal that describe: (1) Names and affiliation of exhibiters; (2) the motivation, objectives and goals of the underlying research; (3) the role creativity, perception and/or cognition relate to this research; (4) the intellectual merit and broader impacts of such research; and (5) what the exhibit or "mobility and manipulation" video will show. The 1-page proposal must be emailed to Paul Oh (paul@coe.drexel.edu) by March 23, 2008. The proposal can sent as ASCII text or if photos are involved, as PDF or Word doc files.
Planning Committee
Event cochairs: Paul Oh (Drexel), Chad Jenkins (Brown)
Workshop cohairs: Youngmoo Kim (Drexel), Monica Anderson (University of Alabama)
Questions should be emailed to both Paul Oh and Chad Jenkins, or to aaai08@aaai.org. For further information about the event, please visit the supplementary website for this event.