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  • Modular Surgical Robotics: how can we make it possible?

    Computer and Robot Assisted Surgery (CRAS) is an area receiving broad attention worldwide, because of its strong potential to achieve new levels of healthcare. Many researchers and potential users are attracted to the eld. However, the market is o ering very few prod- ucts, which cannot be enhanced with add-on components produced by other manufacturers. This inability is not only due to commercial, but also to technical reasons, since an FDA-approved or CE marked surgical device cannot be altered by adding new components.

    Motivated by these considerations, the European research project Eurosurge addresses the issues of modularity and integration of di er- ent functions into a surgical robot, with a special emphasis on the in- tegration of cognitive functions into robotassisted surgical procedures, and on the satisfaction of regulatory constraints.

    This workshop aims at presenting to the robotic community the results of the rst six months of the project and to establish a fruitful discussion with experts in the areas of integration, standards, bench- marking, architectures and cognition. The workshop will be divided into three phases: the rst summarizing the current status of Euro- surge; the second with presentations from experts outside the project; and the third with a discussion to provide suggestions and opinions about introducing modularity into robotic surgery

  • Stochastic Geometry in SLAM

    Feature based SLAM is closely related to multi-sensor, multi-target .ltering. In essence, the objective is to jointly estimate a time-varying number of targets and their states from sensor measurements with data association and detection uncertainty, clutter and noise. Its sys- tematic treatment, using random set theory, led to the mathematical tools known as Finite Set Statistics (FISST), developed for data fusion and estimation of random sets.

    Random vector based SLAM is known to be extremely fragile in the presence of feature detection and data association uncertainty. Therefore recent research which has applied the FISST framework to autonomous map representations will be the subject of this workshop.

    Workshop topics will include global localisation, Rao-Blackwellised and multi-robot SLAM which jointly consider false alarms, missed detections and spatial sensor uncertainty. Experimental results in challenging outdoor and marine environments will be demonstrated.

  • Workshop on Long-term Autonomy II

    The problem of long-term autonomy is attracting increased at- tention in the robotics research community. State-of-the-art robotic mapping and localization systems have demonstrated the ability to operate in increasingly large-scale environmentsthe DARPA Grand Challenge, Mars Exploration Rovers, Willow Garage PR2 demos, long- range visual-teach-and-repeat systems, and Atlantic-Ocean crossing AUVs are only some of the examples of the maturity of the eld. However, it remains to be seen how to extend the operation time of autonomous robotic systems from days to months or years. This goal poses new challenges related to robust long-term operation and life- long learning. What valuable lessons have we learnt from large-scale robotic experiments? What challenges need to be addressed to en- sure robust and continual operation? We invite authors to share their experience and insight at this full-day workshop.

  • Conditions for Replicable Experiments and Performance Comparison in Robotics Research

    In all eld of science experiments play an important role, in or- der to con rm/refute a theory and to discover new theories. It is a widespread opinion that experimental methodologies in robotics have not yet achieved a level of maturity comparable with that in tradi- tional science. On the other hand being able of objectively measure and comparing performances is a critical aspect of modern engineering. In this workshop, we will discuss fundamental issues about the role of experiments in robotics, such as how can results be replicable and refutable on the one hand, and quantitatively comparable according to community-endorsed metrics to enable a faster cumulative progress, or even appreciate disruptive changes, on the other end. We will par- ticularly focus on how might be possible, by providing the proper kind and amount of data to enable the replication of experiments as a pre- requisite to quantitative comparison of capabilities. A key point to allow replication and comparison of results is having adequate data support: all the data necessary to repeat a given experiment, how to achieve it with today's digital media will be addressed. We will con- centrate on three main sub elds: visual servoing and grasping, slam and navigation. In these elds it is already possible to outline several compelling criteria. These issues, when viewed in the context of some general principles about experiments in science and engineering, will allow us to do some insightful considerations on the role of experi- ments in robotics and its scienti c and epistemological foundations. This workshop is a joint initiative of the IEEE Technical Committee on Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Robotic and Automa- tion Systems (PEBRAS) and the EURON Special Interest Group on Good Experimental Methodology for Robotics (SIG GEM).

  • Bio Assembler for 3D Cellular System Innovation

    The proposal intends a full day workshop in order to discuss a new and innovative methodology intended for creating 3D cellular systems such as functional tissue in vitro environments, in which active functional cells selected from a living organism are used to create the 3D cellular system. The workshop consists of invited speakers from the world who are active in the cutting edge of the eld. The topics cover high speed measurements and controls of single and/or multiple cells based on micro & nano robotics, high speed assembly of 3D cellular system, and analysis and evaluation of active functional cellular systems

  • The Future of HRI - Paving the way to next generation of HRI

    This full-day workshop aims at providing a state of the art overview on the recent researches and achievements in Human-Robot Interac- tions (HRI), as well as stimulating a fruitful and attractive discussion on the major challenges to be solved in future robot applications. The basic questions that the workshop will try to answer are: What are the major advances achieved in the last years related to HRI? What are the major challenges in HRI for future robots applications? Due to the nature of the intrinsic problems posed by HRI, the workshop will see the participation of an interdisciplinary group of experts not only in robotics, but also in cognitive sciences, neurosciences, linguists, de- sign, human factors, sociology, psychology, ethics and also art. The workshop will consist of invited presentations given by keynote speak- ers in the eld of HRI and related areas and a restricted number of presentations selected among the best contributions received as pa- pers. A round table discussion will conclude the workshop to identify scienti c and technological challenges in HRI that will enable appli- cations of robots in real domains.

  • 2nd Workshop on Semantic Perception, Mapping and Exploration (SPME)

    As robots and autonomous systems move away from laboratory setups towards complex real-world scenarios, both the perception ca- pabilities of these systems and their abilities to acquire and model semantic information must become more powerful. For example, a general-purpose service robot collaborating with a human user needs to know human spatial concepts and have an understanding of 3- dimensional objects, their use and functional relationships between them. More generally, semantic perception and mapping must become a resource for the robot, which links sensory information to the robots knowledge base and high-level deliberative components. A key issue is a robots ability to autonomously acquire information and extract semantic models from it, as well as exploration strategies to decide where and how to acquire the most relevant information pertinent to a speci c semantic model. In this full-day workshop we will try to analyze the requirements of such a system, and discuss alternatives for achieving this goal, by bringing together researchers from areas such as Computer Vision, Cognitive Robotics, 3D Mapping, Mobile Manipulation, Machine Learning, Knowledge Representation, and Ex- ploration. This is the second workshop at ICRA to discuss currently running projects and recent results to advance the state-of-the-art in semantic perception, mapping, and exploration.

  • Robotic Satellite Servicing

    As satellites and spacecraft near the end of their expected lifetime, many begin to incur failures in key components, expend their attitude control fuel, or reach computer obsolescence. Moreover, many satel- lites su er post-launch mishaps, including failed deployment of solar arrays and antennae and electronic failures of critical components that lead to mission failure. A free- ying spacecraft with an integral robotic front-end capable of reaching satellites in geosynchronous orbit would provide a valuable asset in addressing these failures. Satellite servic- ing could take advantage of recent advances in mobile manipulation in order to dock or berth to the target vehicle. After the servicer is docked, the robot can perform servicing tasks with a manipulator or make necessary repairs in-situ. For example, the servicer would be able to perform visual inspection, replace failed components, deploy stuck solar arrays, refuel tanks with liquid propellant, and perform many other maintenance tasks to support a single satellite or a constella- tion of satellites. The proposed full-day workshop will bring together international researchers in the elds of space and servicing robotics to exchange ideas in key enabling technology areas: manipulation, contact dynamics, pose estimation, teleoperation and haptics, shared autonomy, compliant control, multi-manipulator systems, time-delay compensation, and interactions in a space environment.

  • Robotics and Performing Arts: Reciprocal influences

    This full-day workshop intends to investigate the relationships be- tween the world of performance art, including theatre and dance, and that of robotic technologies, focusing on their reciprocal in uences and how such in uences can bene ts both elds. The workshop will be highly interdisciplinary, bringing together well-known roboticists active in the artworld, artists, and robotics companies operating in the art and entertainment elds, in order to exchange ideas, practices and experiences on the key scienti c, technological and artistic as- pects. Among the topics that will be explored during the workshop is how the interaction between robotics and theatre can lead to the generation of new artform, impact innovation and creativity in both the engineering and artistic elds, and provide new possibilities for the emergence of new markets. The workshop will be divided into three main sessions. 1. Oral session: consisting of invited talks and selected contribu- tions from call of paper. 2. Video/live performance session: participants are invited to present videos or short live performances that document the reciprocal in uences between robotics and art. 3. Round table: a highly interactive discussion among the workshop participants and the audience.

  • Haptic Teleoperation of Mobile Robots: Theory, Applications and Perspectives

    For several applications like surveillance, search and rescue in dis- aster regions, and exploration, the use of a single or a of group of mobile robots is getting more and more common. Nevertheless, when the tasks become extremely complex and high-level cognitive-based decisions are required online (as, e.g., during exploration of very clut- tered, dynamic and unpredictable environments for search and rescue applications), complete autonomy is still far from being reached and humans intervention/assistance is necessary. In this context, haptic teleoperation systems, where a human operator commands a remote robot through a local interface and receive an informative haptic feed- back, allow to exploit humans intelligence to solve tasks too complex for nowadays robots. This full day workshop will focus on the haptic teleoperation of a single or a team of mobile robots. Its main goal is to present recent results in the eld and to establish a discussion on the technological, mathematical and psychophysical aspects of this problem.