[robocup-worldwide] Reminder: RoCKIn Camp 2014 - Call for Applications

[Pedro U. Lima]

RoCKIn Camp 2014 - Call for Applications

Event Date: Jan 26-30, 2014
Location: Rome, Italy
Website: http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~rockin/

RoCKIn is short for "Robot Competitions Kick Innovation in Cognitive Systems and Robotics" (http://rockinrobotchallenge.eu) and it is an EU-funded Coordination Action aimed at the promotion of research and education through competitions. 

The RoCKIn Camp 2014 aims at supporting the preparation of teams to participate in the RoCKIn at Home and RoCKIn at Work challenges, the competition events that will be organized by RoCKIn in 2014 and 2015. RoCKIn at Home and RoCKIn at Work take inspiration from the corresponding RoboCup leagues, but they will focus on benchmarking robotic systems and networked robots. Both challenges require basic navigation capabilities with no restrictions on the mobile platform, advance perception, manipulation and human-robot interaction. RoCKIn at Home focuses on tasks that service robots execute in a real home environment, while the tasks to be performed in RoCKIn at Work target an industrial automation scenario. 
The event is partially supported by the IEEE RAS-TEP program ( IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Technical Education Program - Summer Schools )

The RoCKIn Camp 2014 will take place from 26th to 30th January in Rome and is designed as a hands-on week long school, where teams acquire new capabilities and/or improve the performance of their systems in the competition tasks. The activities planned in the first four days of the RoCKIn Camp 2014 address the following topics: the robot platform and the basic software infrastructure, perception, manipulation and human robot interaction through speech. Each topic will include introductory lectures and practical sessions. The last day will be devoted to finalizing a demonstration in the competition scenario. 
A preliminary program is available at: http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~rockin/camp2014program

Students and researchers, who have an interest in entering the RoCKIn at Home and RoCKIn at Work competitions, are invited to apply for the RoCKIn Camp 2014. We accept application in two formats: 
- Team applications (for teams of 3 people, not necessarily from the same university, but with an already established team). Team applicants are encourage to bring their robot to be used in the practical activities, but this is not a requirement. 
- Individual applications by existing or prospective team members.

For the practical sessions, participants will be arranged into teams. Accepted applicant teams will become RoCKIn Camp 2014 teams; individual participants may be joining existing teams with the goal of creating additional collaborations and opportunities. If needed, additional teams will be created from individual applicants. Each team will be assigned a specific task, applying modules and tools presented in the lectures. The selection will be based on the team submission material and will also consider formation of new teams. The expected audience will be up to 12 teams and up to 36 participants. 

All successful applicants will be offered: 
- Accommodation in shared rooms (including breakfast, 6 nights)
- Lunch (5 days) and 1 social dinner
- Attendance to lectures and practical sessions

In addition, the teams of 3 people that will carry a robot to be used in the practical sessions of the Camp are entitled to receive a travel support up to 1200 Euros (per team), and the team of 3 people that plan to attend without a robot are entitled to support of 600 Euros (per team). 

*** Important Dates

- Application deadline: November 20th, 2013
- Notification of acceptance: November 27th, 2013

*** Applications should be submitted via http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/rockin

Team applications should include:

-For each member, a brief CV
-A team description (pdf, maximum 4 pages) in IEEE Conference Style (http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html), reporting: team name, affiliation, supervisor (optional), scientific background, research objectives, expected knowledge / performance improvement, team description (including previous experience, role and competence of team members) and, in case the team plans to bring its own robot, a brief description of this robot.

Individual applications should include:

- A brief CV of the applicant
- A team formation plan (pdf, maximum 4 pages) in IEEE Conference Style (http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html), reporting: applicant's scientific background, scientific objectives, expected knowledge acquisition and performance improvement from RoCKIn competitions, plan about the team formation, including details about the applicant's devised role.

For further questions contact Alberto Pretto: alberto.pretto at dis.uniroma1.it
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