<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div apple-content-edited="true"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">[apologies for duplicates]</div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">================================================================================ <br><br><br>*** IROS 2012 Competitions ***<br><br>October 7-12, 2012<br>Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal<br><br><a href="http://www.iros2012.org/competitions" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">http://www.iros2012.org/competitions</a><br><br><b>***Note the deadline extension until July 25th***</b></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><b><br></b>Objective<br>=========<br>Robot competition events provide challenging atmospheres for innovation, attracting researchers from multiple fields.<br>Two robot competitions will take place during IROS 2012 tackling mostly mobile manipulation scenarios.<br>Prospective teams should develop relevant scientific and technological solutions.<br><br><br>Challenges<br>==========<br>*The Tower of Hanoi *is a problem that has been known to generations of computer science students. It<br>allows studying and learning the concept of recursion in algorithm design. The task is to move a pile of disks<br>with the smallest number of moves from one location to another while obeying certain rules. The Tower of<br>Hanoi problem is not only of interest to computer scientists. It is also an important problem for<br>Robotics research and education. The fundamental difference is that we are not dealing with a virtual world,<br>but with the real world. As a matter of fact the Tower of Hanoi problem is an excellent scenario<br>to study some of the most demanding scientific challenges in Robotics today. Solving the Tower of Hanoi<br>problem - if done efficiently and fast - requires the seamless integration of perception including object<br>recognition, scene understanding and situation awareness, world modeling (in 3D), task planning (for mobile<br>manipulation), motion planning (for mobile manipulation), coordination and control including<br>navigation. The Tower of Hanoi problem is a great opportunity for research and education in mobile manipulation<br>and it yields an adequate setting for a robot contest for students and their teachers interested<br>in mobile manipulation.<br><br>*RoboCup@Work *is a new RoboCup competition that targets the use of robots in work--related scenarios.<br>The RoboCup@Work scenarios target difficult, mostly unsolved problems in robotics, artificial intelligence, and<br>advanced computer science, in particular in perception, path planning and motion planning, mobile manipulation,<br>planning and scheduling, learning and adaptivity, and probabilistic modeling, to name just a few. Furthermore,<br>RoboCup@Work scenarios may also address problems for which solutions require the use and integration of<br>semantic web technology, RFID technology, or advanced computational geometry.<br>Examples for the work--related scenarios targeted by RoboCup@Work include<br>• loading and/or unloading of containers with/of objects with the same or different size,<br>• pickup or delivery of parts from/to structured storages and/or unstructured heaps,<br>• operation of machines, including pressing buttons, opening/closing doors and drawers, and similar operations<br>with underspecified or unknown kinematics,<br>• flexible planning and dynamic scheduling of production processes involving multiple agents (humans, robots,<br>and machines),<br>• cooperative assembly of non--trivial objects, with other robots and/or humans,<br>• cooperative collection of objects over spatially widely distributed areas, and<br>• cooperative transportation of objects (robots with robots, robots with humans).<br><br><br>Important Dates <br>==============<br><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">July 25, 2012: deadline for submission of applications<br>July 31, 2012: notification of qualified teams</div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br>October 7-12, 2012, competition takes place in Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- October 7-11, 2012: Team setup and qualification rounds; room Neptune;<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- October 12, 2012 (morning): Final rounds and awards ceremony;<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- October 12, 2012 (afternoon): Workshop on "Robot Competitions: Benchmarking, Technology Transfer and Education", including presentations by the 2 Best Teams on each competition.<br><br><br>Application Details and Team Selection Process <br>======================================<br>Applications should clearly state the selected challenge and include the following materials:<br>i) Video with simulations of the proposed approach, meeting the corresponding competition rules (max video duration: 3 mn; max video file size: 50 Mb)<br>ii) Short paper (max 4 pages 2 column, 11 pt, IEEE IROS format) with a technical and scientific description of the approach, pointing out innovative aspects;<br>iii) One A4 page with team CVs.<br><br>IMPORTANT: items ii)+iii) must be submitted in 1 single pdf file.<br><br>The selection of qualified teams will be carried out by an International Program Committee composed of<br>renowned Robotics scientists (see list on the website), including robot competition experts, based on submitted materials.<br><br>Qualified teams will have to show their approaches applied to real robots during the actual IROS Competitions.<br>Robots from different manufacturers, including self-made robots, can be used. KUKA will make available a few youBot robots,<br>whose simulator is available at <a href="http://youbot-store.com/software.aspx" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">http://youbot-store.com/software.aspx</a><br><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Submissions</div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">==========<br><br>An email should be sent to <a href="mailto:competitions@iros2012.org">competitions@iros2012.org</a>, with:<br><br>Subject: Tower of Hanoi / RoboCup@Work<br>Body: Web link pointing to the video<br>Attachment: A single pdf file with items ii)+iii)<br><br>DO NOT attach the video</div><div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br>Organizers<br>==========<br><br>Rui Cortesão, Institute for Systems and Robotics, U. Coimbra<br>Pedro Lima, Institute for Systems and Robotics/LARSyS, IST, TU Lisbon<br><br><br>More information<br>================<br>More information on contest rules, technical details and alike can be found on the contest website<br><br>================================================================================ </div></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; 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