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<p>(We request you to forward this email to other researchers in your institution.<br>
Apologies for multiple copies due to cross-posting.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> =========================================</p>
<p> *** SECOND KEYNOTE SPEAKER CONFIRMED ***</p>
<p> =========================================</p>
<p> </p>
<p> IEEE ICARSC 2018</p>
<p> </p>
<p> 18th IEEE International Conference on </p>
<p>Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://robotica2018.festivalrobotica.pt/icarsc">http://robotica2018.festivalrobotica.pt/icarsc</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ieee-ras.org/conferences-workshops/technically-co-sponsored/icarsc">http://www.ieee-ras.org/conferences-workshops/technically-co-sponsored/icarsc</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> April 25-27, 2018</p>
<p> Town Hall, Torres Vedras, Portugal</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sponsored by:</p>
<p>- IEEE Robotics and Automation Society</p>
<p>- IEEE Technically Co-sponsored</p>
<p>- IEEE Portugal Section</p>
<p>- Portuguese Robotics Society</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>= Keynote speaker: Anibal Ollero =</strong></p>
<p><strong>Institution: University of Seville (Seville, Spain)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Subject: Aerial Robotic Manipulation and its Application to Inspection and Maintenance</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>= <strong>Keynote speaker: Jorge Dias =</strong></p>
<p><strong>Institution: Khalifa University (Abu Dhabi, UAE)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Subject: (to be announced)</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>An event integrated in the 18th international Portugal Robotics Open</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <a href="http://robotica2018.festivalrobotica.pt/">http://robotica2018.festivalrobotica.pt</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>== Important! ==</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Submission deadline: February 12, 2018.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The 18th IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems </p>
<p>And Competitions (ICARSC 2018) gathers participants from academia and</p>
<p>industry working in the field of autonomous robotics and related areas.</p>
<p>It is organized within the 18th international Portugal Robotics Open, </p>
<p>a RoboCup-sponsored local event.</p>
<p>The conference will be held on April 25-27, 2018, </p>
<p>at the Town Hall of Torres Vedras, Portugal, just a walking distance </p>
<p>from EXPOTORRES, where the Robotics Open will take place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Conference content will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore </strong>
</p>
<p>as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. </p>
<p>Selected extended papers will be published in a special issue of a prestigious</p>
<p> journal, indexed by Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge (Requested, pending approval)<strong>.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>There will be a special track for papers describing work related with </strong>
</p>
<p><strong>fire prevention and combat, particularly using autonomous and </strong>
</p>
<p><strong>semi-autonomous systems.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>== Venue ==</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Torres Vedras is located about 50 kilometers from Lisbon, being </p>
<p>the territory of Torres Vedras populated by man since ancient times. </p>
<p>Here passed communities of collector hunters, farmers, blacksmiths </p>
<p>and later Greeks and Romans, as Rufus, one of many immortalized </p>
<p>names spelled in stone.</p>
<p>The village and the county grew, becoming a tourist destination, </p>
<p>especially from the early twentieth century. Since then, many elect </p>
<p>Torres Vedras as a destination, either in search of the spa or the </p>
<p>beach of Santa Cruz, renewing encounters permanently. </p>
<p>The same village amounted to town in 1979, witnessing a massive </p>
<p>urban growth.</p>
<p>In the municipality of Torres Vedras the agriculture (vineyards and </p>
<p>horticulture), the food processing and metallurgical industry and </p>
<p>the retail trade play a key role.</p>
<p>A promotional video of Torres Vedras could be viewed</p>
<p>through the following link:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec_XjJaNJVI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec_XjJaNJVI</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Torres Vedras can be easily reached by bus or car from the International </p>
<p>Airport of Lisbon.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align:justify">From Lisbon by bus: You should take a bus that leave you close to
</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">the place where the event takes place. Further information can be
</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">found through the following link: <a href="http://www.rede-expressos.pt/default.aspx">
http://www.rede-expressos.pt/default.aspx</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify"> </p>
<p style="text-align:justify">From Lisbon by car: You should take the motorway A8 in the direction
</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">towards Leiria getting out at exit 7 - Torres Vedras South.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>== Important Dates ==</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Submission deadline: Feb. 12, 2018</p>
<p> Notification of acceptance: Mar. 5, 2018</p>
<p> Camera-ready papers: Mar. 15, 2018</p>
<p> Early registration deadline: Mar. 15, 2018</p>
<p> Conference: Apr. 25-27, 2018</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All deadlines are on 23:59 GMT.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>== Topics ==</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The conference is an open forum to most robotics topics, as listed</p>
<p>below, although contributions addressing novel benchmarking methods,</p>
<p>able to properly compare and evaluate the performance of different</p>
<p>solutions to a given robotics problem, and works dealing with robotics</p>
<p>competitions and challenges are particularly welcome.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Agricultural Robotics;</p>
<p> Applications of Autonomous Intelligent Robots;</p>
<p> Artificial Intelligence;</p>
<p> Autonomous Robotic Systems;</p>
<p> Computer Vision and Image Processing;</p>
<p> Control Architectures and Programming;</p>
<p> Cooperative Perception;</p>
<p> Cooperative Planning and Task Allocation;</p>
<p> Dexterous Manipulation and Grasping;</p>
<p> Educational Robotics;</p>
<p> Entertainment Robots.</p>
<p> Evolutionary Robotics;</p>
<p> Field Robotics;</p>
<p> Humanoid Robotics;</p>
<p> Human-Robot Interaction;</p>
<p> Localization, Mapping, and Navigation;</p>
<p> Locomotion and Actuation Systems;</p>
<p> Multi-Robot Coordination;</p>
<p> Multi-Robot Systems;</p>
<p> Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking;</p>
<p> Planning, Reasoning and Modeling;</p>
<p> Recognition and Tracking;</p>
<p> Robot-based Fire Combat and Prevention;</p>
<p> Robot Learning;</p>
<p> Robotic Competitions;</p>
<p> Robotic Simulation;</p>
<p> Sensors and Sensor Integration;</p>
<p> Swarm Robotics;</p>
<p> Underwater Robotics.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>== Submission Guidelines ==</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The working language is English, only. Authors are invited to submit</p>
<p>original research contributions electronically, in PDF format, via</p>
<p>EasyChair:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(<a href="https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icarsc2018">https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icarsc2018</a>)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Six pages in the standard IEEE format are allowed for each paper, </p>
<p>including figures, with up to two extra pages with an extra payment </p>
<p>per extra page.</p>
<p>Papers must be written in English following the standard IEEE guidelines:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>( <a href="http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html">
http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html</a>)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reviewing for ICARSC 2018 will be *double blind* so authors must </p>
<p>remove their names from the submitted papers, and should take </p>
<p>reasonable care not to indirectly disclose their identity. Three </p>
<p>program committee members will be assigned to review each paper. </p>
<p>Acceptance will be based on the paper's significance, technical quality, </p>
<p>clarity, relevance and originality.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All accepted papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings </p>
<p>and, being the conference an IEEE sponsored event for a long time, </p>
<p>the proceedings have been indexed in IEEExplore and in Scopus.</p>
<p>Selected extended papers will be published in a special issue of a prestigious</p>
<p>journal, indexed by Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge (Requested, pending approval)<strong>.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Accepted papers will be scheduled for presentation, which requires </p>
<p>that at least one of the authors should register at the Conference </p>
<p>and present the paper. Failure to meet this requirement will imply </p>
<p>removing the paper from the proceedings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We welcome you at ICARSC 2018 to share your latest research results.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>See you in Torres Vedras!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hugo Costelha, IPLeiria, Portugal</p>
<p>Joćo Calado, IPLisboa, Portugal</p>
<p>Paulo Oliveira, IST, Portugal</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(General Chairs of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Autonomous Robot Systems and</p>
<p>Competitions)</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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