IJCAI-99 Workshop on

Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robot Navigation

Stockholm, Sweden, August 2, 1999

| Synopsis | Structure & attendance | Submission procedure | Timetable | Organizers |
Deadline extended to March 28th

Synopsis

Uncertainty plays an important role in robot navigation at many levels, such as sensor interpretation, sensor fusion, map making, path planning, self-localization, and control. Dealing with uncertainty also constitutes the focus of a large research effort in AI, which has led to the development of a number of new theories and new techniques. However, it is only recently that the field of robot navigation has started to import some of these techniques in order to address the issues of uncertainty in robot navigation. These techniques use probabilistic representations or fuzzy set theory to model uncertainty in sensor information and the outcome of actions taken by the robot. Example of these techniques include occupancy grids, intelligent sensor fusion, decision-theoretic procedures like POMDPs, and extensions to Kalman filtering. Recent successes of mobile robots in practical areas such as robotic museum tour-guides showed that these techniques have reached a level of robustness which allows robots to operate even in crowded environments.

The first workshop on ``Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robotics'' (RUR '95) was held in Amsterdam, NL, in 1995. This second workshop in the series is devoted to discuss current topics in mobile robotics and uncertainty. The workshop will bring together researchers working in advanced methods of dealing with sensor and movement uncertainty in mobile robots. We especially welcome those who have ideas about how to extend current theories to deal with more challenging environments, or those who have competing approaches, e.g., landmark-based, behavioral, or "topological" navigation. The workshop will provide an opportunity to critically examine these various approaches, and to discuss their strengths and weaknesses in various types of environments.

This workshop will interest all people working in mobile robotics, both from academy and from industry. It will also interest researchers working in the area of uncertainty in AI, since it will offer them the possibility to apply their techniques to real and challenging problems.

Structure and attendance

The workhop will include (tentative)

The accepted papers will be grouped into three or four clusters addressing similar problems; the presentation of each cluster will be followed by a common discussion aimed at comparing the approaches.

The workshop is open to all the AI community, but attendance is limited to active participants only. Perspective authors should submit a full paper of up to 12 pages, reporting original results that have not been previously published in a journal or major conference. Papers presented at workshops and specialized conferences with a limited audience are acceptable. People who are interested in participating without presenting a paper are invited to submit a two page statement of interest including: a description of their work in the workshop area, a short bio, and pointers to a few relevant publications.

To guarantee a high level of interactivity, the number or participants is limited to 40. All workshop attendees must also register for the main IJCAI conference.

Submission procedure

Papers should be submitted in electronic format as either PostScript or HTML. PostScript submissions should be typeset in single column, 10 or 11 point font, and with at least 1 inch margins on all sides. To submit a paper, please do the following.

  1. Name the file name-of-corresponding-author.ps (or .html, or .text).

  2. Upload the file by anonymous FTP to ftp://tintin.oru.se/pub/saffiotti/RUR99

  3. Send an e-mail message to alessandro.saffiotti@aass.oru.se containing: Name of the file Date and time of uploading Paper title Name, affiliation, and email of all authors Postal address of corresponding author Phone and fax of corresponding author Abstract (maximum 200 words)
All submissions will be acknowledged within a few days. Papers will be peer-reviewed and the decision of acceptance will be mailed to the corresponding author. Accepted papers will be included in the workshop notes, distributed at the workshop, and in the workshop's web site. At least one author of each accepted paper must attend the workshop. Selected papers might later be considered for publication in a journal or in a book.

Timetable
March 28, 1999 Submission of papers
April 26, 1999 Notification of acceptance
May 14, 1999 Submission of statements of interest
May 25, 1999 Camera ready version due
Registration due
August 2, 1999 Workshop day

Organizing committee
Last updated: Nov 30, 1998, by A. Saffiotti