CFP: Biomimetic Robotics

[Carolina Chang]

			   CALL FOR PAPERS
			   ---------------

	       Special session of ISIC/CIRA/ISAS'98 on

			 BIOMIMETIC ROBOTICS

	     Co-chairs: Carolina Chang and Paolo Gaudiano
		  Boston University Neurobotics Lab
		Dept. of Cognitive and Neural Systems

                         September 14-17, 1998
                      Gaithersburg, Maryland U.S.A
                                                    

		SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 27, 1998

             http://neurobotics.bu.edu/conferences/CIRA98/

  
It has   been argued that  today's supercomputers  are able to process
information at a rate comparable to that of simple invertebrates.  And
yet, even ignoring physical constraints, no existing algorithm running
on the  fastest supercomputer  could enable a  robot  to fly  around a
room,  avoid   obstacles,  land upside down     on the ceiling,  feed,
reproduce, and perform many of the  other simple tasks that a housefly
learns to  perform  without  external training   or  supervision.  The
apparent simplicity with which  flies and even much simpler biological
organisms  manage to survive   in  a constantly changing   environment
suggests that  a potentially fruitful  avenue  of research is that  of
understanding  the   mechanisms   adopted by biological   systems  for
perception and control, and applying what  is learned to robots.

While we may not yet be able  to make a  computer function as flexibly
as a  housefly, there   have  been many   promising  starts  in   that
direction.   The  goal of  this  special session  is to present recent
results  in "biomimetic robotics",  or  the application of  biological
principles to robotics.  The term  "biological" in this case should be
taken broadly to refer to any aspect of biological function, including
for  examples   psychological theories or   detailed  models of neural
function.   We  are  soliciting submissions  that  describe biomimetic
applications in any  branch of robotics.  Preference will be  given to
applications that utilize real systems, be they robotic or biological.


SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
--------------------                        

All submissions  must be made in electronic  format  (postscript or MS
Word preferred) as described below.  Submissions  must be formatted as
specified  in   the   call  for  papers   for   the  joint  conference
ISIC/CIRA/ISAS'98 (see http://isd.cme.nist.gov/proj/is98/index.html):

  Papers should be limited to 6 pages including abstract, figures, and
  tables (i.e., two column format, 10pt Times font, and 8.5x11" paper).

Authors who  plan to submit  a paper  by the February  27 deadline are
encouraged  to contact  C. Chang  or   P. Gaudiano  by electronic mail
(cchang at bu.edu, gaudiano at bu.edu) as soon as possible.

Notification of acceptance and the author's  kit will be mailed by May
8, 1998. The full paper typed in camera-ready form must be received by
June 12,  1998.  Final instructions for  camera-ready  copy submission
will be in the author's kit.

To submit  an electronic copy   of your manuscript, please  prepare  a
postscript or MS Word version of the paper, including all figures, and
upload it to the anonymous ftp site (instructions below if needed):

        	ftp://neurobotics.bu.edu/pub/biomimetic

To expedite  uploading, your document   may be compressed  using gzip,
pkzip, winzip, or any other commonly used  compression scheme. As soon
as you have uploaded your file to our  ftp site, please send e-mail to
cchang at bu.edu  indicating the  filename,  who   will   serve as    the
corresponding   author, and include    the title,   the  name  of  the
author(s), affiliation,  address,  telephone  number,  fax, and e-mail
address.

FTP UPLOADING INSTRUCTIONS
--------------------------

Connect to the neurobotics ftp server using the "ftp" command or using
one of the windows/mac ftp programs. Use the login name "anonymous" or
"ftp", and send your e-mail  address as password.   For instance on  a
UNIX system you would do the following:

 ftp neurobotics.bu.edu <ENTER>

 Connected to neurobotics.bu.edu.
 220 neurobotics.bu.edu FTP server (Version wu-2.4.2-academ[BETA-12](1) Wed Mar 5 12:37:21 EST 1997) ready.
 Name (neurobotics.bu.edu:gaudiano): ftp <ENTER>
 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
 Password:  (your e-mail) <ENTER>
 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
 Remote system type is UNIX.
 Using binary mode to transfer files.
 ftp> cd pub/biomimetic <ENTER>
 250 CWD command successful.
 ftp> bin <ENTER>
 200 Type set to I.
 ftp> put your_file_name.ps.gz <ENTER>
 local: your_file_name.ps.gz remote: your_file_name.ps.gz
 200 PORT command successful.
 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for your_file_name.ps.gz .
 226 Transfer complete.
 2312 bytes sent in 0.0204 secs (1.1e+02 Kbytes/sec)
 ftp> quit <ENTER>
 221 Goodbye.

For Mac   and  Windows systems  there  are  many  ftp programs  with a
graphical user interface that should simplify this process.

Please note  that permissions are  set in such a  way  that you cannot
view the contents of the  ftp directory even  after you have  uploaded
your file.

For  additional information  about this  special session, please  send
e-mail to cchang at bu.edu or gaudiano at bu.edu.  For all information about
ISIC/CIRA/ISAS'98    please   consult  the   conference   web page  at
http://isd.cme.nist.gov/proj/is98/index.html