Connectionists: [meetings] Living Machines III: Final call for Participation in Conference, Demos and Workshops

[Nathan F Lepora]

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Final Call for Participation in Conference, Demos and Workshops
Living Machines: The 3rd International Conference on Biomimetic
Robotics and Biohybrid Systems.
A Convergent Science Network Event

29th July to 1st August 2014
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Leonardo Da Vinci Milano
http://csnetwork.eu/livingmachines/conf2014

*** Deadine for early registration extended to July 15th 2014 ***
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News & Highlights

* Deadline for early registration extended to July 15th, 2014.

* Book on time accommodation for good value and availability. see
LM2014 for suggestions
http://csnetwork.eu/livingmachines/conf2014/accommodation

* Main conference programme now online, 6 plenary talks, 1 invited
talk, 18 single-track oral presentations, 10 poster spotlights, 40
posters.

* 4 satellite workshops also available for registration as separate
events, topics include autonomous locomotion systems, the robot self,
emergent social behavior, and biomimetics in design.

* Bring a demo, be it a robot or an installation, for an exhibition on
biomimetic robots, biohybrid computer art, live robot performance or
videos.

* If you wish to bring a demo please contact us. info.csnetwork at upf.edu

* If you need help with transporting your demo to Milano contact us at
info.csnetwork at upf.edu

* You can book the social dinner as a separate event.

Contact info.csnetwork at upf.edu for all enquiries.

ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2014

The 3rd International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid systems
comprises 4 days of events including 3 days of single-track oral
presentations with 6 plenary speakers; a 1-day with five satellite
workshops on themes ranging from autonomous robots to robot “selves”
to biomimetics in design and social impacts of living machines.

On Wednesday there will be a reception offered by the Tailor & Francis
group http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/ and, on Thursday there will be
the LM2014 banquet.

We hope you will join us for this exciting programme!

The conference registration site is open.  Please register soon to
take advantage of early registration—deadline July 15th

***From every accepted paper at least 1 author must be registered and
present at the Conference***

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

**Program now available online**
http://csnetwork.eu/livingmachines/conf2014/programme

The main conference will take the form of a single-track oral
presentation programme, 30th July to midday 1st August 2014 that will
include 6 plenary lectures from leading international researchers in
biomimetic and biohybrid systems.  Agreed speakers are:

Mandyam Srinivasan Queensland Brain Institute, Australia
Insect-inspired cognition and vision

Andrew Schwartz  University of Minnesota, Pittsburgh, USA Neural
control of prosthetics

Sarah Bergbreiter  University of Maryland, USA Microrobotics

Darwin Caldwell Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy Legged Locomotion

Ricard Sole Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain Evolution of
complex networks

Minoru Asada Osaka University, Japan. Cognitive and Affective
Developmental Robotics

There will also be 18 regular talks of 30 min, 1 invited talk on
Thursday at midday on Biomimetics in Design by Franco Lodato, 10
Poster Spotlights of 5 min and 2 poster sessions of 90 mins each
(midday of July 30st and August 1st) featuring 40 posters. Particular
themes include:

Soft Robotics
Neuromechanics
Social Robotics
Locomotion
Biohybrid
Brain-based
Active Sensing

WORKSHOPS

In addition to the main conference there is one further day of
workshops, each with their own full program that will be available
soon on the Living Machines website.

Monday 29th July

Embodied Interaction and Internal Models: Key Features of Autonomous
Locomotion Systems
- Organisers: Volker Dürr, Biological Cybernetics, Bielefeld
University, Germany, Paolo Arena, Electrical Engineering, University
of Catania, Italy

The Robot Self
- Organizers: Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield, UK; Paul
Verschure Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, CSNII

Emergent social behaviours in bio-hybrid systems
- Organizers: José Halloy: Universite Paris Diderot.  Thomas Schmickl:
Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Stuart Wilson, University of Sheffield

Rotational Geometry and the Creation of Bionic Models.
- Organizers: Pino Trogu, San Francisco State University, USA, Franco
Lodato, Creative Director VSN Mobil with Istituto Europeo di Design,
Milano

Neuro-chip interfaces and Neuroprostheses
- Organizers: Stefano Vassanelli, University of Padova, Italy

Attendance at workshops will attract a small fee intended to cover the
costs of the meeting.  We have reserved meeting rooms at the Italian
Institute of Technology in Milan each with capacity for up to 40
people.  Please book early.  Separate registration for satellite
events is possible.

ABOUT THE VENUE

The organisers are delighted to have secured the Museo Nazionale della
Scienza e della Tecnologia, Leonardo Da Vinci Milano as the main venue
for our conference.  The museum is a centre dedicated to Leonardo da
Vinci a symbol of the connection between artistic and
scientific-technological cultures, two complementary expressions of
human creativity.

KEY DATES

June 30th 2014 Deadline for early registration

July 30th - August 1st 2014 Conference

We are looking forwards to seeing you in Milano.

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Tony Prescott (co-chair)
Paul Verschure (co-chair)
Armin Duff (programme chair)
Roberto Cingolani (local organizer)
Barbara Mazzolai (workshops)
Nathan Lepora (communications)
Anna Mura (communications and web-site)

Contact and Conference Secretariat:
Info.csnetwork at upf.edu
living-machines at sheffield.ac.uk