Connectionists: [CFP] IROS 2021 Workshop on Building and Evaluating Ethical Robotic Systems (ERS 2021)

[Justin Svegliato]

Call For Papers: IROS 2021 Workshop on Building and Evaluating Ethical
Robotic Systems (ERS 2021)

Website: https://ers-workshop.com/
Submission Deadline: August 6, 2021 (AoE)
Submission Link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ers2021
Contact: ers.workshop at gmail.com

*===Workshop Overview===*
The deployment of robotic systems has been accelerating in many domains
that have a substantial impact on society. For example, robotic systems
have been proposed for applications that range from elder care and
autonomous driving to nuclear energy production and military technology.
However, while our ability to build robotic systems that integrate into our
daily lives has expanded over the years, it has outstripped our ability to
build robotic systems that can account for the large number of different
ethical considerations that may arise during operation. This workshop
therefore focuses on building and evaluating ethical robotic systems at
every level of the robotics stack while broadening the scope of areas that
should be considered by researchers, such as how users can interact with
new and existing technology or how legislators can develop actionable
standards and regulations.

ERS 2021 aims to bring together researchers from academia and industry to
discuss key challenges, learn from real-world case studies, identify
potential research avenues, explore recent technical advances, present
novel data sets, and survey existing work related to ethical robotic
systems. Given this aim, we invite contributions that draw from a range of
methods in artificial intelligence and robotics, such as deep learning,
planning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, human-robot
interaction, safety, explainability, transparency, formal verification,
social preferences, and human factors. Most importantly, we welcome
researchers from disciplines beyond robotics, including philosophy,
psychology, sociology, and law, in order to represent diverse perspectives
on building and evaluating ethical robotic systems.

Relevant research topics include but are not limited to:
- Value alignment in robotic systems
- Cultural, political, and societal impacts of robotics
- Methods for analyzing the ethical implications of autonomous systems
- Moral reasoning in autonomous systems
- Safe, transparent, explainable, or interpretable deep learning systems
- Ethical compliance in robotic systems
- Ethically sensitive design and implementation of autonomous systems
- Human-compatible or beneficial AI systems
- Law, regulation, and governance of robotics
- Challenges of building and evaluating ethical robotic systems
- Ethical models and algorithms in robotic systems
- Impacts of robotics on vulnerable groups
- Novel data sets or test suites for ethical robotic systems

*===Workshop Format===*
This is a virtual IROS workshop that will include invited speakers, oral
presentations of accepted papers, poster sessions of accepted papers,
discussion sessions, and moderated panels.

*===Submission Guidelines===*
We encourage a range of submission types to facilitate broad participation:
- Highlight Paper (up to 2 pages)
- Short Technical Paper (up to 4 pages)
- Full Technical Paper (up to 6 pages)
- Position Paper (up to 4 pages)
- Case Study Paper (up to 6 pages)
- Survey Paper (up to 8 pages)

*Best Paper Award:* A paper will be awarded the ERS 2021 Best Paper Award
based on a vote among the organizers and the program committee of the
workshop. The authors of the best paper will receive a cash prize and a
printed certificate at the end of the workshop.

*Additional Details:* Papers published, accepted, or under review at other
conferences can be submitted and presented at the workshop subject to the
conference guidelines. There is no page limit for references and
supplementary materials. Submissions should be in PDF and follow the IROS
2021 format guidelines. All accepted papers will be included in an
electronic, non-archival proceedings.

*===Important Dates===*
- Paper Submission: August 6, 2021 (AoE)
- Author Notification: August 20, 2021
- Camera-Ready Submission: TBD

*===Invited Speakers===*
- Ron Arkin, Georgia Tech
- Francesca Rossi, IBM
- Matthias Scheutz, Tufts University
- Ben Kuipers, University of Michigan
- Bertram Malle, Brown University

*===Organizers===*
- Paul Bello, Naval Research Laboratory
- Louise Dennis, University of Manchester
- Dylan Hadfield-Menell, MIT
- Samer Nashed, UMass Amherst (Co-Chair)
- Justin Svegliato, UMass Amherst (Co-Chair)
- Alan Winfield, UWE Bristol
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