Connectionists: Connectionist: CfP Living Machines Conference 2021. 27-30 July 2021

Tue Jul 13 11:48:52 EDT 2021

Dear colleagues,

please feel free to circulate this post.
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*Living Machine: The 10th International Conference on Biomimetic and
Biohybrid Systems*

27 – 30 July 2021.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 event will be online to assure
continuity of the Living Machines conference, community engagement, and
support.

http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021

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*About **L**iving **M**achines 202**1*

The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on
our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living
systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial
systems. Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the
distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The
investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals.
First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used
to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic
technologies can provide useful, elegant, and efficient solutions to
unsolved science and engineering challenges. Biohybrid systems are formed
by combining at least one biological component—an existing living
system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. Bypassing
information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid
bio-artificial entity. The conference theme also encompasses biomimetic
methods for manufacture, repair, and recycling inspired by natural
processes such as reproduction, digestion, morphogenesis, and metamorphosis.

*Program and Participation** to **the 2021 special edition "10 years of L*
*iving **M**achines**".*

*For the 10th edition of the conference, **we seek to highlight the most
exciting international fields of research united by the theme of "Living
Machines". *

This special edition will be dedicated to reflecting on how the field of
Living Machines has evolved over the last 10 years and how it will progress
in the next 10 years. For this reason, we will have retrospective and
prospective contributions from leaders in the field.

*Conference **Registration*.

*Attendance to the plenary talks and workshops will be granted upon
registration and will **be free.*

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*The Living Machines 2021 program includes:*

*One day Plenary Speakers*     27, July 2021  -  10:00 -18:00 UTC

As this special edition features the 10 years of Living Machines, plenary
speakers will highlight the relevant contributions to the fields of
biomimetics and biohybrid systems and help to address two main questions:
have these fields evolved in the last 10 years? What will be their unique
challenges and expected progress in the next 10 years, and how will they
impact society?

Invited speakers:

*Paul Verschure*, IBEC, ICREA, ES  -  *Tony Prescott*, University of
Sheffield, UK, *Mark Cutkosky*, Stanford University in California, US
- *Barbara
Mazzolai,* Italian Institute of Technology, IT  - *Roger Quinn*, Case
Western Reserve University, US  - *Holger Krapp*, University College
London, UK

*Three-days of dedicated Workshops*  (two workshops per day)    28-30 July
2021 - 13:00 UTC

Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to
participate in full or half-day workshops on Living Machines related themes

Invited speakers will give either give a short presentation or a live
demonstration of their work.

Registration can be done directly via the Living Machines web page, and w
orkshops attendees must register for each workshop they wish to attend.
https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/

28 July 2021     *Bio-inspired Locomotion
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/bio-inspired-locomotion/>*

We will bring together biologists and roboticists to explore the design and
control of living machines for the purpose of locomotion in the natural
world. This workshop will cover both biomechanics and neural organization,
and how the systems work together to achieve effective interactions with
the physical environment.

Organizers:

*Alexander Hunt*, Portland State University
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&hl=en&org=11857208510843490515>,
US - ajh26 at pdx.edu

28 July 2021     *Perspective for softrobotics: the field's past and future*
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/soft-robotics/>

The soft robotics workshop will be focused on answering five questions
concerning the past and future of soft robots: how to produce them; make
them move, sense and think; and how to educate using soft robots? With a
concluding discussion about the field's challenges for the next 5 to 10
years.

Organizers:

*Falk Tauber*, University of Freiburg, DE -
falk.tauber at biologie.uni-freiburg.de

*Marc Desmulliez*, Heriot-Watt University, UK - M.Desmulliez at hw.ac.uk

29 July 2021*     Plant functions, hybrid systems, and plantrobotics
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/plant-robotics/>*

This workshop is a great platform to discuss plant functions that can
inspire robotics, as well as hybrid systems in which living plants become
key components interacting with artificial technologies.

Organizers:

*Fabian Meder*, Italian Institute of Technology - fabian.meder at iit.it

29 July 2021      *Invertebrate robotics, aka "no backbone, no problem"
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/invertebrate-robotics/>*

Scientists have used invertebrates as model to test and validate robots of
different kinds. In this workshop, we will explore the work done at the
intersection of robotics and the world of invertebrates and highlight the
most advanced approaches where interactions between the two fields have
achieved relevant insights.

Organizers:

*Michael** Mangan*, University of Sheffield, UK - m.mangan at sheffield.ac.uk

*Nicholas **Szczecinski*, West Virginia University
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&hl=en&org=4973503725159755703>,
US nss00001 at mix.wvu.edu

30 July 2021   *It's Alive!: Biohybrid robots made from livingmaterials
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/bio-hybrid-robotics/>*
*.*

The workshop will bring together speakers in tissue engineered biohybrid
robots, bacteriobots, and cyborgs to discuss 10-years of progress in
biohybrid robotics and future challenges in the field. The workshop will
conclude with a panel with all of the speakers to discuss the next 10-years
of biohybrid robotics and living machines.

Organizers:

*Vickie Webster-Wood*, Carnegie Mellon University
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&hl=en&org=17554517495610703090>,
US - vwebster at andrew.cmu.edu

*Masahiro Shimizu*, Osaka University, Japan - shimizu at sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

30 July 2021*     Neuro Robotics
<https://livingmachinesconference.eu/2021/conference/neuro-robotics/>*

This workshop will address embodied autonomous systems, synthetic neural
systems and the control principles underlying embodied perception,
cognition and action.

Organizers:

*Uriel **Martinez*-Hernandez, University of Bath, UK  u.martinez at bath.ac.uk

*Vicky Vouloutsi*, Technology Innovation Institute, UAE
vicky.vouloutsi at tii.ae

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*Conference Steering* *C**ommittee*

- Paul Verschure, IBEC, BIST, ICREA, CSN foundation, ES

- Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield, CSN foundation, UK

- Thomas Speck, University of Freiburg, DE

- Marc Desmulliez, Heriot-Watt University, UK
- Jose Halloy, Paris Diderot University, FR

- Masahiro Shimizu, Osaka University, JP

- Nathan Lepora, University of Bristol
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&hl=en&org=16925647021903757957>,
UK

- Roger Quinn, Case Western Reserve University, US

- Joseph Ayers, Northeastern University
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&hl=en&org=55793137512334013>,
US

- Mark Cutkosky, Stanford University in California, US

- Barbara Mazzolai, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), IT

- Cecilia Laschi, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA), Italy

- Koh Hosoda, Osaka University, JP

- Minoru Asada, Osaka University, JP

- Anna Mura IBEC, BIST Barcelona, CSN Foundation, ES

*Communication** and **local organizer committee*

- Anna Mura, IBEC, Barcelona, CSN Foundation (General Organization)

- Falk Tauber, Cluster of Excellence *liv**Mat*S, University of Freiburg
(Online Connection)

- *Contact* info at convergentsciencenetwork.org

______________________
Dr. Anna Mura - PhD
SPECS (Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems)
<http://www.specs-lab.com/>
http://www.ibecbarcelona.eu/specs
@SPECS-lab

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)
Av. Eduard Maristany, 16 08019 Barcelona
Campus Diagonal Besòs, Edifici C, floor 6
Tel +34 934012545

Joins us
9th Living Machines conference <http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2020> in
Freiburg, Germany (28-31 July 2020)
13th Barcelona Cognition, Brain, Technology summer school
<https://specs.ibecbarcelona.eu/bcbt2018/>(Sept 2020)
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