2006 IEEE International Conference on

Robotics and Automation

The 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation takes place at the Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort hotel, an "official" hotel of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida (Lake Buena Vista).

The theme of the ICRA 2006 conference is “Humanitarian Robotics,” reflecting the strong potential of robotic technology in areas such as demining, search/rescue missions, homeland security, humanoid robots, personal and service robots, etc.

NEW: Paper Registration and "No-Shows"

It came to our attention that around 50 papers have no corresponding conference registration. It was stated in the acceptance letter-email that one author per paper was expected to be registered. Please try to
register. The authors of such papers will be separately notified.
"No-shows" really affect the quality of the conference. We will implement a ZERO-TOLERANCE policy towards "No-shows."

NEW: Paper Presentation

Each paper will be allocated 15 minutes of time. Please make sure that your presentation does not go over 13 minutes, leaving time for questions. The session chairs are instructed to stick to the schedule and may interrupt your prolonged presentation. "No-shows" should be reported and the session chair should wait for the next time slot. Each room will have an LCD projector, a laser pointer, a screen, and audio system if it is necessary due to the room size. Please note that NO OVERHEAD PROJECTOR will be provided.

NEW: Student Helpers Are Needed

We are looking for student helpers to assist in the sessions and tutorials/workshops. We need one person per session/workshop along with some people to help with registration, plenaries, changing signs, etc. We will pay USD20 per session and USD60 for the whole day workshop/registration help. For IRS reasons, we need to limit this offer to US students and US permanent residents. There will be a training session on Sunday evening. If you are interested, please send your preferences to Prof. Yi Guo (yguo1@stevens.edu) till May 1, 2006.

NEW: ICRA IEEE-RAS Bundle Bonus Registration

Learn what the Robotics and Automation Society is about through our special ICRA/IEEE-RAS Bundle Registration which includes a half year membership in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

NEW: Conference Hotel Availability

The Conference hotel has sold out for the nights of Sunday and Monday, May 14-15, but rooms are available for the other nights in the block; May 13 to May 21. Many hotels are within walking or close to the Hillton for your consideration. You may want to stay one night or for your complete stay. Some of these hotels are:

• Wyndam Palace (phone: 407-827-2727)
• Royal Plaza (phone: 407-828- 2828)
• Doubletree (phone: 407-934-1000)
• Grosvenor Resort in Walt Disney World Resort (phone: 800-624-4109)
• (Within Short Driving Distance) Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (phone: 407-239-1234)

NEW: Student Travel Award

The successful applicant will receive US$500 for travel support and US$200 for conference registration. The deadline for application is April 10, 2006.

NEW: Conference Registration Open

ICRA 2006 Online Registration Link
IEEE, RAS Life Members show your membership card and register at the conference.

NEW: Call for Participation - NSF Workshop

An NSF sponsored workshop "The Future of Robotics Research: Robust Intelligence" will be held in conjunction with ICRA2006 on Sunday, May 14. For registration to the workshop, see details in Call for Participation. The registration is free, but the number of participants is limited on a first-come-first-served basis. Registration will be confirmed after submission of your response to a Survey on Robotics Research in Robust Intelligence.

Paper Presentation Guidelines

Each paper will be allocated 15 minutes of time. Please make sure that your presentation does not go over 13 minutes, leaving time for questions. The session chairs are instructed to stick to the schedule and may interrupt your prolonged presentation. "No-shows" should be reported and the session chair should wait for the next time slot. Each room will have an LCD projector, a laser pointer, a screen, and audio system if it is necessary due to the room size.

Poster Guidelines

Each poster wil be allocated a 3ftx4ft poster board space (please check the program for the specific date) at the Grand Foyer, in front of Salons IV and V. It will have the poster number and title. You can put there a single poster board or individual laminated 8.5"x11" sheets of paper. We will provide the mounting supplies. Next to the posters, there will be small coffee tables in order to place a laptop on them. The poster should be staffed during the whole day, especially during the coffee breaks and lunch breaks. Each poster should be mounted by 8:00am and be removed at 6:00pm.

Video Session Presentation Guidelines

All videos (3 minutes each) of a session's subset will play in sequence (as listed in the ICRA 2006 Program). A brief panel presentation (discussing future of their field) will be given before the next sub-set of videos is played. Each subset will last number_of_video_clips (in the subset) * 6 minutes.

NEW: The detailed program has been posted under the program link!!!

We received a record 1756 paper and 122 poster submissions. 680 papers and 59 posters were accepted. We also received 21 tutorial/workshop and 65 video submissions.