ICRA 2023 Workshop
 June 2nd, 2023

    2nd Workshop Toward Robot Avatars

Organizers:

• Sven Behnke, University of Bonn, Germany
   
  
• Serena Ivaldi, INRIA Nancy Grand-Est and LORIA, France
   
  
• Kris Hauser, University of Illinois, USA

Description

The ANA Avatar XPRIZE was an international, $10 million competition to build a telerobotic “avatar” system that allows human operators to transport their senses, actions, and presence across long distances. Potential applications of avatars are diverse and include telecommuting, emergency response, service, healthcare, space, and tourism sectors.
Telepresence through avatars is a relevant and topical area in robotics research because avatars represent a next generation of telecommuting devices that enable workers to not only communicate through audio and video, but also navigate remotely and manipulate objects in the distant environment. The process of developing a robotic avatar touches on many areas of robotics research, including telerobotics, haptics, tactile sensing, robot hands, VR/AR, and human robot-interaction.
In November 2022, 17 teams from ten countries competed in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE Finals. The workshop is an opportune time for XPRIZE teams, observers, and researchers in related areas to discuss and reflect on their perspectives on the current state of avatar technology, as well as future research challenges in the areas of telerobotics, haptics, VR/AR, and human-robot interaction. The program will consist of invited presentations, contributed talks and demos, and a panel discussion.

Invited Speakers and Panelists

• Fumihiro Kato, The University of Tokyo, Japan
• David Locke, Senior Program Director, ANA Avatar XPRIZE, USA
• Akira Fukabori, Founder & CEO avatarin, Japan
• Rich Walker, Shadow Robot Company, UK
• Daniel Leidner, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany
• Daniele Pucci, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
• Oussama Khatib, Stanford University, USA
• Max Schwarz and Sven Behnke, Team NimbRo, University of Bonn, Germany
  
• Peter Whitney and Taskin Padir, Team Northeastern, Northeastern University, USA
  
• Corinna E. Lathan, ANA Avatar XPRIZE Jury Member, AnthroTronix, Inc., USA (TBC)
  

Call for Contributions

We are soliciting contributed presentations and demonstrations on all aspects related to robotic avatars, including but not limited to:

• Components for Avatar systems (sensors, mechanisms, displays, etc.)
• Methods for perception and control in Avatar systems
• Simulators for Avatar systems
• Integrated Avatar systems
• Telerobotics
• Haptics
• VR/AR technology
• Mitigating communication latency and bandwidth limitations
• Shared or supervised autonomy
• Benchmarking of Avatar systems
• Applications for Avatar systems
• Position presentations, e.g. on ways to further advance robotic Avatars

Submission deadline: March 31st, 2023

Acceptance notification: April 15th, 2023

Final version due: April 30th, 2023

Workshop date: June 2nd, 2023

Presentation or demonstration proposals must be submitted as a PDF in 2+n format (at most 2 pages of content and n pages of references in the ICRA double column format). Templates are available here.
All submissions must be made through EasyChair and will be peer-reviewed.
Final versions of accepted presentations and demonstrations will be made available on the workshop website.

Location

The workshop will take part in the Exhibition Centre London (ExCeL) in the program of the 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

Tentative Schedule

  9:00 –   9:10 Welcome and introduction
  9:10 – 10:00 2 Invited talks
10:00 – 10:30 Contributed presentations and demonstrations

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 – 11:50 2 Invited talks
11:50 – 12:20 Contributed presentations and demonstrations

12:20 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:40 4 Invited talks
14:40 – 15:10 Contributed presentations and demonstrations

15:10 – 15:40 Coffee break

15:40 – 16:30 2 Invited talks
16:30 – 17:20 Panel discussion
17:20 – 17:30 Farewell

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