Travel Support for 2009 IJCAI Robotics Workshop and Exhibition

2005年，NSF举办了？机器人：来自前沿研究的美国机器人展？这是一项为期两年的全面研究评估美国、亚洲和欧洲的机器人项目的结果。随后的报告得出的结论是，美国有可能失去其在机器人领域的领先地位。可以说，美国仍然是人工智能（AI）和机器学习研究的世界领导者。这样的研究对于推进机器人需要与人互动和在非结构化环境中操纵物体的认知至关重要。因此，这种对机器认知的需求为美国机器人专家提供了填补关键空白的机会，既可以垂直推进，又可以引领该领域。一年一度的国际人工智能联合会议（IJCAI）是一个可以将美国和国际机器人专家和人工智能专家聚集在一起的场所。在过去的15年里，IJCAI举办了机器人研讨会和展览，作为整个会议的一部分。这样一个场所为社区提供了一个独特的机会来制定路线图，以利用和应用美国？美国在人工智能和机器人方面的优势。为此，2009年IJCAI机器人展览和研讨会（加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳7月13日至17日，2009年）将通过创建一个与商业和业余部门的联合论坛，强调在学术界之外使用机器人技术。智力优势：工作坊？超越学术：探索商业和业余机器人的经验教训和最佳实践？专注于分享所有社区对机器人技术的需求和期望。来自Willow Garage、iRobot和业余机器人出版物Make Magazine的演讲者将从可重复性、测量和定位部署的角度为共同挑战提供独特的视角和方法。这些想法和经验的交叉融合对于成功地将人工智能整合到机器人技术中至关重要。研讨会的最终目标是产生一份描述联合研究机会的白皮书。这具有智力上的价值，因为人工智能和机器人社区都处于一个十字路口，关于如何最好地将机器人技术推向算法和实验方法，从而在非结构化环境中产生可重复的结果。展览包括四个主题，涉及随后的机器人挑战：1)多机器人团队，2)示范学习，3)操作，以及4)大学生机器人挑战。这些领域中的每一个都被以前的NSF支持的研讨会确定为人工智能和机器人集成的重点领域。更广泛的影响：作为研讨会讨论和小组讨论的补充，将有大量的实践展览。在这里，研究团队将展示支持学习、团队合作和操作挑战主题的工作演示。在IJCAI大会期间，展品将展出整整2天，为广泛的技术观众提供了一个绝佳的机会。展览也将向公众开放，以提高对最新技术的认识。当地学校和夏令营的学生将被邀请参观。在前几年，该展览吸引了当地的学校团体通过一天的实地考察来参加。参观展览为学生和领导者提供了一个了解机器人和人工智能如何在社会中发挥重要作用的机会。

In 2005, the NSF hosted ?Robots: An Exhibition of U.S. Automatons from the Leading Edge of Research?, which was the result of a 2-year comprehensive study assessing robotics programs in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. The subsequent report concluded that America is in danger of losing its leading position in robotics. Arguably, the U.S. remains the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning research. Such research is critical to advancing the cognition that robots need to interact with people and manipulate objects in unstructured environments. This need for machine cognition thus provides American roboticists with opportunities to fill critical gaps and both vertically advance and lead the field. The annual IJCAI event (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence) is a venue that can bring American and International roboticists and AI experts together. For over a decade-and-a-half, the IJCAI has held the Robotics Workshop and Exhibition as part of the overall conference. Such a venue provides a unique opportunity for the community to formulate roadmaps that leverage and apply America?s strengths in artificial intelligence to robotics. Towards this, the 2009 IJCAI Robotics Exhibition and Workshop (Pasadena CA July 13-17, 2009) will emphasize the use of robotics outside of academia by creating a joint forum with the commercial and amateur sectors.Intellectual Merit: The workshop ?Beyond Academia: Exploring the Lessons and Best Practices in Commercial and Amateur Robotics? focuses on sharing the needs and expectations of robotics from all communities. Speakers from Willow Garage, iRobot and the amateur robotics publication Make Magazine will offer unique perspectives and approaches to common challenges from the perspective of repeatability, measurement and situated deployment. The cross-pollination of these ideas and experiences is crucial to the successful integration of AI into robotics. The ultimate goal of the workshop is to generate a white paper describing joint research opportunities. This has intellectual merit because both the AI and robotics communities are at a crossroads regarding how to best move robotics forward toward algorithms and experimental approaches that produce repeatable results in unstructured environments. The exhibition consists of four themes that relate to subsequent robotics challenges: 1) multirobot teaming, 2) learning by demonstration, 3) manipulation, and 4) undergraduate robotics challenges. Each of these areas has been identified as focus areas for the integration of AI and robotics by previous NSF supported workshops.Broader Impact: Complementing the workshop discussions and panel will be a significant number of hands-on exhibits. Here, research teams will showcase working demonstrations that support the challenge themes of learning, teaming and manipulation. Exhibits will be on display for 2 full days during the general IJCAI Conference, providing an excellent opportunity to engage a broad technical audience. The exhibits will also be open to the general public to raise awareness of the state-of-the-art. Students from local schools and summer camps will be invited to visit. In previous years, the exhibition attracted local school groups that attended via a day field trip. Access to the exhibits provides an opportunity for students and leaders to learn how robotics and AI play important roles in society.