Student Travel Support for 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

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This proposal requests travel funds from NSF to assist 50 US students to participate in ICRA 2012, which will be held in St. Paul, MN, May 14-18, 2012. The purpose of this Group Travel Grant Proposal is to make it possible for US students and postdocs to attend the conference, present their work, and forge connections with colleagues from around the world. This year marks the 50th anniversary of robotics. In addition to the regular conference, ICRA 2012 will feature interactive presentations, robot demonstrations, thematic plenary sessions on design, bio-robotics, and intelligent transportation, and special-topic symposia celebrating the conference theme of "Innovation for Tomorrow's Needs." As part of this award, students will also have the opportunity to participate in special events and learn more about the field of robotics. Travel funding will be in the form of partial airfare reimbursement and full reimbursement for student registration to approximately 50 U.S. students who plan to present at least one paper at the Conference.Broader Impacts: Most major international robotics conferences were outside of North America this past year, so demand should be very high from American students and professors to attend this major robotics event. The benefit to student learning and mentorship by encouraging attendance of students by direct monetary means brings large dividends in student confidence, knowledge and expertise.