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<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Char1"><span style="font-size: 22pt;"><small>Control
of locomotion: from animals to robots</small><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Char"><o:p></o:p><small><small><span
style="font-size: 14pt;">Workshop at the “Robotics: Science and
Systems” Conference</span></small></small></span><small><small><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal;"> </span></span><span
class="Char"><span
style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;"><a
href="http://www.roboticsconference.org/"><b style=""><i style="">RSS2008</i></b></a></span></span><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">,</span></span><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span><st1:place><st1:city><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br>
Zurich</span></span></st1:city><span class="Char"><span
style="font-size: 14pt;">, </span></span><st1:country-region><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Switzerland</span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">, </span></span><st1:date
month="6" day="28" year="2008"><span class="Char"><span
style="font-size: 14pt;">Saturday, June 28, 2008</span></span></st1:date></small></small><span
class="Char"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><small><small>.</small></small>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><b><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Organizers</span></b><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">: <br>
<b style=""><a href="http://birg.epfl.ch/page27899.html">Auke Ijspeert</a>
</b>(EPFL, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Lausanne</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Switzerland</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">), <b style=""><a
href="http://www-arts.sssup.it/people/prof/pdario/pdario.htm">Paolo
Dario</a></b> (SSSA, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Italy</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">), and <b style=""><a
href="http://www.neuro.ki.se/grillner/pages/sten1.html">Sten <span
class="SpellE">Grillner</span></a></b> (<span class="SpellE">Karolinska</span>
Institute, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Sweden</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">)<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Workshop website: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://birg2.epfl.ch/rss2008/">http://birg2.epfl.ch/rss2008/</a><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Description</span></b><span
style="font-family: Arial;">: </span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The goal of
the workshop is to discuss how inspiration from the animal kingdom can
help improving locomotion skills in robots, and how robots can be used
as scientific tools in animal motor control. All aspects of locomotion
will be considered including materials, actuators, sensors, control,
and learning. In particular, the workshop aims at exploring how these
different aspects can collectively be designed to improve the <span
class="SpellE">locomotor</span> skills of future robots. We will
discuss possible roads to tackle the challenges related to having
robots get out of the labs and move in unstructured and partially
unknown terrains. <o:p></o:p></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">While
robotics has clearly something to gain from biological inspiration, we
will also discuss how robotics can give something back to biology,
namely how robots can be used as scientific tools in animal motor
control. For instance, how robots can be used to test hypotheses about
neural circuits and/or biomechanical principles in invertebrate and
vertebrate animals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><b>Topics</b>:
<span class="SpellE">Neuro</span>-mechanical coupling, central pattern
generators, compliant robots, passive and dynamic walkers, gait
transitions, motor learning, swimming robots, crawling robots, walking
robots, jumping robots, <i style="">etc</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><b style="">Format: </b>The
workshop will have an interesting mix of biologists and <span
class="SpellE">roboticists</span> as invited speakers (see list below)
together with a poster session, whose participants will be selected
after an open call for poster (see below). The workshop will be
organized such as to provide ample time for discussions. We aim at a
75-25% ratio between presentations and discussions. We therefore
suggest having each talk followed by a discussion, i.e. an alternation
between talks and discussions. To guide the discussions, we will
distribute beforehand a set of strategic questions (emails to speakers
and participants + on this web page), and invite speakers and
participants to exchange their thoughts about them. For more
information, see the workshop website</span>: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://birg2.epfl.ch/rss2008/">http://birg2.epfl.ch/rss2008/</a>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Invited
speakers:<o:p></o:p></span></b> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="IT">Paolo
Arena</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"
lang="IT">, University of Catania, Italy</span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span><span
class="SpellE"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Holk</span></b></span><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> Cruse</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">University of <span
class="SpellE">Bielefeld</span></span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Germany</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="IT"><br>
Paolo Dario</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"
lang="IT">, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy.</span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Robert Full</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">,
UC </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Berkeley</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">USA</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><span
class="SpellE"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Sten</span></b></span><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> <span class="SpellE">Grillner</span></span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, <span class="GramE">The</span>
Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, <span class="SpellE">Karolinska</span>
Institute, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Sweden</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Auke Ijspeert</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, EPFL, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Switzerland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Hiroshi Kimura</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, Kyoto Institute of </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Technology</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Japan</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Roger Quinn</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">,
</span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Case Western Reserve
University</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">USA</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Stefan <span class="SpellE">Schaal</span></span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">University of Southern
California</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">USA</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span><b
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Andre <span class="SpellE">Seyfarth</span></span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">University of Jena</span></st1:city><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Germany</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Call
for posters<o:p></o:p></span></b> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p>Researchers
in animal and robot locomotion are invited to submit a <b style="">2-page
abstract</b> for presenting a poster at the workshop. Accepted poster
presenters will also have the opportunity to make a <b style="">2-min
poster teaser</b> (i.e. a very short oral presentation) to advertise
their poster.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Please send your abstract
to <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:auke.ijspeert@epfl.ch">auke.ijspeert@epfl.ch</a> <span
style=""></span>before <b style="">June
14</b>. Feel free to send it
before, since we will review abstracts as they come in and we might
have to restrict the number of accepted posters due to space
restrictions.<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Registration<br>
<br>
</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Participants
will need to register to the RSS2008 conference, see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.roboticsconference.org/">http://www.roboticsconference.org/</a>
and
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.roboticsconference.org/registration.shtml">http://www.roboticsconference.org/registration.shtml</a><br>
Note that the early registration for RSS2008 with a 100 Swiss Francs
discount ends on May 25 (i.e. very soon!).<br style="">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Char1"><span
style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
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