CFP: 8th Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics

Tokyo, Japan

Submission deadline: April 1, 2018
Conference: September 16th – 20th, 2018
Website: http://www.icdl-epirob.org/


The past decade has seen the emergence of a new scientific field in which computational techniques
are employed to study how intelligent biological and artificial systems develop sensorimotor,
cognitive and social abilities through dynamic interactions with their physical and social environments,
with a twofold objective: to gain a better understanding of human and animal intelligence,
and to enable artificial systems with more adaptive and flexible behaviors.
The two most prominent conference series of this area, the International Conference on Development
and Learning (ICDL) and the International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), are joining
forces for the seventh time and invite submissions for a joint meeting in 2018 to explore, extend,
and consolidate the interdisciplinary boundaries of this exciting research field.
In addition to the usual paper submission-selection process, the BabyBot Challenge will crown computational
models that capture core aspects of specific psychology experiments.

=== Topics ===

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
– general principles of development and learning;
– development of skills in biological systems and robots;
– nature VS nurture, critical periods and developmental stages;
– architectures for cognitive development and life-long learning;
– emergence of body knowledge and affordance perception;
– models for prediction, planning and problem solving;
– models of human-human and human-robot interaction;
– emergence of verbal and non-verbal communication skills;
– epistemological foundations and philosophical issues;
– models of child development from experimental psycho

=== Keynote Speakers ===

Prof. Oliver Brock (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany) 

"Proposals for a Developmental AI"

 

Prof. Kenji Doya (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)

"What can we learn from the brain for AI (Tentative)"

Prof. Peter J. Marshall (Temple University, U.S.A.)

"Embodiment and Human Development"

Mr. Masahiro Fujita (Sony, Japan)

"AIｘRobotics in Sony (Tentative)"

=== Submission ===

Full six-page paper submissions: Accepted papers will be included in the
conference proceedings and will be selected for either an oral presentation
or a featured poster presentation.
Two-page poster abstract submissions: To encourage discussion of late-breaking results
or for work that is not sufficiently mature for a full paper, we will accept 2-page abstracts.
Tutorials and workshops: We invite experts in different areas to organize
either a tutorial or a workshop to be held on the first day or second day of the conference.
Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific topics through hand-on training and interactive experiences.

=== Babybot Challenge Paper Award ===

Babybot Challenge papers are expected to establish a strong link
between developmental psychology and robotics and/or computational
modeling. Submissions will be judged by the following criteria:

- How well does the computational model (e.g. an artificial system,
  which can be a robot or a software agent) represent the particular
  features of the experimental research addressed
- How closely the performance of the model replicate the experimental
  findings, and how parsimonious is the model .
- The extent of the novel insights or explanations generated by the
  model, and importantly whether the model make interesting and
  testable predictions.

We encourage the authors to tag their submission for "Babybot
Challenge" award during contributed paper submission, which would
indicate that there is significant content that puts the paper in the
spotlight of "Babybot Challenge".
The prize for the winner of the Babybot Challenge is a Titan-V (GPGPU
board) by Nvidia.

=== Workshops ===

We invite researchers to submit a one/two pages resume of their intended workshops
with indication of the invited speakers, duration (half day or full day), open to paper/poster submission and website.

=== Important Dates ===

Submission deadline: April 1st, 2018
Notification due: June 15th, 2018
Final Version due: July 15th, 2018
Conference: September 16th – 20th, 2018

=== Commitee ===

Tetsuya Ogata (Waseda University, Japan)
Angelo Cangelosi (Plymouth University, UK)
Tadahiro Taniguchi (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
Emre Ugur (Bogazici University, Turkey)
Junko Kanero (Koç University, Turkey)
Erhan Oztop (Özyeğin University, Turkey)
Minoru Asada (Osaka University, Japan)
Giulio Sandini (Italian Institute of Technology, Italy)
Alessandra Sciutti (Italian Institute of Technology, Italy)
Philippe Gaussier (University of Cergy-Pontoise, France)
Hiroki Mori (Waseda University, Japan)
Alexandre Pitti (University of Cergy-Pontoise, France)
Umay Suanda (University of Connecticut, USA)
Shingo Shimoda (Riken, Brain Science Institute, Japan)
Tetsunari Inamura (NII, Japan)
Hiromi Mochiyama (Tsukuba University, Japan)
Takato Horii (The University of Electro-Communications, Japan)
Shingo Murata (Waseda University, Japan)

=== Contacts ===

Alex Pitti: alexandre.pitti@u-cergy.fr
Hiroki Mori: mori@idr.ias.sci.waseda.ac.jp
Umay Suanda: s.suanda@uconn.edu