Call for Papers & Call for Tutorials and Special Sessions The Sixth Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics

IEEE ICDL-EPIROB 2016

Cergy-Pontoise / Paris, France September 19-22th, 2016 http://www.icdl-epirob.org

Conference description

The past decade has seen the emergence of a new scientific field that studies how intelligent biological and artificial systems develop sensorimotor, cognitive and social abilities, over extended periods of time, through dynamic interactions with their physical and social environments. This field lies at the intersection of a number of scientific and engineering disciplines including Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computational Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics. Various terms have been associated with this new field such as Autonomous Mental Development, Epigenetic Robotics, Developmental Robotics, etc., and several scientific meetings have been established. The two most prominent conference series of this field, the International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) and the International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), are now joining forces for the sixth time and invite submissions for a joint conference in 2016, to explore and extend the interdisciplinary boundaries of this field. 

Keynote speakers

• Tamim Asfour (http://h2t.anthropomatik.kit.edu/english/21_66.php) 
• Karl Friston (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~karl) 
• Julie Grezes (http://iec-lnc.ens.fr/social-cognition-group/membres-100/faculty-177/grezes-julie-dr2/?lang=en)

Others to be confirmed.

Call for Submissions

We invite submissions for this exciting window into the future of developmental sciences. Submissions which establish novel links between brain, behavior and computation are particularly encouraged.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• the development of perceptual, motor, cognitive, emotional, social, and communication skills in biological systems and robots; 
• embodiment; 
• general principles of development and learning; 
• interaction of nature and nurture; 
• sensitive/critical periods; 
• developmental stages; 
• grounding of knowledge and development of representations; 
• architectures for cognitive development and open-ended learning; 
• neural plasticity; 
• statistical learning;
• reward and value systems; 
• intrinsic motivations, exploration and play; 
• interaction of development and evolution; 
• use of robots in applied settings such as autism therapy; 
• epistemological foundations and philosophical issues. Any of the topics above can be simultaneously studied from the neuroscience, psychology or modeling/robotic point of view.

Submissions will be accepted in several formats:

1. 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. Featured posters will have a 1 minute "teaser" presentation as part of the main conference session and will be showcased in the poster sessions.
2. 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. These submissions will NOT be included in the conference proceedings. Accepted abstracts will be presented during poster sessions.
3. Tutorials and workshops: We invite experts in different areas to organize either a tutorial or a workshop to be held on the first day of the conference. Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific topics as well as overviews that will inform the interdisciplinary audience about the state-of-the-art in child development, neuroscience, robotics, or any of the other disciplines represented at the conference. A workshop is an opportunity to present a topic cumulatively. Workshop can be half- or full-day in duration including oral presentations as well as posters. Submission format: two pages. 

Call for Tutorials and Workshops

We invite experts in different areas to organize a tutorial or workshop, which will be held on the first day of the conference. Participants in tutorials and workshops are asked to register for the main conference. Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific topics as well as overviews that will inform the interdisciplinary audience about the state-of-the-art in child development, neuroscience, robotics, or any of the other disciplines represented at the conference. A workshop is an opportunity to present a topic cumulatively. Workshop can be half- or full-day in duration including oral presentations as well as posters. 

Submissions (max. two pages) should be sent no later than April 1st, 2016 to:

Verena Hafner hafner@informatik.hu-berlin.de
Sofiane Boucenna sofiane.boucenna@ensea.fr 

Alexandre Pitti alexandre.pitti@ensea.fr

including: 

• Title of tutorial or workshop; 
• Tutorial/workshop speaker(s), including short CVs/affiliations and other relevant information; 
• Concept of the tutorial/workshop; target audience or prerequisites. All proposals submitted will be subjected to a peer review process. 

Important dates

• April 1st, 2016, paper submission deadline 
• June 1st, 2016, author notification 
• July 1st, 2014, final version (camera ready) due 
• September 19th-22nd, 2014, conference == Program committee

Organizers

General chairs: 

Minoru Asada Osaka (Japan). 

Philippe Gaussier, Cergy-Pontoise (France).

Program chairs: 

Verena Hafner, Berlin (Germany) 

Alexandre Pitti, Cergy-Pontoise (France)

Bridge chairs: 

David Cohen, Paris (France) 

Mathew Schlesinger, Southern Illinois (USA)

Publication chairs: 

Sofiane Boucenna, Cergy-Pontoise (France)

Publicity chairs: 

Arnaud Blanchard, Cergy-Pontoise (France) 

Manuel Lopes, Bordeaux (France) 

Yulia Sandamirskaya, Bochum (Germany)

Local chairs:

Pierre Andry, Cergy-Pontoise (France)

Nicolas Cuperlier, Cergy-Pontoise (France)

Finance chairs:

Ghilès Mostafaoui, Cergy-Pontoise (France)