Call for Papers

Robotic systems are starting to revolutionize many applications, from transportation to health care assisted by technological advancements, such as cloud computing, novel hardware design, and novel manufacturing techniques. However, several of the characteristics that make robots ideal for certain future applications --- autonomy, learning, knowledge sharing, etc. --- can also raise concerns in the evolution of the technology from academic institutions to the public sphere. For instance, controlling the behavior of large teams of robots still presents unique challenges for human operators. In addition, important issues in the fields of data privacy, security and transparency can become burdens for the future use of this technology in high-sensitive scenarios. Therefore, solutions to these issues might be necessary steps towards mainstream adoption.

Blockchain, an emerging technology originated in the digital currency field, demonstrates that by combining peer-to-peer networks with cryptographic algorithms, agents can reach agreements in a transparent manner without the need for a controlling authority. For instance, blockchain-based tools such as "smart contracts" are already showing great potential to make robotic operations more secure, autonomous, flexible and even profitable. Therefore, bridging the gap between purely scientific domains and real-world applications

This symposium seeks to move beyond the classical view of robotic systems to advance our understanding about the possibilities and limitations of combining robots with blockchain technology. Insights about the following questions are especially important: What blockchain tools are available to increase the reliability and transparency of robotic systems? What kind of algorithms are suitable to combine both technologies? Are there new models and methods to connect robots to blockchain-based technology such as "smart contracts"? Are distributed networks such as Bitcoin a feasible way to integrate robotic systems in our society? Are there new business models for robot ventures based on cryptographic algorithms?

Below is a list of possible topics that would fit this symposium:

• Privacy and security for robotic systems

• Autonomous cyber-physical systems

• Blockchain for networked systems and IoT

• Peer-to-peer and distributed models for robotic systems

• Self-regulated robotic systems

• Distributed sensing and coordination

• Blockchain and mobile systems

• Blockchain for multi-agent systems

• Citizen science

• New decentralized business models

In addition to this brief list of possible topics, we welcome submissions on other topics addressing robotic systems in the society. We seek manuscripts with conceptual and theoretical contributions as well as papers documenting valuable results of experiments conducted with real-robots. We welcome research reviews that provide a comprehensive view of any of the fields mentioned previously. Papers must be edited using the LNCS format and submitted electronically as PDF files via EasyChair here:

Speakers

Prof. alex ('sandy') Pentland

Professor Alex ('Sandy') Pentland directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics labs and previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India. He is one of the most-cited scientists in the world, and Forbes recently declared him one of the "7 most powerful data scientists in the world" along with Google founders and the Chief Technical Officer of the United States. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.

prof. marco dorigo

Prof. Marco Dorigo directs IRIDIA, the AI lab of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He is the inventor of the Ant Colony Optimization metaheuristic for discrete optimization problems and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Swarm Intelligence.

Marco is a fellow of the AAAI, EurAI and IEEE and has received numerous scientific awards such as the IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award, an ERC Advanced Grant, the Cajastur International Prize for Soft Computing “Mamdani Prize”, and the Marie Curie Excellence Award.

Dr. Thomas Hardjono

Dr. Thomas Hardjono is the Technical Director of MIT Connection Science and the MIT Trust::Data Consortium. Passionate about the Internet infrastructure, equitable access and open source, he devoted several years at MIT running the MIT Kerberos Consortium. Prior to this he was a Distinguished Engineer at Bay Networks, Principal Scientist at VeriSign PKI, and held CTO roles at several start-ups.

PROF. Stephanie GIL

Prof. Stephanie Gil is an Assistant Professor at the Arizona State University.  Prior, she was a research scientist in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) at MIT. Her research interests are in multi-robot control, distributed optimization of robot communication networks, cybersecurity for multi-robot teams, accurate indoor positioning, and communication for human-robot collaboration.

Dr. eduardo castello

Dr. Eduardo Castello is a Marie Curie Fellow in the Human Dynamics Group at the MIT Media Lab.  He is working with Prof. Alex ('Sandy') Pentland and Prof. Marco Dorigo in order to explore the combination of swarm robotic systems and blockchain technology to implement new security, behavior and business models for distributed robotic systems.  Eduardo  received his B.Sc.(Hons) Intelligent Systems from Portsmouth University (UK) and his M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Robotics Engineering from Osaka University (Japan).

To be announced

dr. Ognjen ('Oggi') Rudovic

Dr. Ognjen ('Oggi') Rudovic is a Marie Curie Fellow in the Affective Computing Group at MIT Media Lab, working on machine learning for the new generation of affective robots. He has extensive experience in Automatic Control Theory, Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. His current research interests are in machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision, and their applications to multi-modal human-robot interaction, health care, personalized learning, and secure data sharing.

To be announced

Agenda

SESSION 1

• Opening session – introductory talk (10 minutes)

• Keynote lectures (3 * 20 minutes)

• Presentation of SYMPOSIUM papers by authors (2 * 15 minutes)

• START-UP DEMOS (2 * 30 MINUTES)

 BREAK - NETWORKING

SESSION 2

• Opening session – introductory talk (10 minutes)

• Keynote lectures (3 * 20 minutes)

• Presentation of SYMPOSIUM papers by authors (2 * 15 minutes)

• START-UP DEMOS (2 * 30 MINUTES)

Organizers

MIT Media Lab

75 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA 02139

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