April 2018 Archives

We're excited to announce that we are now accepting presentation proposals for ROSCon 2018!

• Proposal submission deadline: July 2nd, 2018
• Submission site
• Call for proposals

Presentations on all topics related to ROS are invited. Examples include: introducing attendees to a ROS package or library, exploring how to use tools, manipulating sensor data, and applications for robots.

Women, members of minority groups, and members of other under-represented groups are encouraged to submit presentation proposals to ROSCon.

Proposals will be reviewed by a program committee that will evaluate fit, impact, and balance.

We cannot offer presentations that are not proposed! If there is a topic on which you would like to present, please propose it. If you have an idea for an important topic that you do not want to present yourself, please post it for discussion at ROS Discourse.

Topic areas

All ROS-related work is invited. Topics of interest include:

• Best practices
• New packages
• Robot-specific development
• Robot simulation
• Safety and security
• Embedded systems
• Product development & commercialization
• Research and education
• Enterprise deployment
• Community organization and direction
• Testing, quality, and documentation
• Robotics competitions and collaborations
• Related open source projects

To get an idea of the content and tone of ROSCon, check out the slides and videos from previous years.

Proposal format

A session proposal must include:

• Title
• Presenter (name and affiliation)
• Recommended duration: Short (~10 minutes), Medium (~20 minutes) or Long (~30 minutes)
• Summary [maximum 100 words]: to be used in advertising the presentation
• Description [maximum 1000 words]: outline, goals (what will the audience learn?), pointers to packages to be discussed

Please be sure to include in your proposal enough information for the program committee to evaluate the importance and impact of your presentation. We strongly encourage you to provide links to publicly available resources, including code repositories and demonstration videos. Demonstrated community interest is helpful in evaluating proposals. A proposal that promises to make an open source release in the future is difficult for the program committee to evaluate and less likely to be accepted.

Submit your proposal at the submissions site by July 2nd, 2018.

The ROSCon 2018 organizing committee aims for ROSCon to represent the entire ROS community, which is diverse and global. In addition to promoting technology that is open source, we also strive to ensure that our communities themselves are as open and accessible as possible, since we recognize that diversity benefits the ROS ecosystem as a whole.

Whoever you are, whatever you do, and wherever you do it, if you're interested in ROS, then we want you to join us at ROSCon. To help reduce the financial barriers to conference attendance, the ROSCon organizing committee is offering a number of scholarships to members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the tech community. Thanks to the support of the program's sponsors, these scholarships each include a complimentary conference registration pass and three nights' accommodation shared with another recipient[1]. Limited travel support is available for participants whose travel to the conference would otherwise be infeasible[2]. Please note that all other expenses (including any visa requirements) will be the responsibility of the participant.

• [1] To maximize the impact of the scholarship funds, scholarship recipients will be asked to share a room with another recipient. Under special circumstances alternative arrangements can be accommodated.
• [2] Participants will be responsible for covering their travel expenses up-front, as the travel support will be provided at the conference.

Eligibility

We invite applications from members of groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the robotics community (including but not limited to: women, LGBTQ+, people of color, people with disabilities, people from racial and/or ethnic minorities in the robotics community, and people from developing nations), who may not otherwise be able to attend ROSCon.

Previous ROSCon Diversity Scholarship recipients are not eligible to re-apply, but we are proud to share this feedback from a participant of the 2017 Diversity Program:

The ROSCon Diversity Scholarship Program provided me with an opportunity that would have been completely impossible without it. I was able to attend my first robotics conference and feel empowered to keep working to try and make a positive impact on this community. Also, it was very encouraging to see so many companies stepping up to promote and enable diversity within their companies and the robotics community. Thank you!

Sponsors

The ROSCon 2018 Diversity Program is made possible with support from the following sponsors:

If your organization is interested in getting involved in the Diversity Program, please get in contact.

How to Apply

To apply, fill out this form by May 6 2018, describing how you are involved with ROS and the robotics community and what you hope to get out of attending ROSCon. Scholarships will be awarded based on a combination of need and impact. Every applicant will be notified of the outcome of their application.

For more information about ROSCon 2018, including the program, code of conduct, and childcare options, please see http://roscon.ros.org/2018

Thank you to the conference Platinum Sponsor, Erle, and to our Gold Sponsors: Amazon, Clearpath, Fetch Robotics, Google, Locus, ROBOTIS, Tier IV, Universal Robots.

With each release of ROS we have a tradition of having a logo and making t-shirts. ROS Melodic Morenia is coming out in May. To let you show your ROS colors and support this tradition, we have setup a Teespring Campaign in both the US and the EU. Note that both these campaigns can ship worldwide.

Ordering will be open until May 8th. Order now!

• US Fulfillment Center
• EU Fulfillment Center

Since this is the first public announcement, here's the full graphic for Melodic Morenia.

Thanks to everyone who's been helping prepare the Melodic release. We're looking forward to the release in May. We expect the tshirts ordered in this campaign will arrive just before ROS Melodic Morenia is released!

This week Dirk Thomas was interviewed on the ROS Developers Podcast talking about ROS2 and ROS1 information.

You can listen here: