Scope

Evolution by natural selection has engineered living organisms to have extraordinary abilities. These abilities are present at the level of the organism, due to the diverse and inventive biomechanical and control designs that are found in nature. Abilities can also emerge from the interactions of many organisms; a swarm can perform many functions that its component individuals cannot possibly accomplish alone. For example, in addition to the ability to adapt to the environment, a swarm can construct a suitable environment for its own advantage. The constructive understanding of intelligence of living things is a very interesting approach from the point of view of biology and engineering. Thus, the natural engineering of evolution provides inspiration for human engineering, and the reverse engineering of nature can help us better understand biology.

The aim of this symposium is to foster connections between biologists and engineers who are interested in the engineering of living things, from biomechanics to swarm intelligence, and the perpetuation of a new academic field by integrating biology and engineering. In addition to the main-themes of understanding swarm behavior and bio-inspired robotics, in the next iteration we also plan to add elements of bioimaging and functional morphology (creating libraries of biological engineering to inspire human engineering). All aspects of the above themes are welcome, including but not limited to:

Biology

  • Social Insects
  • Evolutionary Cooperation
  • Ethology
  • Social Physiology
  • Adaptation
  • Self-Organization
  • Functional Morphology
  • Phase Polyphenism
  • Biomechanics

Engineering

  • Swarm Intelligence
  • Swarm Robotics
  • Biomimetics
  • Bio-Inspired Robotics
  • Multi-Agent Systems
  • Walking Robots
  • Modular Robotics
  • Decentralized Control
  • Distributed Systems


Keynote Speakers

Deborah Gordon
(Stanford University)

Francesco Bullo
(University of California, Santa Barbara)

Takashi Ikegami
(University of Tokyo)

Marco Dorigo
(Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Guy Theraulaz
(Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, CBI CNRS)


Workshop

Role of movement-based active perception in navigation and its neurorobotic correlates

Deadline for poster abstract submission: August 21, 2019
Notification of acceptance: September 21, 2019
 Workshop: November 22, 2019
Workshop Program [ Updated Nov 12 ]

Overview

Active perception in animals involves executing behaviours that move sensory appendages (e.g. eyes, pinnae, antennae or whiskers) in space to increase flow of sensory stimuli as well as the sampled information content. This increased sampling can significantly improve the animal’s understanding of its environment. In this context, perception (interpretation of sensory stimuli) and action (behaviours that move the sensory appendages) are tightly coupled. Several biological studies have identified the important role of movement-based active sensing for increasing sensory volumes and many robotic studies have investigated the principles underlying active perception in adaptive behaviour. Insects and rodents are very promising model organisms to study active perception, as they possess highly mobile sensory appendages, a wide variety of sensilla and a well-studied nervous system. The neurorobotic approach, i.e. developing robotic models of biological neural mechanisms, is well-suited for hypothesis-testing as it allows one to isolate and embed the neural mechanism of interest within an artificial body that can sense and act in the real world. This relieves scientists from the task of modelling the statistics of sensory stimuli, as the real world provides these statistics for free. This full day workshop brings together leading experts, from both biology and neurorobotics perspectives, to shed light on the principles underlying active antennal perception as well as its neural correlates and discuss the neurorobotic approach to modelling active perception.

Learning outcomes:
  • Understanding the basic concepts and principles of active perception,
  • Knowledge of neural correlates of active perception,
  • Knowledge of embodied AI and the neurorobotic approach,
  • Applying these concepts and knowledge in developing agents/robots that utilise actively moving antennae to execute navigation behaviours such as taxis
The half-day workshop consists of:
  • Theory (lectures): Invited talks by experts from biology and neurorobotics,
  • Practice tutorial: Hypothesis-testing via neurorobots in simulated and/or real-world navigation tasks,
  • Discussion and future directions
Contributions are solicited in the form of 1 page conference style abstract on active perception. This includes both studies in biological organisms as well as in robots. All abstracts must be formatted in the SWARM conference style. The selected contributions will be presented in a form of a poster during the workshop. We particularly encourage young scientists to contribute their research results (reporting early-stage research where results are not yet available is welcome as well). We also welcome live robot demonstrations on active perception models. Submissions have to be sent to danish[at]mmmi.sdu.dk (please replace [at] with @) in PDF format only. One author per accepted workshop contribution (poster and/or demo) is required to register for and attend the workshop to present the accepted abstract.

Workshop organizers:

Danish Shaikh and Alejandro Pequeño Zurro


Workshop

Swarm Intelligence in AI and ALife

November 22, 2019
Workshop Program

Overview

The 3rd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics (SWARM2019) will bring together a diverse community interested in the engineering of living things, from biomechanics to swarm intelligence, and the perpetuation of research at the intersection of biology and engineering.

Swarm intelligence is not just the result of self-organization. Component agents differentiate, communicate with each other, and create super-organisms. Using various model simulations and social animals and insects as examples, we will discuss the swarm intelligence of natural and artificial systems and their complexity. In this workshop, we invite presentations by Prof. Marco Dorigo and other interesting researchers in the fields of AI and ALife.

Workshop Program in brief:
  • 13:00 Intro
  • 13:15 Matthew Turner, University of Warwick
  • 13:45 Olaf Witkowski, Cross Labs
  • 14:15 BREAK
  • 14:30 Giovanni Reina, University of Sheffield
  • 15:00 Hiroyuki Iizuka, Hokkaido University
  • 15:30 Marco Dorigo, Université Libre de Bruxelles
  • 16:15 Closing remarks
  • 16:30 END
Location:
Room B (Meeting Room #1), Conference Center, OIST Google Maps

Workshop organizers:

Takashi Ikegami (University of Tokyo), Hemma Philamore (Kyoto University)

Program

Program

Click here for the symposium program

Instruction for Speakers

For Oral Sessions:

  • Please arrive in the session room at least five minutes before the session begins and be sure to let the session chairs know you are there.
  • Each speaker will be allocated a total of 15 minutes.
  • You are welcome to bring your talk on your own laptop to connect to the A/V system, a variety of adapters will be available. We also will have laptops available if you bring your talk on a USB memory device (ppt or pdf).
For Poster Sessions:
  • The session will be held on Thursday Nov. 21 in the Multipurpose Space.
  • Poster presentations will be approximately 120 minutes long.
  • At least one of the authors of each accepted poster is required to be present at the poster during the core time (13:00-14:00 for odd number posters, 14:00-15:00 for even number posters).
  • Check your poster number in the program.
  • You are responsible for printing, setting up, and taking down your poster.
  • Posters will be displayed on poster display boards that are distributed in the poster session area.
  • The poster should follow the International Standards Organization (ISO) size A0. The dimensions for A0 format are 84cm x 119cm.
  • The orientation of the poster should be portrait.
  • Posters will be assigned positions on the poster display boards according to their poster number. You should put your poster on the poster display board with your number.
  • The poster display boards should be taken down immediately after the poster session concludes at 15:00.


Important Dates

Submission of Abstracts and Papers

Engineering fields: August 9, 2019

Non-engineering fields: October 1, 2019

Submission of Papers: August 9, 2019

Notification of Paper Acceptance

September 15, 2019
September 27, 2019

Camera-Ready Submission

October 1, 2019
October 15, 2019


Submission

There are three options for submission: full paper, short paper or abstract. The only difference between the formats of these options is the number of maximum pages. Full papers and short papers have an 8-page or a 4-page maximum length and should report on new unpublished work. Surveys are also welcome as full papers. Abstracts are limited to 2 pages and can report on previously published work with the expectation of offering new viewpoints on that work. On submission, you will be able to choose your preferred presentation style: oral or poster presentation.

  • Full paper: up to 8 pages (additional page(s) to be charged)
  • Short paper: up to 4 pages
  • Abstract: up to 2 pages

Formatting

The use of LaTeX/MS-Word with the following style format is strongly recommended for preparing your manuscripts.
The MS-WORD template in a single-column format is available only for abstracts without figures and tables.

LaTeX (zip) LaTeX (tgz) MS-Word MS-Word (1 Column Abstract) PDF Sample

Automated Submission System

Your paper/abstract formatted according to the required style should be submitted via the EasyChair.
Manuscripts formatted according to the required style should be submitted via the EasyChair.
You will need an EasyChair account to submit your paper. If you do not have one, create an account, then submit here


Registration

(Registration Limit: 200 people)

Registration
Type		 Earlybird
(on or before Oct. 15)		 Late (on or before Nov. 5)/
Onsite
General JPY 20000 JPY 25000
Student JPY 10000 JPY 15000

Registration Flow

1. Sign Up for the Registration System

Please open the Apollon system created by Nippon Travel Agency Co., Ltd. and create your account in the system by clicking the "Registration for New Users" button at the upper-right corner of the page.
Please do not forget to proceed to "Registration" after your account is created because your conference registration is not complete yet.

2. Registration

After logging in, please click "Registration" and fill in the form.
After you finish filling in the form, please click the "Submit (finish registering)" button if you are registering only yourself as a participant. If you are going to register other conference participants with your account, please click the "Submit (continue making registrations)" button instead.

3. Accommodation (optional)

You can optionally reserve your accommodation with this system. Please proceed to "Accommodations" by clicking the left sidebar button after logging in.
Also, there is free accommodation (with no meals) at OIST Seaside House available to students only. There are 22 twin rooms, and a maximum of 44 people can stay there. Reservation is on a first come, first served basis. For more details, please see the "Students Only" page in the side bar.

4. Payment

After logging in, please proceed to "Payment" by clicking the left sidebar button.


Committee

Advisory Committee

  • Andrew Adamatzky (University of the West England, UK)
  • Hajime Asama (The University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Tamim Asfour (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
  • Dora Biro (University of Oxford, UK)
  • Howie Choset (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
  • Jean-Louis Deneubourg (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
  • Magnus Egerstedt (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
  • Evgeni Magid (Kazan Federal University, Russia)
  • Simon Garnier (Rutgers University, USA)
  • Shuzhi Sam Ge (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
  • Jan Tommy Gravdahl (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)
  • Yoshinori Hayakawa (Tohoku University, Japan)
  • Auke Jan Ijspeert (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
  • Takashi Ikegami (The University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Jackrit Suthakorn (Mahidol University, Thailand)
  • Yingmin Jia (Beihang University, China)
  • Jeff Jones (University of the West England, UK)
  • Keum-Shik Hong (Pusan National University, Korea)
  • Laurent Keller (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
  • Francesco Mondada (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
  • James Marshall (University of Sheffield, UK)
  • Toshiya Matsushima (Hokkaido University, Japan)
  • Hiraku Nishimori (Hiroshima University, Japan)
  • Rolf Pfeifer (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
  • Ioannis Poulakakis (University of Delaware, USA)
  • Stephen Pratt (Arizona State University, USA)
  • Jonathan Rossiter (Bristol University, UK)
  • Takao Sasaki (University of Oxford, UK)
  • Hiroshi Sato (National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan)
  • Masashi Shiraishi (Waseda University, Japan)
  • Tomohiro Shirakawa (National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan)
  • David Sumpter (Uppsala Universitet, Sweden)
  • Mikhail Svinin (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
  • Guy Theraulaz (Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, CBI CNRS, France)
  • Dimitris P. Tsakiris (University of Crete, Greece)
  • Kazuo Tuchiya (Kyoto University, Japan)
  • Florentin Wörgötter (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany)

General Chair

Kazuki Tsuji (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)

Vice-General Chairs

  • Marco Dorigo (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
  • Yukio Gunji (Waseda University, Japan)
  • Evan P. Economo (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology)

      • Advisory Committee Chair

      • Fumitoshi Matsuno (Kyoto University, Japan)

          • Program Chair

          Kazuhiro Ohkura (Hiroshima University, Japan)

          Vice-Program Chairs

          • Kenji Matsuura (Kyoto University, Japan)
          • Toru Namerikawa (Keio University, Japan)
          • Florentin Wörgötter (Georg-August Universitat Gottingen, Germany)

          Workshop/Organized Session Chair

          • Poramate Manoonpong (The University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
          • Masahito Yamamoto (Hokkaido University, Japan)

          Publication Chair

          Keitaro Naruse (The University of Aizu, Japan)

          Vice-Publication Chair

          Ikuo Suzuki (Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan)

          Publicity Chair

          Toshiyuki Yasuda (University of Toyama, Japan)

          Registration Chair

          Fumika Azuma (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)

          Finance Chair

          Kazuyuki Ito (Hosei University, Japan)

          Local Arrangement Chair

          • Evan P. Economo (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
          • Kazuki Tsuji (University of the Ryukyus, Japan)

          Program Committee

          • Andrew Adamatzky (University of the West England, UK)
          • Hitoshi Aonuma (Hokkaido University, Japan)
          • Yuichi Ambe (Tohoku University, Japan)
          • Ryo Ariizumi (Nagoya University, Japan)
          • Fumihiko Asano (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
          • Shunichi Azuma (Nagoya University, Japan)
          • Mauro Birattari (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
          • Shigeto Dobata (Kyoto University, Japan)
          • Takahiro Endo (Kyoto University, Japan)
          • Ryusuke Fujisawa (Hachinohe Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Francisco Hita Garcia (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
          • Daniel I. Goldman (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
          • Roderich Groß (The University of Sheffield, UK)
          • Takeshi Hatanaka (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Kiyohiko Hattori (Saitama Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Sabine Hauert (Bristol University, UK)
          • Tomohisa Hayakawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Hiroyuki Iizuka (Hokkaido University, Japan)
          • Takashi Ikegami (The University of Tokyo, Japan)
          • Yusuke Ikemoto (Meijo University, Japan)
          • Hideaki Ishii (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Masato Ishikawa (Osaka University, Japan)
          • Kenji Iwadate (Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Kazuyuki Ito (Hosei University, Japan)
          • Jeff Jones (University of the West England, UK)
          • Yoshiaki Katada (Setsunan University, Japan)
          • Tetsushi Kamegawa (Okayama University, Japan)
          • Takashi Kawakami (Hokkaido University of Science, Japan)
          • Tae-Hyoung Kim (Chung-Ang University, Korea)
          • Masao Kubo (National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan)
          • Poramate Manoonpong (The University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
          • Kamilo Melo (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
          • Masao Migita (Shiga University, Japan)
          • Shuhei Miyashita (MIT, USA)
          • Toru Moriyama (Shinshu University, Japan)
          • Masaaki Nagahara (The University of Kitakyushu, Japan)
          • Keitaro Naruse (University of Aizu, Japan)
          • Hiraku Nishimori (Hiroshima University, Japan)
          • Christian Peeters (Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, France)
          • Hemma Philamore (Kyoto University, Japan)
          • Stephen Pratt (Arizona State University, USA)
          • Jonathan Rossiter (Bristol University, UK)
          • Kazunori Sakurama (Tottori University, Japan)
          • Hiroshi Sato (National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan)
          • Thomas Schmickl (University of Graz, Austria)
          • Hyungbo Shim (Seoul National University, Korea)
          • Hiroyuki Shimoji (Hokkaido University, Japan)
          • Masashi Shiraishi (Waseda University, Japan)
          • Tomohiro Shirakawa (National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan)
          • Metin Sitti (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
          • Serge Stinckwich (Université Pierre et Marie Curie/IRD, France)
          • Ken Sugawara (Tohoku Gakuin University, Japan)
          • Keiji Suzuki (Future University Hakodate, Japan)
          • Ikuo Suzuki (Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Keiki Takadama (The University of Electro-Communications, Japan)
          • Vito Trianni (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italy)
          • Motoyasu Tanaka (The University of Electro-Communications, Japan)
          • Elio Tuci (Middlesex University London, UK)
          • Ali Emre Turgut (University of Leuven, Belgium)
          • Masaki Yamakita (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
          • Masahito Yamamoto (Hokkaido University, Japan)
          • Kazuaki Yamada (Toyo University, Japan)
          • Wen-Chi Yang (NeuHelium Co., Ltd., China)
          • Toshiyuki Yasuda (University of Toyama, Japan)
          • Stefan John Witwicki (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
          • Daniel Zelazo (Israel Institute of Technology, Israel)


Open Call

We are beginning to design the program now. If you have ideas for organized sessions or workshops, please contact the organizers. There will be a call for talks and posters announced later.


Venue

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan


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