ROSCon 2021: Call for Proposals

ROSCon is back!

Arnold saying "I'm back"

As previously announced, ROSCon 2021 will be held in person in New Orleans October 21st-23rd, 2021. The core of the conference is (and always has been) content from the community, and this year, we’re looking for proposals for three different types of content.

  • Workshops: As in 2019, we will offer workshops on Day 0 of the conference. The goal of the workshops is to provide space for participatory/interactive experiences between the presenter(s) and the attendees and the chance to go more in depth into a subject than a regular talk could allow.
  • Talks: The standard presentation format is the talk, with the presenter(s) talking live about a specific topic, with a brief question period at the end, fitting into a 10, 20 or 30 minute time slot.
  • Videos: At a later time frame, we will be soliciting submissions for videos (following the deluge of submissions to ROS World 2020). Submissions will be opened after notifications for standard talks goes out, so that everyone can have a chance to present topics that are not yet included in the program.

We are also planning panels, keynote speakers and of course, lightning talks. The conference program will be a combination of single-track and multitrack (as it was in 2019).

General Content Guidelines:

All topics related to ROS and ROS 2 are invited. Example topics include:

  • New packages / frameworks
  • Insights / improvements for existing packages
  • Case studies on unique ROS deployments / use cases
  • Developments for specific robots, sensors, platforms
  • Competitions / collaborations / initiatives
  • ROS in commercial / research / teaching environments
  • Standards / best practices / development tools

To get an idea of the content and tone of ROSCon, check out the slides and videos from previous years. We cannot offer content that is 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 here on Discourse.

Review Criteria

All submissions will be reviewed by the program committee to evaluate:

  • Relevance to the ROS Community - The proposed content should use ROS in a substantial way, but beyond that, the work must also be relevant and compelling to a general ROS audience. Writing a ROS driver for a specific piece of hardware is an excellent contribution to the community, but describing the intricacies of its firmware may not be relevant to this audience. Furthermore, content should be relevant to a global and diverse community.
  • Quality of Content/Impact - We encourage proposals to contain big ideas with high impact. Proposals should have a demonstrable quality as opposed to being purely theoretical.
  • Quality of Presentation - Articulating your ideas clearly and grammatically is a key prerequisite for giving a compelling live presentation.
  • Originality/Novelty - Content should be original and not something that has already been heard before. Will this be the 41st talk on a particular topic at ROSCon? Or are you presenting something new?
  • Open Source Availability - Because we are an open-source community, proposals for which the underlying code and other content is available under an open source license have a greater chance of being accepted. It is not a hard requirement, but proposals focused on proprietary systems should contribute in some other way to the community. Promises of future release are difficult to evaluate, so having your content released at the time of proposal submission is preferred.

Additional consideration will be given to balancing the subject matter and duration of presentation.

We encourage proposals from presenters of all backgrounds and experience levels.

Workshop Submission Information

Workshop proposals must include

  • Title (maximum 70 characters)
  • Presenter(s) (name and affiliation)
  • Summary - for public consumption, used in the program schedule (maximum 100 words)
  • Description - outline and goals, for review by the program committee. Describe the intended audience and what resources (if any) would be required. Please be sure to include enough information in your proposal for the program committee to evaluate the above review criteria.

Please submit your workshop proposal via this Google Form. Workshops proposals must be submitted by 2021-05-07. The chosen workshops will be published out no later than 2021-06-09.

Talk Submission Information

Talk proposals must include

  • Title (maximum 70 characters)
  • Presenter(s) (name and affiliation)
  • Desired talk length
  • Summary - for public consumption, used in the program schedule (maximum 100 words)
  • Description - outline and goals, for review by the program committee. Describe the intended audience and what they can expect to learn. Please be sure to include enough information in your proposal for the program committee to evaluate the above review criteria.
  • (NEW) Audio abstract - All talk proposals must include a (maximum) one minute recording of the presenter describing the content of the talk. It should be a single-take, responding as if a colleague asked what the talk was about. Please use either the mp3 or ogg file format.
  • (NEW) Key URL/Twitter handles - Optionally include a single link/Twitter handles to be associated with talk in publicity materials.
  • (NEW) Topic Tags - Select the relevant topics from the list in order to help classify your talk.

Submit these files on this website. Talk proposals must be submitted by 2021-07-09. The program will be announced 2021-08-17.

If you have any questions/comments/firmware patches, please email roscon-2021-oc@openrobotics.org

Program Co-Chairs:
David Lu!! (PickNik Robotics)
Melonee Wise (Fetch Robotics)

16 Likes

Will the conference be fully in person? Or will virtual attendance also be possible?

3 Likes

replying to myself as this was answered in ROSCon 2021 Diversity Scholarships: Applications open.

This year will also have a live stream to accommodate those who would prefer, or are required, to remain at home.

2 Likes

before considering CFP, i’d like to ask one question.
can we do presentation remotely? under the situation with COVID-19, it might still be hard to go overseas. (this is just an expectation, and it all depends on situation and company/government policy.)

thanks

5 Likes

To make sure that we can provide a high-quality in-person experience as well as manage the logistical burden and technical risk for the organizing team, we’re not accepting proposals for remote presentations for ROSCon 2021.

We understand the additional difficulty and unpredictability this year for presenters (the organizers, sponsors, and attendees are all feeling the same way). We hope that you can join us in person in October, and if not, then next time!

1 Like

Thanks for quick response! It is clear now. Lets hope everyone can be there in person :smile:

I’m not traveling. Will there be opportunities for non-presentation sessions, like BOFs, where I can actually participate vs merely spectate?

We are still working out some of the logistical details, and are trying to keep the remote participants involved as much as feasible.

That said, there haven’t been official BOF (Birds of a Feather) sessions in a while.