General Chairs
Srinivas Akella
Nancy Amato
Wes Huang
Bud Mishra

Important Dates
February 24:
deadline for submissions.
May 1:
notification of paper acceptance.
June 15:
final papers due,
early registration deadline, &
hotel reservation deadline.
June 19:
travel grant application deadline.
July 16-18:
WAFR 2006.

Program Committee
O. Burchan Bayazit
Antonio Bicchi
Greg Chirikjian
Mike Erdmann
Dan Halperin
Hirohisa Hirukawa
Seth Hutchinson
Lydia Kavraki
James Kuffner
Vijay Kumar
Jean-Paul Laumond
Steve LaValle
Ming Lin
Yoshi Nakamura
Dinesh Pai
Elon Rimon
Jack Snoeyink
Dezhen Song
Frank van der Stappen
Gaurav Sukhatme

WAFR 2006 poster
pdf file

Previous WAFRs:
WAFR 2004, Zeist, The Netherlands
WAFR 2002, Nice, France
WAFR 2000, Hanover, NH, USA
WAFR 1998, Houston, TX, USA
WAFR 1996, Toulouse, France
WAFR 1994, Stanford, CA, USA

WAFR Special Issues of International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR):
IJRR Special Issue 24(11): (WAFR 2004)
IJRR Special Issue 23(7/8): (WAFR 2002)

www.wafr.org

The Seventh International Workshop on
the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics

New York City, July 16-18, 2006


WAFR 2006 Information

Invited speakers

WAFR 2006 has a stellar line-up of invited speakers, including researchers who defined the field and who are today defining the frontiers of the field - in several cases the same people.

About WAFR

Algorithms are a fundamental component of robotic systems: they control or reason about motion and perception in the physical world. They receive input from noisy sensors, consider geometric and physical constraints, and operate on the world through imprecise actuators. The design and analysis of robot algorithms therefore raises a unique combination of questions in control theory, computational and differential geometry, and computer science.

The Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR) is a single-track workshop with submitted and invited papers on advances on algorithmic problems in robotics. The workshop proceedings will be published in a hard-cover volume in the Springer STAR series, and selected papers will be invited for publication in a special issue of the International Journal of Robotics Research.

The topics of interest are very broad since the focus of WAFR is on algorithm development and analysis rather than specific problems or applications. Increasingly, robotics algorithms are finding use in areas far beyond the traditional scope of robots. Therefore, while we encourage submissions on "fundamental" topics such as complexity, completeness, and computational geometry, we also welcome papers in applications such as computational biology, virtual environments, sensor networks, manufacturing, and medical robotics. Papers on algorithmic developments in "traditional" areas of robotics, such as motion planning, manipulation, sensing, and mobile robotics, as well as papers in newer areas such as distributed robotics and simultaneous localization and mapping, are also encouraged.

Location

WAFR 2006 will be held in New York City at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in lower Manhattan. The Tribeca Grand is located in Tribeca, a neighborhood known for its dining scene and cast-iron buildings. Tribeca is close to many other vibrant neighborhoods like Soho, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, and Chinatown, as well as Wall Street and the financial district.

Sponsors

WAFR 2006 is sponsored by NSF, Microsoft Research, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic University, and Texas A&M University.

Microsoft Research is sponsoring the banquet dinner cruise on Monday evening and the NSF award will be used to fund student travel grants to students studying at US institutions (including international students studying in the US) or US citizens or permanent residents studying abroad. We are currently seeking funds that could be used for other students.

For more information

Contact wafr-info@wafr.org with any questions.



WAFR 2006
sponsors:
NSF homepage MSR homepage NYU
RPI
Texas A&M