Call for papers
 
SYMPOSIUM ON LANGUAGE AND ROBOTS 2007
10-12 December 2007
Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
http://www.ieeta.pt/langro2007
 
 
This Symposium on Language and Robots (LangRo'2007), organized by the Distributed Language Group (http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/dlg), aims to explore synergies and identify areas of collaboration between robotics and the language sciences. As starting point for the discussions, a perspective is proposed in which language is seen as a dynamic and distributed cognitive process.
 
There are two obvious contact areas between robotics and the language sciences. In the first, robots can be used as simulation models for the empirical study of language origins, evolution and acquisition. This is an extension of the computational modeling approach to language. In the second area, we ask how viewing language as integral to cultural processes can be used in developing robots for practical applications.
 
The symposium will therefore explore the following issues:
 
- How can robots ground and use language for practical applications?
- How can robots be used for empirical work in the language sciences?
- How can robots acquire language when language is distributed?
- What does robotics imply for the language sciences?
- What questions do roboticists want to ask the language sciences?
- How can the language sciences contribute to the theoretical and
   practical study of how humans interact with robots?
- How can the language sciences evolve to address societies that
   include robots?
 
We invite papers that address these issues.
 
 
Symposium format
=============
The symposium will be a 2+ days event that gathers researchers from a wide range of backgrounds. The symposium format includes a number of Invited Speakers and a public call for papers. Invited speakers and authors responding to the public call are invited to submit a two page abstract for presentation at the symposium. Alternatively, they may submit a full-length paper. Submitted abstracts and papers will be refereed and selected for half-hour oral presentations on the basis of quality and relevance to the issues the symposium is addressing. Accepted papers will be included in the proceedings and will be made accessible through the web. Copies of the proceedings will be available at the symposium.
 
 
Invited Speakers
===========
We are inviting a range of speakers who will bring their specialized expertise to bear on the issues around language and robots. The following speakers have already provisionally accepted our invitation:
 
Deb Roy (MIT Media Laboratory, MA, USA)
Gerhard Sagerer (Bielefeld University, Germany)
Luc Steels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium and Sony CSL, Paris)
Michael Anderson (University of Maryland, MD, USA)
Paul Thibault (Agder University College, Kristiansand, Norway)
 
 
Journal special issue
==============
After the symposium, participants will be invited to submit a paper to a special issue of "Connection Science". Papers will be selected based on an independent peer review.
 
 
Important dates
===========
Deadline for submission of abstract or paper: 10 September 2007 Notification of acceptance: 10 October 2007
Symposium: 10-12 December 2007
 
 
Submission
========
Authors can submit either an abstract or a full paper, both will be considered for full length oral presentation. Full papers can have a length of between
6 and 10 pages, abstracts can have a maximum length of 2 pages.
 
Submission should be sent to langro2007 (at det.ua.pt) in either MS Word or Adobe PDF format.
 
 
Organizers
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Luís Seabra Lopes (Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal), Tony Belpaeme (University of Plymouth, United Kingdom), Stephen Cowley (University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom)