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*** FIRST CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS ***

29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN2020)
31th August - 4th September 2020
Naples, Italy

http://ro-man2020.org
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The Ro-MAN2020 Organizing Committee invites proposals for Special Sessions to be held during the 29th EEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication in Naples, Italy from 31th August till 4th September 2020. Ro-MAN is the flagship conference of Robotics, where state-of-the-art innovative results, the latest developments as well as future perspectives relating to robot and human interactive communication are presented and discussed. The conference covers a wide range of topics related to Robot and Human Interactive Communication, involving theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies. Papers related to the study of the robotic technology, psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, human factors, ethics and policies, interaction-based robot design and other topics related to human-robot interaction are welcome.

The goal of special sessions is to provide a forum for oral presentations that are highly specialized in some particular theme, focused on new topics or innovative applications of established approaches. A special session consists of four to six papers, which, for example, addresses a particular theme or consist of work done in some particular international project.
Note that all papers will be subject to the same peer review process as for regular papers and will be included in the main conference proceedings (IEEE Xplore Digital Library).

SPECIAL SESSION PROPOSALS
Prospective special session organizers are invited to submit a proposal via the main conference's submission system. If accepted, the organizers of the special session will be responsible for the high-quality peer-review of the submitted papers according to IEEE standards (3 anonymous peer-reviews). The organizers will be Associate Editors (AE) for the proposed session. They will also responsible to assign reviewers and make judgement proposals of the submitted paper for the special session.

PROPOSALS SUBMISSION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 15, 2019.

Proposal should include the following information:
Title and abstract: Propose a title and a brief abstract of no more than approximately 100 words that will allow conference attendees to understand the topic and the focus of the special session.
Aim & Scope (a brief 2-3 paragraph summary): Please explain why the topic of the special session is novel and timely, why it is relevant to the Ro-MAN community and how it possibly fits within the conference main themes listed above or motivate new emerging themes.
Tentative Speakers: A list of possible papers with contributing authors and tentative titles. Special sessions are normally expected to have 4 to 6 papers. In exceptional cases (like industrial talks, or contribution by particularly renowned speakers) it may be possible to have sessions of less talks without an associate paper or talks which will have a double-time slot for the presentation. In these cases, please contact the Special Sessions Chairs in advance (before submitting your proposal) to explain the rationale of your request.
Biographies: Provide a short bio-sketch of the session proposers.
Important aspect in the evaluation of special session proposals will be the timeliness of the topic, quality/track record of the proposers and speakers, coherence of the session and expected value added to the overall technical program.
Please refer to this link for additional details on submission instructions (http://ro-man2020.unina.it/special-sessions.php). For any concerns about Special Session Proposal preparation send an email to the Special Sessions Co-Chairs.

SPECIAL SESSIONS CO-CHAIRS
Angelo Cangelosi (UK) – angelo.cangelosi@manchester.ac.uk
Maria Gini (USA) – gini@umn.edu
Takayuki Nagai (JP) – nagai@sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

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Main conference Important Dates:

SPECIAL SESSIONS
Submission deadline: DECEMBER 15, 2019 
Notification of acceptance: JANUARY 15, 2020

WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIALS
Submission deadline: FEBRUARY 16, 2020 
Notification of acceptance: MARCH 18, 2020

FULL PAPERS
Submission deadline: MARCH 15, 2020
Notification of acceptance: MAY 27, 2020

FULL PAPERS (FOR PROPOSED SPECIAL SESSIONS)
Submission deadline: MARCH 15, 2020
Notification of acceptance: MAY 27, 2020

LATE BREAK REPORTS (INTERACTIVE SESSION)
Submission deadline: JUNE 15, 2020 
Notification of acceptance: JUNE 30, 2020

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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
General Chair
Silvia Rossi, University of Naples Federico II (IT)

General co-Chair
Adriana Tapus, ENSTA-ParisTech (FR)

Honorary Chair
Bruno Siciliano, University of Naples Federico II (IT)

Program co-Chairs
Dana Kulić, University of Waterloo (CA)
Dongheui Lee, TUM (DE)
Masahiro Shiomi, ATR-IRC (JP)

Special Sessions Co-Chairs
Angelo Cangelosi, University of Manchester (UK)
Maria Gini, University of Minnesota (USA)
Takayuki Nagai, Osaka University (JP)

Treasurer/Finance Chair
Alessandro Di Nuovo, Sheffield Hallam University (UK)
Finance co-Chair
Claudia Di Napoli, National Research Council (IT)

Publication co-Chairs
Francoise Ferland, Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
Davide Marocco, University of Naples Federico II (IT)

Tutorial/Workshop co-Chairs
Ganesh Gowrishankar, CNRS-AIST JRL (JP),
Mariacarla Staffa, University of Naples Federico II (IT)
Hatice Kose, Istanbul Technical University (TR)

Interactive Session (Extended Abstracts) Chair
Tetsunari Inamura, National Institute of Informatics, (JP)
Katerina Pastra, Cognitive Systems Research Institute (GR)

Award co-Chairs
Nak Young Chong, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology JAIST (JP)
Fulvio Mastrogiovanni, University of Genova (IT)

Publicity Chairs
Alessandra Sciutti, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT (IT)
Jongsuk Choi, Korea Institute of Science and Technology KIST (KR)
Fumihide Tanaka, Tsukuba University (JP)
Chenguang Yang, Bristol Robotics Laboratory (UK)
Brad Hayes, University of Colorado Boulder (USA)

Local Arrangement co-Chairs
Autilia Vitiello, University of Napoli Federico II (IT)
Antonio Origlia, University of Napoli Federico II (IT)
Daniela Conti, Sheffield Hallam University (UK)

Registration co-Chairs
Alessandra Rossi, University of Hertfordshire (UK)
Roxana Agrigoroaie, ENSTA Paris (FR)

Web Chairs
Giovanni Ercolano, University of Napoli Federico II (IT)

Web Design Chair
Pamela Salvo (IT)

Fundraising and Exhibition Chairs
Huan Tan, UBTECH (USA)
Amir Aly, Ritsumeikan University (JP)
Gabriele Trovato, Waseda University (JP)