FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL for PAPERS
         INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM on INTELLIGENT ROBOTIC SYSTEMS '99 
         Coimbra, Portugal, 20-23, July 1999
         
 AIM AND SCOPE
 
 The aim of the event is to cover all modern approaches to robotics
 problems. It will provide invited lectures by established personalities,
 original presentations by junior scientists about research in progress,
 and discussions in  particular on (but not limited to) the following
 topics: Mobile Robotics 
         Active Perception 
         3D Reconstruction 
         Learning and Control
         Cooperation 
         Control Architectures 
         Robotic Applications 
         Planning and Plan Execution
         Telepresence 
         Fuzzy and Neural Network Techniques for Control.
 The event is organised in cooperation with the International Society for
 Intelligent Autonomous Systems and sponsored by the Institute of
 Systems and Robotics, the Department of Electrical Engineering of 
 the University of Coimbra and the EC TMR Network SMART.
 
 ORGANISERS         
   PROGRAMME CHAIR  
      Helder Araujo, Department of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Coimbra, Portugal           
   ORGANIZING CHAIR  
      Jorge Dias, Department of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Coimbra, Portugal  
 
 SIRS99 LOCATION 
   The event will take place at the campus of the University of Coimbra, in
   Coimbra, Portugal. Coimbra is a charming city, with many attractive
   monuments located in the Center of Portugal, 200Km North of Lisbon and
   40Km from the seaside. The University of Coimbra was founded in the year
   of 1290, being the oldest in Portugal. 
 
 PROGRAMME COMMITTEE 
   Alicia Casals, Spain; Anthony Worral, UK; Arthur Dubrawski, Poland;
   Carlo Colombo, Italy; Claus Andersen, Denmark; David Hogg, UK;
   Gerard Lacey, UK; Gillian Hayes, UK; Giulio Sandini, Italy; 
   Helder Araujo, Portugal; Henrik Christensen, Sweden; Isabel Ribeiro, Portugal;
   James Crowley, France; Jan Wikander, Sweden; Jean-Daniel Nicoud, Switzerland;
   Joao Goncalves, Italy; Jose Millan, Italy; Jose Santos-Victor, Portugal;
   Markus Vincze, Austria; Michel Devy, France; Patrick Reignier, France; 
   Pino Creanza, Italy; Rober Fisher, UK; Stelios Orphanoudakis, Greece.
        
 LANGUAGE
         The conference language will be English.
 
 SUBMISSION
         Authors wishing to submit a paper should send FOUR copies of an
         extended abstract of approximately FOUR pages to the Programme
         Chair. The submitted abstracts MUST include the author's EMAIL
         address.
 
 TIMETABLE
         Reception of extended abstracts  15 March 1999
         Notification of acceptance        7 May 1999
         Reception of full papers          7 June 1999
 
 All accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings of the
 Symposium. 
 
 Detailed information regarding programme, conference fee, accommodation
 and social events will be given in the second  announcement issued in
 March 1999. 
 
 
 INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB
 
 The information related to SIRS'99 is available at the following web
 site:   http://www.isr.uc.pt/sirs99
 
 Questions can be put by mail to : helder@isr.uc.pt