CALL FOR PAPERS: CASA 2012 WORKSHOP ON AUTONOMOUS SOCIAL ROBOTS AND VIRTUAL HUMANS PLACE: NEC, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore DATE : May 9, 2012 Web: http://conference.ntu.edu.sg/casa2012/Workshops/AutonomousSR-VH/Pages/AboutWorkshop.aspx The Institute for Media Innovation (IMI), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Computer Graphics Society (CGS) are pleased to announce Autonomous Social Robots and Virtual Humans workshop, alongside the 25th Annual Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA 2012), is to be held on May 9, 2012 at the Nanyang Executive Centre (NEC) on the NTU campus in Singapore. Autonomous social robots and autonomous virtual humans have a lot in common as they can both be companions for the people from young children to elderly people, and long-term interaction with both types of companion is now possible. The main difference is that the social robots exist physically while autonomous Virtual Humans are software-based visual agents. We wish now to have these physical and virtual companions more and more capable of achieving more and more things and in an intelligent and autonomous way. In terms of research, the problems to solve for both social robots and virtual humans are very similar. Autonomy is one of the big challenges in the field of computer animation. We generally consider autonomy as the quality or state of being self-governing. Perception of the elements in the environment is essential, as it gives the social robot or the virtual human the awareness of what is changing around it. It is indeed the most important element that one should simulate before going further. Most common perceptions include (but are not limited to) visual and auditory feedback. Adaptation and intelligence then define how the social robot or the virtual human is capable of reasoning about what it perceives, especially when unpredictable events happen. On the other hand, when predictable elements are showing up again, it is necessary to have a memory capability, so that similar behaviour can be selected again. Lastly, emotion instantaneously adds realism by defining affective relationships between characters. The goal of this workshop is to attract researchers of both communities to share their methods, their ideas to for the development of autonomous companions. Papers are solicited in the following topics or related: • Affective computing • Dialogue management • Decision making • Personality • Expressive behavior generation • Facial expression recognition • Short-term and long-term memory • Groups and collective behavior • Vision, audition, and tactile • Locomotion • Hand gestures • Learning (e.g. by example) • Emotion models • Gaze Animation and attention • Cooperation between humans and social robots Papers which deal with both social robots and virtual humans are especially welcomed. Selected papers will be included in chapters of a book published by Springer Verlag. IMPORTANT DATES Workshop Date May 9, 2012 Full Papers (15-20 pages) Selected papers will be included in chapters of a book published by Springer Verlag. Submission : March 30, 2012 Notification of acceptance : April 20, 2012 Camera/CD ready : April 27, 2012 WORKSHOP KEYNOTE SPEAKER Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro ATR, Intelligent Robotics and Communication Labs, Kyoto; Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. WORKSHOP ORGANING COMMITTEE Dalibard, Sebastien Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Magnenat-Thalmann, Nadia Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Thalmann, Daniel Nanyang Technological University, Singapore SUBMISSION Paper Submission Format For workshop paper submissions, please download the instructions and template. The length of the submissions is limited to 15-20 pages. Papers should be submitted in the PDF file format through EasyChair. Supplementary materials (e.g., videos) should be compressed in the ZIP file format and uploaded to EasyChair. The review process is double blind. Submissions should be anonymous. For more details, please visit CASA website. Submission Link: https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=casa2012 CONTACT Email: CASA2012@ntu.edu.sg Website: http://conference.ntu.edu.sg/casa2012/Workshops/AutonomousSR-VH/Pages/AboutWorkshop.aspx