Call for Contributions

Call for Contributions

Submission:

We kindly invite researchers and domain experts to contribute to this Workshop on “Accelerating Discovery in Natural Science Laboratories with AI and Robotics”. Prospective workshop participants are welcome to submit papers (4-6 pages + citations, IEEE format) and/or challenges (up to 4 pages + video):

• Papers: Submissions will be selected for presentation based on the pertinence to the workshop and the quality of the research. All selected papers will be presented in both the spotlight and the interactive poster sessions. 

Among the paper submissions, 2-3 senior doctoral students / early career researchers from natural sciences and robotics backgrounds will be selected to present their bodies of work in the Pioneers of Natural Sciences Laboratory Robotics Talk. To be eligible for this, please additionally submit a one-page cover letter describing the applicant’s motivation for applying and outlining relevant research work and an academic CV. 

• Challenges: Submissions (template available at the link below) are invited for real-world challenges in lab automation that current automation solutions cannot yet solve, but that could potentially be addressed by a general-purpose robot manipulator.
  In particular, we are looking for tasks where pre-programmed waypoints or offline trajectory planning are insufficient, and more intelligent robot behavior is required. This includes scenarios where the robot needs to use visual or other sensory inputs to make real-time decisions, or where domain-specific knowledge (e.g., from chemistry or biology) is essential to completing the task. If applicable, please briefly mention safety considerations.
  We expect all challenges to include a short video showing how they are currently solved manually, or how a human typically performs them. Videos should ideally be 1–3 minutes long and uploaded as a shareable link (e.g., YouTube, Google Drive).
  All accepted contributions will be presented in a separate spotlight session.
  
  

We encourage researchers from academia and industry (both hardware and software companies) to participate in this workshop with their submissions.
For submission, please use this link: https://forms.gle/fe5hW77eSAhhe1UK6
We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Review process:
All submissions will be peer-reviewed in a single-blind process by the workshop organizers and external reviewers. The papers will be selected based on originality, relevance to the workshop topics, contributions, technical clarity, and presentation.

Awards: 

We will provide financial support to the outstanding contributors. 

Publication:
All selected papers and challenges will be published on the workshop website on the day before the workshop.

Topics of Interest

This workshop covers, but is not limited to, the following topics of interest:

• Application of Robotics, AI, and Automation to Life Sciences, Materials Research, Clinical Laboratories, and Pharmaceutical Development

• Case Studies in Implementing Laboratory Automation

• Cognitive Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Laboratory Environments

• Generic Robotic Skill Development of Laboratory Tasks

• Human-Robot Collaboration/Interaction in Laboratories

• Integration of Robotic Systems and Laboratory Instruments

• Knowledge Discovery and Transfer of Experimental Results: From Hypothesis to Fundamental Understanding

• Machine Vision Methods for Laboratory Robotics

• Mobile Manipulation for Laboratory Automation

• Multimodal Sensing and Perception for Robots in Labs

• Robotics, AI, and Automation in Laboratories: Past, Present, and Future

• Self-Driving Labs

• Standardization in Laboratory Automation