PROGRAM AND SESSIONS

[Final!] The ICRA-2004 program, overall program at-a-glance, and short list of paper/session assignments are now available.

[New!] PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS

Authors and Session Chairs: please read paper presentation instructions.

FINAL PAPER SUBMISSION

Dear ICRA 2004 Authors,

As we are checking the PDF files of your submitted final papers for IEEE ICRA 2004, we have found that more than 60% of the submitted PDF files having some levels of problems of not meeting the IEEE PDF requirements.

Two major problems that we have identified are:

1. All fonts used are NOT properly subset EMBEDDED, and,
2. Paper size is NOT set to the "US Letter" size (8.5" by 11") with proper margins.

In order to include your paper in the ICRA 2004 Proceedings, it is essential that you follow the final paper submission INSTRUCTIONS closely!

Also, please make sure you are using the REVISED Digest Template (details under "final paper submission instructions")!

IMPORTANT! EXTRA PAGE CHARGE

A total of six (6) camera-ready pages, including figures, are allowed for each paper. A maximum of two (2) extra pages per paper is permitted for an extra charge of $180.00 per page.

If your paper has more than six pages, fill out the Extra Page Charge Payment Form and mail it with the IEEE Copyright Form to Omnipress (address on the form). All forms and instructions may be found under final paper submission. Authors MUST pay extra page charge at the same time when they submit their final paper, i.e. by February 28, 2004.

ABOUT THE PAPER REVIEW PROCESS

In an attempt to make the paper review process as objective as possible, several steps were followed:

1. Each submitted paper was assigned to two or three reviewers, automatically through the START system, based on matched keywords.
2. In cases where only one reviewer was assigned to a paper as a result of Step 1, additional ones were chosen by the Program Chairs and inserted into the system manually.
3. Reviews were automatically uploaded and tabulated for each paper.
4. The four Program Co-chairs provided an additional independent review for every submitted paper.

During the International Program Committee meeting:

5. Members were divided into groups of five. Each group had the responsibility to evaluate and provide a final recommendation for a specific number of papers.
6. Each paper was evaluated based on the provided reviewers’ comments as well as the committee’s comments. This was very important since many reviewers did not provide any justification / comments supporting their recommendation.
7. The reviewers’ names were unknown to each group.
8. In cases of major conflicting / controversial reviews, and in cases where one group could not reach consensus, members from other groups were called for assistance.

Accepted papers reflect reported research in every robotics and automation field worldwide. Acceptance ratio is about 58.8%.