Overview

We invite you to submit proposals for captivating workshops and enlightening tutorials, whether half-day or full-day in duration. Workshops and tutorials are a critical part of the IEEE RoboSoft conference and offer an opportunity to host interactional educational events or to disseminate and discuss the latest research and topics of concern to the community. These sessions should not merely extend the conference format but provide an avenue for attendees to dive deep into specific topics, engage in dynamic discussions, or acquire new skills. This means, our key advice is:

• Explore new formats and topics – Interactivity is key!
• Consider less well-known speakers.
• Ask us questions – we will help where we can.

This year, we anticipate accepting a lower number of workshops and tutorials compared to previous years and expect to have 5-8 concurrent tracks, consisting of either one full-day workshop/tutorial or two half workshops/tutorials. Workshops will be peer-reviewed and competitively selected based on relevance, evidence of preparation, and interaction & participation plan, with additional consideration to ensuring topic diversity.

We strongly encourage novel formats, interactive activities, discussion, and student participation and will support such novel formats and interactive components as best as possible. We are available to answer any questions about the format and required content of the proposal, as well as to answer questions, based on our own experience, about potential methods for developing interactive workshops.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to ensure that we hear from a variety of voices, invited speakers are strongly discouraged from speaking in more than two workshops, and organizers are asked to have invited speakers confirm this. We strongly believe there are a plethora of speakers worthy of being highlighted, and we encourage organizers to consider newer or less commonly heard voices.

Workshops

We encourage workshop proposals that delve into active, controversial, or emerging domains within soft robotics – whether research, teaching, or community-focused. Your workshop should spark formal or informal dialogues, facilitate brainstorming, invite student participation, and uncover novel insights in the field of soft robotics.

Tutorials

If you possess expertise in a particular aspect of soft robotics (research, teaching, or community-focused), consider submitting a tutorial proposal. Tutorials should offer participants an immersive experience, allowing them to gain a profound understanding and practical expertise in a focus area. If you have questions about whether specific resources will be available to support your tutorial concept, please contact us.

Advice & Principles

Maximize Interaction
We challenge you to design workshops and tutorials that optimize participant interaction. Incorporate elements like (in no particular order of importance), moderated breakout table discussions, interactive sessions, live demonstrations, panel discussions, hands-on activities, poster sessions, etc., to create an engaging and enriching experience. This list is given as an example; specific activities that will support your workshop’s objective might not be limited to these or might not include all or any of them.

Inclusivity Matters
As part of our commitment to diversity, we encourage you to consider nationality, gender, geographical, and experience diversity when selecting workshop co-organizers, presenters and tutorial instructors.

Submission & Selection Criteria

Selection Criteria
Proposals will be peer-reviewed using a basic rubric, which can be found here:

Proposals must meet the basic requirements included in the template to be considered. Review criteria include relevance to the community, evidence of preparation, appropriateness of format/speakers/activities in the context of the proposal, plans for interactivity and student participation. Consideration will also be given to ensuring that workshops/tutorials are available on a variety of topics that span the soft robotics field. The review guidelines were developed to give fair consideration to both proposals that follow a more traditional format and proposals that take innovative approaches to captivating the audience and contributing to the advancement of soft robotics. We value innovative and interdisciplinary approaches that push the boundaries of knowledge.

Submission Process & Template
To submit your Workshop or Tutorial proposal, please download and complete the template provided here:

Submissions should be made through the conference submission system by November 1, 2024. Please see the conference website (https://robosoft2025.org/) for further details.

Join us in shaping the future of soft robotics through insightful workshops and illuminating tutorials. Your contribution could be the catalyst for groundbreaking discoveries and transformative collaborations at RoboSoft 2025!