[alife] Call for Papers: Evolution of Physical Systems Workshop at ECAL 2013

[john rieffel]

Evolution of Physical Systems Workshop
at the 2013 European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL)
September 2, 2013
Taormina, Italy


We use the term Evolution of Physical Systems (EPS) to refer to
evolutionary algorithms which occur entirely in real-world physical
substrates rather than in simulation. The term encompasses both parallel
Embodied Evolution (Watson et al., 2002), in which evolution is distributed
across a population of robots, as well as Evolutionary Robotics (Floreano
and Mondada, 1994) where evaluation is serialized on a single robot.
Notable examples of EPS occur across a wide variety of systems, ranging
from Robotics (Zykov et al., 2004)] to FPGAs (Thompson, 1996) to 3D
printers (Rieffel and Sayles, 2010). Although EPS comes at a cost (the
speed of the real world, unlike CPUs, does not follow Moore's Law), by
definition it avoids the "reality gap" imposed by simulation, and has
produced novel and tangeable real-world results. Regardless of application
or method, all implementations of EPS are bound by many of the same
constraints and technical challenges. The aim of this full-day single-track
workshop is to bring together researchers who are currently involved in the
Evolution of Physical Systems, as well as those interested in the
technique, in order to share ideas and innovations. As the frontiers of
artificial life move from the computer to the petri dish, the Evolution of
Physical Systems offers to provide inroads into domains which are otherwise
impossible to simulate.

The first EPS Workshop, at ALIFE `13 in East Lansing Michigan, was a
tremendous success. Spread over an entire day, we had time for eight
speakers to give presentations, as well as an extended panel session on the
promises and pitfalls of the Evolution of Physical Systems. The room was
packed for both morning and afternoon session, with more than 60 attendees.

Important Dates
Submission Deadline: June 17, 2013
Notification: July 1, 2013
Camera-ready: July 22, 2013
Workshop: September 2, 2013

Note: Workshop-only registration is available


Submission
We invite both extended abstracts and full "concept" papers. We invite and
encourage participation by those who already have an EPS-themed paper
accepted at ECAL. We will also accept abstracts of recently published
EPS-related journal papers.

Papers should be submitted in PDF format only via email to
rieffelj(at)union(dot)edu. Be sure to place the text "EPS Workshop" in the
subject line of your message.