Call For Papers for the Organized Session
"Advances in Formation Control in Networked Multi-Robot Systems"
in 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics.
July 9-12, 2013, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Research on networked multi-robot systems have been advancing at a rapid pace. These systems have great potential on performing distributed sensing and actuation tasks in very efficient ways that otherwise cannot be achieved with individual mobile robots operating in isolation. Networked multi-robots systems use wireless medium to communicate and adopt coordination strategies.
They have great potential to:
• Exploit the collective sensing capability potential of large groups to achieve superior situational awareness,
• Exhibit robustness against mission failures, and
• Distribute workload among the group members to carry out the tasks simultaneously in shortest possible time.
These attributes are especially attractive for search and rescue operations, exploration, security and surveillance tasks. For example, a multi-robot system equipped with various sensors could potentially be used to map out a scene inside a building after an earthquake, or a nuclear reactor after an accident. Here, formation control plays an important role for realization of the full potential of the multi-robot systems. Lessons from the history show that the success of a group of
individuals often depends on their ability to quickly generate and maintain particular formations as a response to external stimuli.

This organized session aims to bring researchers of the wireless networked multi-robot systems field together to
• Provide insight into recent advances in formation control, and
• Point out the future research directions in this dynamic and active research area.

If you are interested in participating, please submit your paper through the AIM2013 Web Site (http://www.aim2013.org/) as an “invited session paper” by using the code v2x85 before 20-January-2013.

For questions, please contact one of the organizers:
• Jan Carlo Barca, Monash University, Australia (Email: jan.carlo.barca@monash.edu)
• Enrico Natalizio, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France (Email: enrico.natalizio@hds.utc.fr)
• Ahmet Sekercioglu, Monash University, Australia (Email: ahmet.sekercioglu@monash.edu)