IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018 - 120

Chapter News

RAS Chapter News from Around the Globe
Region 4
IEEE RAS Dignitary Visits Rose-
Hulman Institute of Technology
Dr. Raj Madhavan spoke at the Rose-
Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre
Haute, Indiana, United States) on Wed-
nesday, 29 November 2017 (Figure 1).
The talk was filled with energy, the
room was packed, and students were
sitting in stairways just to hear the pre-
sentation. Madhavan opened by candid-
ly talking about some misconceptions
that go hand in hand with robotics. He
addressed issues such as the so-called
Hollywood effect and how film portray-
als of robotics can negatively affect the
field as a whole.
He then jumped right into some of
the most prominent humanitarian
uses of robotics, from machines that
check for mines, to robots that help
perform search-and-rescue functions
and map areas with the global posi-
tioning system before and after na-
tural disasters. Madhavan talked
extensively about applications for dif-
ferent kinds of robots and delved into
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2017.2787265
Date of publication: 12 March 2018

how robotic automation could be
used to improve humanity's quality
of life.
All of these topics served to whet the
appetite of students looking to use their
robotics knowledge to help society. The
speaker was able to show the students
the different resources offered by the
local IEEE Robotics and Automation
Society (RAS) branch and talk about
how students could take advantage of
these benefits and even enter competi-
tions through it.
Region 8
Italy RAS Chapter Initiates
Video Contest
The RAS Italy Chapter organized the
first "Robotics Made in Italy" video con-
test in July 2017. The contest was open
to all students, including Ph.D. aspirants
and postdoctoral researchers at Italian
universities and research centers. The
Chapter asked participants to create an
original video to show the impact on
society and industry of Italy's robotics
style. The RAS awarded prizes for the
best three videos. The introductory
video of the awards can be found at
https://goo.gl/5pkKhB.

Figure 1. Dr. Raj Madhavan speaks to a packed lecture hall at
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

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march 2018

The Awards Committee was formed
by Luca Carlone (Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology, United States), Raf-
faella Carloni (Twente University, The
Netherlands), Antonio Franchi (Labo-
ratory for Analysis and Architecture of
Systems, France), Serena Ivaldi (Inria,
France), and Claudio Pacchierotti (Irisia
and Inria, France).
The awards ceremony took place
during the annual IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society Italian Chapter
meeting in Milan on 11 September 2017
(Figures 2 and 3). The best three vid-
eos were
1) "Immersive Teleoperation Using
Wearable Devices," Gianluca Lentini,
Alessandro Settimi, and Gaspare
Santaera, Università di Pisa, https://
w w w. y out u b e . c om / w at c h ? v =
Z0MEdAiPWSo
2) "Making a Pizza: A Robotic Ap -
pro ach," Jonathan Cacace and Mario
Selvaggio, Università di Napoli Fed-
erico II, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=tijpGTIva3g
3) "Playing Piano by Demonstration,"
Clemente Lauretti, Francesca Cordel-
la, and Davide Simonetti, Campus
BioMedico di Roma, https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=GxYs2YCgZ74.

Figure 2. Lucia Pollottino (center) presents the second-place
award to Jonathan Cacace (left) and Mario Selvaggio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0MEdAiPWSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0MEdAiPWSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0MEdAiPWSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tijpGTIva3g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tijpGTIva3g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYs2YCgZ74 https://www.goo.gl/5pkKhB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYs2YCgZ74

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