IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2023 - 128

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
2024 IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SOCIETY ADCOM ELECTION
The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) membership will elect six new members of the AdCom in 2023, each to serve a threeyear
term beginning 1 January 2024. The AdCom is the governing body of the Society.
Responsibilities of AdCom Members
AdCom members must attend two formal meetings each year, one in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation and the other usually in October/November in conjunction with another major conference. Each AdCom member is expected to
serve on at least two boards and/or committees of the Society.
Eligibility
Any higher-grade member of the Society is eligible to serve and all higher-grade members plus graduate students may nominate candidates
and vote.
To Nominate a Candidate
To nominate a candidate, whether someone else or yourself, contact the Society at ras@ieee.org by 1 May 2023.
Petition Candidates
Candidates may also petition to be on the ballot. All persons who, by the deadline, submit petitions with valid signatures and IEEE member
numbers of at least 2% of the previous year-end voting membership will be placed on the ballot. Only original signatures on paper or electronic
signatures submitted through the RAS petition website will be accepted. Faxed or emailed signatures are not acceptable. Contact the
Society at ras@ieee.org to obtain a paper petition form or to set up an electronic petition.
Completed petitions must be received by 1 May 2023 to be placed on the ballot.
Selection of Final Ballot
The Nominations Committee will consider all nominations and petitions and select the candidates to be placed on the ballot.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2023.3238592
Date of current version: 22 March 2023
COM P E TITI ON S (continued from page 103)
We propose the Quadruped Robot
Challenges (QRC) as a new competition.
Recently, many quadruped robots
have been featured at ICRA and IROS
conferences, and while they are manufactured
by a diverse group of companies
and are relatively affordable, their
autonomy has not been thoroughly
tested. The European Land Robot Trial
(ELROB), which was inaugurated in
2006, has served as a European stateof-the-art
testbed for tracked or wheeled
mobile robots in various indoor and outdoor
environments but not for quadruped
robots. More recently, NIST serves
as a state-of-the-art testbed to provide a
valuable forum for evaluating the performance
of quadruped robots in search
and rescue applications.
Autonomy requires a good mobile
platform and advanced perception and
navigation technologies, and these technologies
have not yet been tested in a
realistic and challenging environment
for quadruped robots. The dynamic
8
nature of quadruped robots makes this
competition interesting for audiences
and the public, and it may attract the
attention of potential sponsors. This
competition would provide a valuable
forum for evaluating the performance of
these robots and advancing the state of
the art in quadruped robotics.
Our proposal consists of multiple
stages of challenges. The entry qualification
stage will use a simulator to test
teams. Stage 0 will involve the remote
control of quadruped robots at a firstperson-view
station. This technology is
relatively well established but can still
be exciting for audiences due to the
dynamic actions of the robots. Stage 1
will test teams' ability to autonomously
traverse various types of terrain. During
this stage, each robot will run the test
field alone, starting solo. In Stage 2, multiple
robots will start at the same time
and race each other to the goal, requiring
teams to deal with dynamic obstacles,
real-time perception, and planning.
12 IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE MARCH 2023
Stage 3 will involve team challenges,
in which teams of quadruped robots
perform tasks such as monitoring, surveillance,
and manipulation in city-like
environments. The manipulation task
may be included because, by this stage,
teams may have access to legged robots
with manipulators. Stage 4 will involve
even more challenging environments,
such as collapsed buildings, damaged
plants, and destroyed cities.
The QRC has the potential to lead
the robotics community in technology
advancement, nurture field engineers,
and foster interactions with industries,
ultimately leading to the creation of useful
practice services for the public.
AUTHOR
Hyungpil Moon, chair of the Competition
Committee. Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University,
Suwon 16419, South Korea. E-mail:
hyungpil@g.skku.edu.

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2023