IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2010 - 10

S TU D EN T ' S

C O R N E R

For the Students by the Students

Editor's Note
This column is by and for IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Student Members. In this issue, we have the reports from
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Student Activities Chair Tamas Haidegger (on plans for student activities at IROS
2010), Student Activities Committee Cochair Michel Franken (on student activities at the IEEE ICRA 2010), and a collection
of very useful hints (not for students only!) on successfully presenting your research at conferences and competitions by
Student Activities Committee Cochair Alejandro Perez. Send your suggestions for this column to Tamas Haidegger at
haidegger@ieee.org.

ROS Robot Competition
Tamas Haidegger

It was a great pleasure to see old friends and meet new people
at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). I am glad many of you joined the IEEE
Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Student Activities
Committee (SAC) programs that we organized (read the more
detailed report by SAC Cochair Michel Franken on the activities below).
At the RAS Administrative Committee meetings, which
are usually held at ICRA and the International Conference on
Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), financial and organizational decisions are made regarding the Society. I am happy
to announce that the RAS is fully committed to improve SAC
programs, to inspire and boost student projects, competitions,
and cooperation. This means that we are able to extend the
successful ICRA programs for the upcoming events as well.
First and foremost, you can find the call for participation for
the midterm Student Photo Contest and the student reporters
in this issue. We hope many of you will submit your great pictures and share fascinating stories about robotic events. Also, as
IROS is quickly approaching, we want to call your attention
to programs listed in the following.
Fostering Interaction Between Robotists
and Students: Student/Chair Mentorship Program
At this year's IROS, students can get involved in a fun way again.
Get the behind-the-scenes experience with a conference. Participants in Fostering Interaction Between Robotists and Students
(FIBRS) will get to directly see how sessions are organized and
run. This program will also give you a chance to interact with
key researchers in your field. Students will be paired with a session chair, where you will learn how to run a session. After
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2010.938494

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine

arriving early to the session you've signed up for and introducing
yourself to the session chair, you will have the opportunity to
observe up close how the chair is coordinating the session. Afterward, depending on the session chair's schedule, you should
have the opportunity to ask questions related to the topics discussed in the session. Students who are interested should first find
out who they would like to work with, by reading the session
guide and selecting a chair that they would like to be their mentor. Please e-mail the name of the session, the date, and your
relevant contact information to, fibrs@ieee.org. Keep in mind
that people are occasionally very busy, so you may also wish to
provide an alternative mentor name.
Student Photo Contest
You are welcome to submit your photographs taken during
the IROS 2010 conference. This is a seasonal amateur photography competition that is open to IROS undergraduate and
graduate student attendees. The judging of the submitted photographs will be made by the IEEE RAS SAC, involving independent judges. Three winners will be announced and awarded
after the conference. The submitted photos will be used for
archival purposes. The RAS SAC sponsored a student photo
contest at ICRA 2010. See the winning pictures in "ICRA
Student Photo Contest Winners."
Student Reporters Program
The chance is given to you to become famous with your writing skills: we are calling for entertaining, yet professionally
relevant, reports on the different sessions of IROS. You can
register for a session via the SAC Web site (http://wiki.ieeeras.org/mab/sac). The best reports will be awarded and published in IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine's upcoming
issue or on the RAS Web site. Write out your impressions!
SEPTEMBER 2010

http://www.wiki.ieee http://www.ras.org/mab/sac

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2010