First Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors

Living Machines.
The 9th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems
28 – 31 July 2020
To be hosted at the Botanical Garden of Freiburg and the Cluster of Excellence livMatS at the University of Freiburg, Germany

Accepted papers will be published in Springer Lecturer Notes in Artificial Intelligence
Submission deadline: March 23, 2020
http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2020
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ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2020
The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems.
Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering.
Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component—an existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The theme of the conference also encompasses biomimetic methods for manufacture, repair and recycling inspired by natural processes such as reproduction, digestion, morphogenesis and metamorphosis.

The following are some examples of “Living Machines” as featured at past conferences:
• Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can intelligently interact with their environments.
• Biomimetic computers—neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour.
• Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair or show other bio-inspired functions.
• Nature-inspired designs and manufacturing processes.
• Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants.
• Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses.
• Organism-level biohybrids such as robot-animal or robot-human systems.

ACTIVITIES
The main conference will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation program, 28th July to 31st July 2020, and will be hosted at the
Botanical Garden of Freiburg by the University of Freiburg, Germany, and the Cluster of Excellence “Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)” (www.livmats.uni-freiburg.de).
The conference program will include five plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems, and the demonstrations of state-of-the-art living machine technologies.
The full conference will be preceded by up to two days of Satellite Events hosted at the University of Freiburg.

SUBMITTING TO LIVING MACHINES 2020
We invite both full papers and extended abstracts in areas related to the conference themes. All contributions will be refereed and accepted papers will appear in the Living Machines Proceedings, published in the Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence.
Full papers (minimum 8 pages, up to 12 pages) are invited from researchers at any stage in their career and should present significant findings and advances in biomimetic or biohybrid research. More preliminary work is better suited for short paper submission (minimum 4 pages, with a maximum of ten references and no more than three self-citations). Full papers will be accepted for either oral presentation (single track) or poster presentation with a short podium preview. Extended abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation only.
Authors of the best full papers will be invited to submitted extended versions of their paper for publication in a special issue of the Taylor & Francis journal Connection Science.

SATELLITE EVENTS
Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to propose topics for full or half-day tutorials, symposia or workshops on related themes to be held on 28. July at the Institute for Biology II/III of the University of Freiburg (http://www.bio.uni-freiburg.de/index-en?set_language=en).
Attendance at satellite events will attract a small fee intended to cover the costs of the meeting. There is flexibility about the content, organisation, and budgeting for these events. Please contact us if you are interested in organising a satellite event!

EXPECTED DEADLINES
March 23, 2020 Paper submission deadline
May 15, 2020 Notification of acceptance
May 25, 2020 Camera ready copy
July 28, 29-31, 2020 Workshops and Conference

SPONSORSHIP
Organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products through conference publications, conference events, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We also offer a number of attractive options to potential sponsors.

VENUE
Consistent with the Living Machines’ tradition of choosing historical venues at the crossroads between life and human sciences, this year the conference will take place at the Botanical Garden of Freiburg.

Freiburg is considered the gateway to the Black Forest and thanks to its geographical location is blessed with mild weather all year round. The city is over 900 years old and known to be the sunniest city(1,740 hours of sunshine/year) in Germany. Freiburg has a beautiful historical inner city and is home to one of the oldest universities and Botanical Gardens in Germany.

The Botanical Garden Freiburg will be celebrating its 400 year anniversary in 2020 and is located in the district Herdern near the Botanical Institute of the University of Freiburg. The Botanical Garden invites visitors to enjoy its wonderful greenery and learn about both plants from all around the world and plant-based biomimetics with its biomimetic educational trail. The trail highlights biomimetic inventions based on plants while providing fascinating insights into underlying biological principles.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

- Thomas Speck University of Freiburg, Germany (Local Chair)
- Paul Verschure IBEC, BIST, ICREA, CSN foundation (Co-Chair)
- Tony Prescott University of Sheffield, CSN foundation (Steering Committee)
- Anna Mura IBEC, BIST Barcelona, CSN foundation (General Organization)

PROGRAM CHAIR
- Vicky Vouloutsi IBEC, BIST, Barcelona

COMMUNICATION
- Sonja Seidel University of Freiburg, Germany
- Yulia Sandamirskaya INI, Zurich Univ. & ETH

WORKSHOPS CHAIR
- Falk Esser University of Freiburg, Germany

LOCAL ORGANIZERS COMMITTEE
- Thomas Speck University of Freiburg, Germany
- Falk Esser University of Freiburg, Germany
- Sonja Seidel University of Freiburg, Germany