CALL FOR PAPERS
DSLRob 2015: 6th International Workshop on Domain-Specific Languages
and models for ROBotic systems (DSLRob-15)

Website: http://www.doesnotunderstand.org/public/DSLRob2015

IROS 2015 Workshop: DSLRob-15 will take place September 28, 2015 in
Hamburg (Germany), during the IROS 2015 conference.

------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------

After the overwhelming push towards the design of robotics software
platforms (e.g. ROS, Orocos, SmartSoft, OpenRTM, etc.) we now need to
make robotics programming and system integration as accessible as
possible to application domain experts. Domain-Specific Languages
(DSLs) and Model-driven Engineering (MDE) are emerging areas of
interest in the robotics research community, which have been
instrumental for resolving complex issues in a wide range of domains
(e.g., AI, networked, distributed, service and modular robotics,
automation, control, and vision) and have the potential for
significantly facilitating how robots are programmed.

A domain-specific language (DSL) is a programming language dedicated
to a particular problem domain that offers specific notations and
abstractions, which, at the same time, decrease the coding complexity
and increase programmer productivity within that domain. Models offer
a high-level way for domain users to specify the functionality of
their system at the right level of abstraction. DSLs and models have
historically been used for programming complex systems. They have
however recently garnered interest as a separate field of study; this
workshop investigates DSLs and models for robotics.

Robotic systems blend hardware and software in a holistic way that
intrinsically raises many crosscutting concerns (concurrency,
uncertainty, time constraints, etc.), for which reason, traditional
general-purpose languages often lead to a poor fit between the
language features and the implementation requirements. DSLs and models
offer a powerful, systematic way to overcome this problem. The DSLRob
series of workshops is devoted to promoting the systematic use of DSLs
in robotic systems; DSLRob is based on a combination of high-quality
reviews and a format that ensures time for interactive discussions.

------------------ INVITED SPEAKERS ------------------

Invited talks will be given by:

- Professor Herman Bruyninckx, University of Leuven, Mechanical
Engineering: The current and future role of DSLs in robotics
research and applications.

- Dr. Markus Voelter, itemis AG Stuttgart: State of the art in
language workbenches and development of DSLs for embedded software.

This workshop is supported by IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Software
Engineering for Robotics and Automation (TC-SOFT)

------------------ LIST OF TOPICS ------------------

The workshop will focus on the use of Domain-Specific Languages and
Models for Robotic Systems. In more detail, topics that are of
interest for the workshop include:
- DSLs targeting specific application domains, such as service robots,
automation, biomedical, autonomous vehicles (land, sea, air), and
modular robots.
- DSLs addressing specific technical challenges, such as system
integration, AI, sensor/actuator networks, distributed and cloud
robotics, perception, sensor information, human robot interaction,
uncertainty, modeling of physical systems, and real-time
constraints.
- DSLs providing alternative programming models, such as reactive
behaviors, composition of behaviors, motion description languages
(MDL), and cooperative robotics.
- Models to represent robotics software architectures and their
variability.
- Runtime models for reasoning and dynamic adaptation.
- Surveys of the use of DSLs in specific subdomains of robotics.
- Tool support and frameworks for describing and manipulating DSLs and
models for robotic systems.
- Code generation and code transformation for robotics systems.
- Frameworks to combine DSLs and models in a uniform manner.
- Case studies on the use of DSLs in advanced robotics systems.
- Benchmarks to compare the use of DSLs versus the use of
general-purpose programming languages.
- Programming languages in the context of robotic systems, such as
dynamic languages, languages to teach robotics, and visual
languages.

------------------ INTENDED AUDIENCE ------------------

The intended audience is those robotics researchers throughout the
entire robotics community who use DSLs and models as a key component
of their robotics software infrastructure. In addition, robotics
researchers with an interest in modern approaches to solving complex
software-related issues will find the workshop inspirational.

------------------ SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES ------------------

All submitted papers will be reviewed on the basis of technical
quality, relevance, significance, and clarity. At least two reviews
for each paper will be conducted. All workshop papers should be
submitted electronically in PDF format through the EasyChair website
and should use the IEEE US letter format.

We are looking for submission of full research papers and experiences
reports (up to 8 pages) and work in progress submissions (up to 4
pages). Please create your account on Easy Chair website as soon as
possible if you intend to submit a paper:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dslrob2015

------------------ IMPORTANT DATES ------------------

The schedule is as follows:
- August 15th, 2015 at midnight PDT (Pacific Daylight Time): Deadline
for workshop papers submission
- September 7th, 2015: Paper acceptance notification
- September 21st, 2015: Pre-camera ready submission
As is the case for previous DSLRob workshops, formal post-workshop
proceedings will be permanently stored on the publicly available site
arxiv.org.

------------------ WORKSHOP SCHEDULE ------------------

The workshop includes the invited talks by Prof. Herman Bruyninckx and
Dr. Markus Voelter, paper presentation sessions, as well as reports
from RAS TC-SOFT, the euRobotics Topic Group on Software Systems
Engineering, and the "DSL Zoo" initiative on a classification on DSLs
in robotics.

--------------- ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE -----------------

Christian Schlegel, Fakultät Informatik, Hochschule Ulm, Germany
Ulrik P. Schultz, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Serge Stinckwich, UMI UMMISCO (IRD/UPMC), France
Sebastian Wrede, Bielefeld University, Germany

Program committee: TBA

Contact: Please contact Ulrik Pagh Schultz (ups@mmmi.sdu.dk) for
further enquiries about this workshop.

--
Ulrik Pagh Schultz, Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark
ups@mmmi.sdu.dk - http://www.sdu.dk/ansat/ups