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RAS Publication Activities

Bill Hamel

Vice President

RAS AdCom Meeting

IROS 2004, Sendai, Japan

October 3, 2004

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Outline

Status of current publications TRO RAM Joint Publications TASE

Publications income trends Proposal for new publication Status of TMech

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ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

Kimon P. Valavanis

and

Rosalyn G. Snyder

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Editorial Board

Stefano Stramigioli (12/31/2005)Alex Zelinski (12/31/2005)

Lydia Kavraki (12/31/2006)Howie Choset (12/31/2006)

Kathryn Jablokow (Penn State) (12/31/2007)Herbert Tanner (U of New Mexico) (12/31/2007)

Ian Walker (RAM / TRA Liaison)

Kostas Kyriakopoulos EURON Representative

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Comparative Rankings of RAS Pubs 2003

(Source: Thompson ISI Journal Citation Report)

Impact Factor 2003

Cited Half Life

Robotics (11) Automation/Control Systems.

(47)

Eng, Elect. & Electronic

(205)T-RA(1985) 2.103 8.3 1 4 20RA-M(1994) 1.103 4.3 4 12

J MEMS (1992) 2.759 4.5 8

T-Mech(1996) 0.716 4.6 22 93

Rankings in Groups by Impact FactorMetrics

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JCR™ Impact Factor Ranking(Source: Thomson ISI Journal Citation Report)

RAM ranked 4th among 11 “Robotics” publications in 2003, and 12th among 47 “Automation and Control publications in 2003

RAM ranked 3rd among “Robotics” publications in 2000, 2001, 2002.

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Impact Factor Trends for RAS Pubs (Source: Thompson ISI Journal Citation Report)

0.000

0.500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

3.000

19992000200120022003

RA-M

T-RA

IEEE-ASME TMech (RAS-IES-ASME)

J MEMS (RAS-ASME)

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2004 Issues

Recent Advances in Semiconductor March 2004Factory Automation --Part 2

Dependability in Human-Centered June 2004Robotics

Recent Advances in Semiconductor September 2004 Factory Automation – Part 2

Panoramic Robots December 2004

AdCom allocated an extra 100 pages to clear backlog of 14 individual submissions articles in September / December 2004. Will start 2005 “clean”.

2005 RAM page budget - 320 pages (includes ads, covers, departments)

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Issues in the Pipeline

Ready for publication Intelligent Transportation Systems March 2005 R&A in European Union June 2005 Industrial Robotics Applications & Sept 2005

Industry-University Cooperation in Europe Individual Submissions Dec 2005

In Review Climbing Robots Sub. Deadline July 1,

2004 Software Packages for Vision- Sub. Deadline July 7, 2005

Based Control of Motion

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RAM Editor-In-Chief

Kimon’s term ends 12/05. Overlap with successor is important. Four excellent candidates have been

considered. President Tanie will announce next RAM

EIC soon.

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Joint Publications

Intelligent Transportation Systems Mechatronics ~ ??% Micro Electro Mechanical Systems ~9% Mobile Computing Nano-Bioscience ~ 10% Nano Technology ~ 5% Sensors ~ 4%

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Outline

Status of current publications TRO RAM Joint Publications TASE

Publications income trends Proposal for new publication Status of TMech

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Projection = ($125K) Electronic hits to “library” packages: Members encourage students to use institutional IEL packages

to obtain papers. PAB efforts to enhance IEEEXplore “linking” mechanics:

Verify all objects represent hits. Subcommittee to establish master keyword lists; search efficiency Subcommittee to review and update bibliography

standards/requirements–paper references will include active links; increase number of references; author’s database tool to assist with bibliography creation.

Assure cross-linking between TRA, TRO, TASE, RAM

ASPP/IEL Publications Income Trend…Countermeasures

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Proposal for a new publication:IEEE Transactions on Virtual and

Augmented Reality (TVAR)

Advocates & Interested Parties Rationale & Content Issues & Discussion Planned Action

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Advocates & Interested Parties

Advocates Professor Greg Burdea, Rutgers Professor Susumi Tachi, The University of Tokyo

Players? Computer Society–?? Working Group (visualization,

immersion) RAS (haptics, visualization)

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TVAR Rationale

Virtual reality/visual simulation industry has grown to $43B in 2003.

200 universities worldwide now offering VR/AR type courses

Only VR journal presently is PRESENCE–Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, MIT Press, 400 subscribers, started in 1992, IF = 0.744.

IEEE publication can galvanize and vitalize the field. Numerous sources of papers exist.

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TVAR Scope

Interdisciplinary Theory aspects, hardware design, modeling,

real-time programming, human factors issues and practical applications

Virtual and augmented reality

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Issues/Questions

50/50 co-sponsorship with CS in a clear option. Finanical:

Investment: $300K/2 over three years. Profitability–particularly under new IEL

Magnitude of member interest? Impact on TRO–presently publishes haptics-related

papers ~ 4 papers/year. Tactical situation

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Case for a new journal on VR/AR is valid. Our members are primarily involved in haptics,

telemanipulation aspects. Most publish in TRO, but feel somewhat lost in the crowd. To achieve the quality that happens with TRO would be

difficult. Readership would be less appropriate because of the

computer graphics domination. Bottom line: questions that it would be a big hit with

those who participate in RAS.

Inputs: Technical Committee on VR, Ed Colgate

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PAB Discussion

Technical merits very strong; rapid growth will continue.

In 5 years, VR technology with also intersect extensively with ASE domain.

“Test” magazine special issues (CS for sure and possibly RAS) are being considered to gauge interests–authors and readers.

RAS must play, or be left behind. RAS will have to be aggressive–now–to achieve co-

sponsorship.

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Planned Action

Pursue the creation of the new journal. VP PA will promote 50/50 co-sponsorship with CS;

continue development of formal IEEE TAB proposal. Preliminary special magazine issues will be published

to provide data. TAB/CAB will be encouraged to add VR/haptics

tracks in upcoming conferences. If successful…submit to AdCom for approval in the

future.

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Status of the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

Dick Volz