ACRA 2018

Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 2018

This event is jointly organised by the Australian Robotics and Automation Association (ARAA) and the National Science Challenge Robotics Spearhead Project and proudly hosted by Lincoln Agritech.

Clive Marsh (General Chair) and Ian Woodhead (Programme Chair)

Event details:

4-6 December, 2018
Lincoln University, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand

Registration includes a conference registration pack with your name tag and conference proceedings. It is a catered event – there will be session breaks and refreshments on offer. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided. If you have dietary requirements, please contact Melissa Wong (melissa.wong@lincolnagritech.co.nz).

Registration costs (NZD):

Early bird – register by 11 pm (NZ time), 7 November 2018
General admission $575.00
Student admission $402.50

Regular price  – register by 1 December 2018
General admission$632.50
Student admission $460.00

Key dates:

Paper Submission Deadline: Extended till 3 October 2018 at 5.00 pm (NZ time)
Notification of Acceptance: 
17 October 2018
Final manuscript Deadline: 
20 November2018

Submission of papers
All full papers submitted to ACRA 2018 will undergo a peer-review process. Each manuscript will be reviewed by at least two reviewers who will give detailed comments. If the submission is accepted, the authors will submit a revised (“camera-ready”) version that takes into account this feedback. The review process is managed by the program chair of the conference.

All papers are reviewed using a single-blind review process: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers do not know each other’s identities, nor do the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript.

Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 2018

4-6 December 2018, Lincoln University

Kia ora, welcome to the Australasian Conference of Robotics and Automation (ACRA) 2018. Proudly hosted by Lincoln Agritech, this is the first time the conference is being held in South Island, New Zealand on the Lincoln University campus. Lincoln University and its subsidiary, Lincoln Agritech, are specialists in land-based activities specifically agriculture, horticulture and environmental management. In addition to the usual topics at ACRA, we plan to give this conference a land-based flavour.

Lincoln University campus is easily accessible from the Christchurch International Airport (20-minute commute). The attractive campus is set in a rural setting and is an easy walking distance to the Lincoln township, full of shops, amenities, and cafes. Accommodation is available on the university grounds, in Lincoln and the surrounding townships.

We welcome you to the South Island and look forward to meeting you at ACRA 2018.

Venue

Best directions to venue

For those that are traveling to the campus the first time from Christchurch, the best gate to enter by is via Gate 3 from Springs Rd. Enter the Lincoln University campus and park in the Orchard Car Park. There will be signs to guide you from the car park to the ACRA conference (located in the Commerce Building).

ACRA conference

The conference starts around 9.00 am each day in the Commerce Building, Lecture Room C1 (Building 10 on the map).

As part of the conference package, all ACRA conference participants receive beverages upon arrival, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinners.

Presentations & access to wifi

If you are delivering a conference presentation, please have it ready on a USB stick.
Wifi access: log into “Open Campus” and follow the prompts.

Programme outline

Tuesday 4 December

8.45am – 9.00am Opening welcome: Ian Woodhead, Lincoln Agritech
9.00 am– 9.30am Keynote 1: David Howard, CSIRO
9.30am – 10.30am Session 1; four paper presentations
10.30am – 11.00am Morning tea
11.00am – 12.30pm Session 2; six paper presentations
12.30 pm – 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 2.00pm Keynote 2: Bruce McDonald, University of Auckland
2.00pm – 3.15pm Session 3; five paper presentations
3.15pm – 3.45pm Afternoon tea
3.45pm – 5.00pm Session 4; five paper presentations
7.00pm Evening meal

Wednesday 5 December

9.00 am– 9.30am Keynote 3: Johan Potgeiter, Massey University
9.30am – 10.00am Keynote 4: Alvin Reed, Dairy Farmer, South Canterbury
10.00am – 10.30am Morning tea
10.30am – 12.30pm Session 5; eight paper presentations – Best paper awards session
12.30 pm – 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 2.30pm Marketplace 1; 12 x 5 minutes presentations from industry – Invert Robotics, C-Dax, Crown Forklifts, Talbot Plastics, Pastoral Robotics, Waratah NZ, LIC, IOSYS, GEA +++
2.30pm – 3.30pm Afternoon tea and industry networking
3.30pm – 4.00pm Marketplace 2; 20 x 1.5 minutes presentations from researchers
4.00pm – 5.00pm Marketplace discussions and networking
7.00pm Banquet

Thursday 6 December

9.00 am– 9.30am Keynote 5: Manoj Karkee, Washington State University
9.30am – 10.30am Session 6; four paper presentations
10.30am – 11.00am Morning tea
11.00am – 12.00pm Session 7; four paper presentations
12.30 pm – 1.30pm Lunch

Proceedings

ISBN: 978-0-9807404-9-3 ISSN: 1448-2053

Conference proceedings, download here – contain links to papers (PDF) and associated videos.

Accommodation

Below is a list of recommended accommodation options suitable for all types of budgets:

Lincoln University, Halls of Residence, Stevens Hall and Quarter Blocks

Located in the heart of the university campus, these single rooms have shared bathroom facilities, a common room, and a kitchenette.
$85/night (not including processing fees). This rate includes cooked breakfast.

If you wish to stay an extra night (pre- or post-conference) please let Melissa know the exact day so she can liaise with Lincoln University Hospitality. Email Melissa (melissa.wong@lincolnagritech.co.nz) if you have any queries.

Lincoln Motel, 6 Maurice St, Lincoln

This motel is located in the Lincoln township, close to all the local shops, restaurants, pubs and amenities. It is an easy 20 min walk to/from the university campus.
Rates are from $135/night (depending on room booking). Accommodation includes free wifi, TV and parking. Visit the website for bookings and details.

The Famous Grouse Hotel, 2 Gerald St, Lincoln

This hotel is located in the Lincoln township, close to all the local shops and amenities. It is an easy 20 min walk to/from the university campus. Accommodation includes free wifi, TV and parking. Pub and food options available onsite.
Rates $130/night. Visit the website for bookings and details.

Silverstream Lodge, 214 Englishs Rd, Lincoln

This lodge is a 5 min drive to/from the university. The picturesque countryside accommodation has free wifi, TV with Sky movies and sport.
Rates from $150 (depending on room booking) and includes breakfast. Visit the website for bookings and details.

Rolleston Highway Motel, 10D Chaucer St, Rolleston

This motel is located within a 10 min drive to/from the university. Located in the Rolleston township it is close to local shops, restaurants, pubs and amenities. Accommodation includes free wifi, TV with Sky movies and parking.
Rates from $140 (depending on room booking).

Christchurch city centre accommodation options

If you wish to stay in Christchurch, it is a 30 min drive to/from Lincoln University. Click on this link for a list of accommodation options.

 

Things to do

If you are choosing to stay in Christchurch (before or after the conference) and are looking for entertainment and sightseeing options, here is a list of recommendations:

Submissions

Key Dates:

Paper Submission Deadline: Extended till 3 October 2018 at 5.00 pm NZ time
Click here to submit your paper.
Notification of Acceptance: 17 October 2018
Final manuscript Deadline: 31 October 2018

Paper Format:

ACRA papers must be 6-10 pages in length (including text, references, figures and acknowledgements). Papers that do not follow these guidelines may be rejected without review.
Use this example paper as a guide, Exploiting Parallax in Panoramic Capture to Construct Light Fields by Donald Dansereau, David Wood, Sebastian Montabone and Stefan Williams (ACRA 2014).

Paper Templates:

LaTeX: style file: acra.sty, template: acra.tex, bibtex: named.bst
Microsoft Word | Star/OpenOffice: template: acra.rtf or acra.odt.

Presentation Format:

15 min in total (12 min presentation; 3 min question time).
Acceptance of all work at the conference is based on the quality of the submitted paper.
Attendance of a presenter at the conference is required for accepted papers to appear in the proceedings.

Contacts for 2018

General Chair: 

Clive Marsh (clive.marsh@lincolnagritech.co.nz)

Programme Chair:

Ian Woodhead (ian.woodhead@lincolnagritech.co.nz)

Mailing Address:

Lincoln Agritech Ltd
PO Box 69133, Lincoln
Christchurch 7640
New Zealand