Newsgroups: comp.robotics.research
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From: ion@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Iain Shigeoka)
Subject: [ADMIN] CRR News 1.0
Message-ID: <D8nErt.IGM@news.cis.umn.edu>
Summary: Intro to CRR
Keywords: guidelines
Sender: news@news.cis.umn.edu (Usenet News Administration)
Nntp-Posting-Host: tera.cs.umn.edu
Reply-To: ion@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Iain Shigeoka)
Organization: Univ. of Kansas
Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 01:50:02 GMT
Approved: hougen@cs.umn.edu, crr@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca
Expires: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 00:00:00 GMT
Lines: 218


CRR News  5/13/95 Vol. 1, Issue 0 

Contents:

1.0 Hello
2.0 A Rocky Start
3.0 A Short History
4.0 The Future
A1  Appendix: The Moderators


1.0 Hello everyone,

Welcome to the moderated newsgroup comp.robotics.research (CRR).  This
group has been a long time coming.  Hopefully, it's going to be well
worth the wait.  Before I say anything else, I would like to thank
everyone who helped form this newsgroup.  Especially Wesley Scott and
Dean Hougen who did most of the dirty administrative work to get this
newsgroup created.  Pat yourself on the back because I think we've
started something really good here.  Now before you go and start
posting, please read the _Charter for comp.robotics.research_ which
explains the moderation policy that we are going to be implementing
here.  Also, please feel free to contact us (the moderators) at any
time with suggestions or comments.  We can be reached through email
at:  crr-request@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca.  We'd love to hear from you.


2.0 A Rocky Start

The first few weeks of operation for CRR will probably not run 100% 
smoothly.  This will be the first time any of us have done any 
moderation.  In addition, I am almost positive we will suffer from 
some technical difficulties during this initial break in period. 
Please be patient.  Hopefully our learning curve will be pretty steep
and we'll be up to speed quickly.

During the first two weeks, expect to see a lot of work done by our
two temporary moderators (Wesley and Dean) as well as the normal
moderators (Martin and Iain).  Martin Boyer will be out of town on 
business during the last two weeks of May.  In fact, one of his stops 
is Nagoya, Japan for ICRA '95.  If any future readers are going, he
would love to meet with you there and discuss ideas on how you see CRR
evolving.  Send email to crr-request@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca or leave a
note on the message board at ICRA to set up a time and place.  Iain is
also planning to be out of town May 19-29 for a purely frivolous
vacation.  He hopes to check in regularly though and keep in touch.
Hopefully, all this personnel shuffling will be invisible to readers.


3.0 A Short History

The idea for CRR has been brewing in the minds of some comp.robotics
readers for quite a while now.  These people, mainly "funded
researchers", were finding it harder and harder to locate useful
information and discussions in the newsgroup.  The research relevant
posts were beginning to get lost amidst a flood of micromouse and
stepper motor discussions.  Many dedicated comp.robotics readers sadly
saw the number of researching colleagues reading the group dwindle.
Something needed to be done.

Comp.robotics readers began the first steps towards the actual birth
of CRR last summer, with discussions that culminated in the issuing 
of the first Request for Discussion (RFD).  The movement quickly met
it's first setback when the Usenet people informed the readers that
all *.research newsgroups needed moderators.  A search for moderators
was begun.  Within the week, Martin Boyer and Iain Shigeoka 
volunteered to co-moderate the newsgroup. 

An informal straw poll was held beginning on September 21, 1994 to
make sure that there was enough support to meet the Usenet
requirements for new group creation.  The results were favorable.  It
was decided that the formal newsgroup creation process should be
started.  Wesley Scott and Dean Hougen spearheaded the effort, writing
proposals and getting in contact with Usenet gurus to learn the 
technical details of newsgroup creation.  The official Request For
Discussion (RFD) was issued on January 23, 1995.  

Everything was moving along well, when the movement hit another minor
snag.  People concerned with preserving the "name-space" of Usenet 
newsgroup heirarchies asked to have comp.robotics renamed to 
comp.robotics.misc.  We worried that addding it to the RFD would 
detract from the issue of importance to us, creating CRR.  After some 
discussion, it was decided to include it in the RFD but make it a 
completely seperate issue.

There were no serious objections to the creation of CRR during the
public discussion.  On April 7, 1995 the Call For Votes (CFV) was
issued for a lengthy four week period.  We waited impatiently and
finally, the results came back.  CRR passed!


4.0 The Future

The creators and moderators of CRR hope that this newsgroup will
resemble a virtual conference.  We see this as a place where research
can be presented, and new ideas can be discussed with peers and
colleagues.  A place where questions can be asked and new partnerships
are formed.  

Of course, the quality of such a conference completely depends on the
people who participate in it.  We realize that you, the readers, will
have to spend valuable time and effort to make this possible.  Posting
research results, answering questions, and writing summarized
descriptions of your "work in progress" to CRR will most likely be an
additional detail in your already busy life.  We hope that what you
give, will be richly rewarded by the interaction and information
provided on this newsgroup by your own colleagues and peers.  The
future of CRR now lies in your hands.


         Your Moderators:

               Martin Boyer
               Iain Shigeoka

               Dean Hougen
               Wesley Scott

               May 15, 1995





A1  Appendix: The Moderators

    The co-moderators for comp.robotics.research are Martin Boyer and 
    Iain Shigeoka.  There are also two backup moderators who will 
    moderate CRR when either or both of the regular moderators are
    unable to do so.  The two backup moderators are Dean Hougen and
    Wesley Scott.  A short biography of the moderators is provided 
    below.


   **Martin Boyer <mboyer@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca>.

    Martin Boyer is working at the Robotics Division of the
    Hydro-Quebec Research Institute (near Montreal, Canada).  He is
    currently managing the long-term research within the Division.  As
    such, he is a member of several working committees, within and
    outside of Hydro-Quebec.  He is also responsible for
    Hydro-Quebec's share of the Telerobotic Development Systems (TDS)
    project.  This five year project unites four industrial and
    academic partners in the development of three robotic testbeds;
    one for the manipulation of large objects, one for
    micro-fabrication, and the last one for research in direct-drive
    robots.

    Mr. Boyer's main interests are the workspace optimization of
    telemanipulators, and human factors in force-feedback systems.  He
    holds a degree in Electrical Engineering (McGill, 1983) and a
    Master's Degree, also in Electrical Engineering (McGill, 1988).
    He has been with the Hydro-Quebec Research Institute since 1985.


   **Iain Shigeoka <ion@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>

    Iain Shigeoka is a first year masters student at the University of
    Kansas.  He has completed a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the
    University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Psychology at the
    University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Mr. Shigeoka is currently working in the Kansas Augmented
    Telerobotics laboratory which is equipped with a pair of Kraft
    Telerobotic arms.  Although he has not committed to a research
    project yet, there are strong indications that he will be doing
    research in remote operations, semi-autonomous telerobotic
    controls, or telerobotic vision systems in the near future.


   **Dean Hougen <hougen@cs.umn.edu>

    Dean Hougen is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota,
    pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, in the area of Artificial
    Intelligence, with a graduate minor in Cognitive Science.  Mr.
    Hougen's doctoral research is focused on the use of artificial
    neural networks for learning to control physical systems.

    Mr. Hougen received a BS in Computer Science from Iowa State
    University in 1988, with undergraduate minors in Philosophy and
    Mathematics.  Since then he has been a full-time graduate
    student in the Computer Science Department at the University of
    Minnesota.  Research assistantships in the Soil Science Department
    have allowed him to gain extensive experience in the design and
    implementation of Expert Systems, Geographic Information Systems,
    and User Interfaces.  His doctoral research is being carried out 
    at AIR-VL, the Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Vision
    Laboratory at the University of Minnesota.


   **Wesley Scott <wscott@tam2000.tamu.edu>

    Wesley Scott is completing his second year as a PhD student at
    Texas A&M University (Currently Industrial Engr / Originally Civil
    Engr).  He holds a B.S.  in Chemical Engineering (Oregon St Univ,
    1985) and a M.S.E.  in Mechanical Engineering (Purdue 1992).

    Mr.  Scott's research topic is undefined but he is anticipating
    something in the mobile robotics area, probably involving using
    vision as a vehicle guidance system.



As co-moderators and temporary moderators of comp.robotics.research,
Mr. Boyer, Mr. Shigeoka, Mr. Hougen, and Mr. Scott will be acting as
individuals, not as representatives or agents for their respective
Internet sites or other organizations in which they may participate.

                                                        
***************************************************     
* Iain Shigeoka:  ion@falcon.cc.ukans.edu         *     
*                 http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~ion *     
***************************************************

     *********************** (moderated) ***************************
            Submissions:             Meta-discussions/information:
     crr@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca   crr-request@ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca
