This two-day workshop was held on March 25 and 26, 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic collocated with the Second European Robotics Symposium (EUROS) and the 2008 Annual EURON Meeting. On this occasion emphasis in the Call for Contributions was on methodological aspects as a way of fostering good experimental practice and benchmarking. Nine European speakers presented their work or ideas with plenty of time for discussions, as listed in the Program below.
All science proceeds from experiment, which motivates the creation of new theory and establishes the limits and validity of the existing theoretical basis. Individual branches of science conduct experiments differently, depending on the topic of investigation, but all have in common a body of knowledge concerning experimental methodology that specifies how to design and conduct `good' experiments in that discipline.
If robotics aims to be serious science, serious attention must be paid to experimental method. We can all point to published papers that report poor experimental work: few or no replications or tests; no, or dubious, comparison between algorithms; lack of suitable quantification of performance and its variability; conclusions which, while perhaps correct, are unjustified by the reported experimental work. It is time to address this. EURON GEM Special Interest Group focuses on increasing the quality of experimental methodology practiced in robotics. We believe this general aim can be achieved, for instance, by sharing good practice via educational workshops, summer schools, email discussion and web presentation; by providing assistance to journal and conference reviewers and editors concerning what constitutes experimental robotics and good practice in that sub-discipline; by encouraging the principled replication and comparison of results; and by encouraging the development and use of appropriate systems benchmarks and standard evaluation procedures.
March 25th: Chair F Bonsignorio:
March 26th: Chair A. P. del Pobil.