Living Machines 2018: join us in Paris!

Date: 
Friday, 2017, December 1

First Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors
Living Machines VII: The 7th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems
16 – 19 July 2018
To be hosted at the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle,
Grand amphitéâtre du Museum, and UPMC, Paris, France, EU

Accepted papers will be published in
Springer Lecturer Notes in Artificial Intelligence
Submission deadline: March 12th, 2018
http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2018

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ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2018
The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems.
Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering.
Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component—an existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The theme of the conference also encompasses biomimetic methods for manufacture, repair and recycling inspired by natural processes such as reproduction, digestion, morphogenesis and metamorphosis.

The following are some examples of “Living Machines” as featured at past conferences:
•  Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that
can intelligently interact with their environments.
•  Biomimetic computers—neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour.
•  Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair.
• Nature-inspired designs and manufacturing processes.
•  Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants.
•  Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses.
• Organism-level biohybrids such as robot-animal or robot-human systems.

ACTIVITIES
The main conference will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme, 17th to 20th July 2018, Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle, Grand amphitéâtre du Museum, and UPMC, Paris, France, EU

The conference programme will include five plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems, and the demonstrations of state-of-the-art living machine technologies.
The full conference will be preceded by up to two days of Satellite Events hosted at Stanford University.

SUBMITTING TO LIVING MACHINES 2018
We invite both full papers and extended abstracts in areas related to the conference themes. All contributions will be refereed and accepted papers will appear in the Living Machines Proceedings, published in the Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence.
Full papers (minimum 8 pages, up to 12 pages) are invited from researchers at any stage in their career and should present significant findings and advances in biomimetic or biohybrid research. More preliminary work is better suited for short paper submission (minimum 4 pages, with a maximum of ten references and no more than three self-citations). Full papers will be accepted for either oral presentation (single track) or poster presentation with a short podium preview. Extended abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation only.
Authors of the best full papers will be invited to submitted extended versions of their paper for publication in a special issue of the Taylor & Francis journal Connection Science.

Satellite events
Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to propose topics for full or half-day tutorials, symposia or workshops on related themes to be held on the 16th July at the The École Normale Supérieure in Paris http://www.ens.fr/en
Attendance at satellite events will attract a small fee intended to cover the costs of the meeting. There is flexibility about the content, organisation, and budgeting for these events. Please contact us if you are interested in organising a satellite event!

EXPECTED DEADLINES
March 12th, 2018 Paper submission deadline
April 28th, 2018 Notification of acceptance
May 15th, 2018 Camera ready copy
July 16th - 20th  2018 Workshops and Conference

SPONSORSHIP
Organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products through conference publications, conference events, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We also offer a number of attractive options to potential sponsors.

VENUE
Consistent with the Living Machines’ tradition of choosing historical venues at the crossroads between life and human sciences, this year the conference will take place at the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle http://www.mnhn.fr/fr an historical muséum located in the heart of Paris that for almost 400 years has focused on nature and its relationship with humans. Poster sessions will be organized at UPMC.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Jose Halloy  Université Paris Diderot (Local Organizing Chair)
Paul Verschure  IBEC, BIST, ICREA (Co-Chair)
Vicky Vouloutsy  IBEC, BIST, Barcelona (Programme Chair)
Tony Prescott  University of Sheffield (Steering Committee)
Michael Mangan  University of Lincoln (Steering Committee)
Nathan Lepora University of Bristol (Communication)
Anna Mura  IBEC, BIST, Barcelona (Web, Communication)

LOCAL ORGANIZERS COMMITTEE
Stéphane Doncieux  UMPC, ISIR, FR
Benoît Girard DR CNRS, UPMC, ISIR, FR
Emmanuelle Pouydebat  DR CNRS, Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, FR
Vincent Bels Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, FR