CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION
SoCS-2011
The Fourth International Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SoCS-2011)
SoCS'11 is the Fourth installment of the The International Symposium on Combinatorial Search.
Heuristic search and other forms of combinatorial search are currently very active areas of research in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Planning and other
areas of Computer Science. The International Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SoCS) is meant to bring researchers in such areas together to exchange their
ideas and cross-fertilize the field.
Topics of Interest
SoCS is targeting researchers and submissions in all fields that use combinatorial search, including artificial intelligence, planning, robotics, constraint
programming, operations research and bioinformatics. Overall, the main focus of SoCS is on the design of novel heuristic search methods, analysis of existing
heuristic search methods and their applications. More specifically, topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
- Analysis of search algorithms
- Automated synthesis of lower bounds
- Bounding and pruning techniques
- Combinatorial puzzles
- Continuous problem solving
- External-memory and parallel search
- Incremental and active learning in search
- Meta-reasoning and search
- Methodology and critiques of current practice
- Model-based search
- Random vs. systematic search strategy selection
- Pattern databases
- Portfolios of search algorithms
- Real-time search
- Search focus in goal-directed problem solving
- Search space discretization for continuous state-space problems
- Self-configuring and self-tuning algorithms
- Symmetry handling
- Time, memory, and solution quality trade-offs
Special Scope This Year: Search in Robotics
SoCS-2011 will include a special session covering search in robotics. Heuristic search has been used to solve effectively a number of challenging
planning problems in robotics. Furthemore, planning problems in robotics present a number of research challenges that are frequently absent in classic
planning problems. We invite all researchers who use search in robotics to participate and/or submit their work to SoCS-2011. In particular, we are interested in
position papers covering the relationship between these fields.
Submission Information
We encourage researchers and attendees of SoCS to submit papers to the symposium. Submissions should be in AAAI format and up to 8 pages long. Submissions
should report on substantial, original and new research.
We also encourage submissions of position papers which are intended for the discussion of ideas and concepts related to search. Examples would be thoughtful
critiques of the field, historical perspectives and analysis, methodological contributions, insightful reports on new and demanding applications, and papers
related to the challenge area of this years conference.
Submissions will be carefully peer-reviewed by multiple reviewers. The reviewing process is "single-blinded": the authors' names should NOT be removed from the paper when submitting it for review.
The initial submission of papers is closed. The submission of camera-ready versions of accepted papers can be found at this AAAI Press link:
http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/socs-submit.php
Multiple Submissions
In order to foster the exchange of ideas at SoCS, we encourage authors to submit papers describing new research which has been accepted to other venues. Authors
should clearly indicate where a paper has been or will be published. Such papers will undergo a light reviewing process in order to ensure that they are of
interest to the SoCS community. Authors will later need to submit a two-page abstract describing the work for inclusion in the proceedings by the camera-ready
deadline.
The SoCS Proceedings
SoCS has a formal archival proceedings. However, authors of accepted papers (who submitted up to eight-page papers) can choose one of the
two following publication options.
- A full paper. Up to eight pages will be allocated in the proceedings for such papers. Papers that will appear as full papers in the formal SoCS proceedings
cannot be published elsewhere.
- Abstract only. Authors may choose to only include an abstract of their work in the formal archival proceedings. Up to two pages will be allocated in the
proceedings for abstract papers. Full versions of such papers with significantly more material than the SoCS abstract are generally publishable in other
venues. Similarly, a paper that was accepted/published elsewhere is welcomed as a regular, full-paper submission to SoCS but may only appear as an abstract in the
formal archival proceedings.
Position papers and papers published in other venues should be clearly labeled so as to ensure proper reviewing.
The decision whether to have a full version in the proceedings or only an abstract may be made by the authors near the date when the camera-ready version is needed.
Travel Support for Students
Limited support will be provided to students to cover their travel expenses. Information on how and when to submit
applications for the travel support will follow.
Dates and Location
SoCS will be co-located with IJCAI'11 and will take place in Cardona Parador, Barcelona (Spain) -
a beautiful ninth century fortress converted into a hotel. The symposium will start
on the early morning of Friday July 15, 2011 and will finish up in the late afternoon of Saturday, July 16, 2011.
Limited bus shuttle services will be provided (e.g., from the airport in Barcelona to SoCS on Thursday evening
and from SoCS to IJCAI on Saturday evening).
Important Dates
Submission deadline: April 30, 2011, 11:59PM UTC-12
Notification: May 30, 2011
Camera-ready version due: June 23, 2011
SoCS Conference: July 15-16, 2011
SoCS web site: http://www.socs11.org
Conference Chairs:
Daniel Borrajo, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Maxim Likhachev, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Carlos Linares Lopez, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain