Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
August 13-16, 2015
http://www.icdl-epirob.org/

== Conference description
The past decade has seen the emergence of a new scientific field that studies how intelligent biological and
artificial systems develop sensorimotor, cognitive, emotional and social abilities, over extended periods of time,
through dynamic interactions with their physical and social environments. This field lies at the intersection
of a number of scientific and engineering disciplines including Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology,
Developmental Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computational Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Machine
Learning, and Robotics. Various terms have been associated with this new field such as Autonomous Mental
Development, Epigenetic Robotics, Developmental Robotics, etc., and several scientific meetings have been
established. The two most prominent conference series of this field, the International Conference on
Development and Learning (ICDL) and the International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), are now
joining forces for the fifth time and invite submissions for a joint conference in 2015, to explore and
extend the interdisciplinary boundaries of this field.

== BABYBOT CHALLENGE -- CASH PRIZES FOR THE TOP SUBMISSIONS
We are excited to announce a new ICDL-EpiRob conference feature: the BABYBOT CHALLENGE. The
goal of the challenge is to use the tools of developmental robotics to replicate and extend the key findings
from one of three selected human-infant studies. Please visit www.icdl-epirob.org for the
full announcement, including the three target studies, details on the submission process, and a description
of how the winning submissions will be judged and selected.

== Keynote speakers (confirmed)
Prof. Dare Baldwin, Dept. of Psychology, University of Oregon, USA
Prof. Kerstin Dautenhahn, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Prof. Asif Ghazanfar, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, USA

== Call for Submissions
We invite submissions for this exciting window into the future of developmental sciences. Submissions which
establish novel links between brain, behavior and computation are particularly encouraged.

== Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
* the development of perceptual, motor, cognitive, emotional, social, and communication skills in biological
systems and robots;
* embodiment;
* general principles of development and learning;
* interaction of nature and nurture;
* sensitive/critical periods;
* developmental stages;
* grounding of knowledge and development of representations;
* architectures for cognitive development and open-ended learning;
* neural plasticity;
* statistical learning;
* reward and value systems;
* intrinsic motivations, exploration and play;
* interaction of development and evolution;
* use of robots in applied settings such as autism therapy;
* epistemological foundations and philosophical issues.

Any of the topics above can be simultaneously studied from the neuroscience, psychology or modeling/robotic
point of view.

== Submissions will be accepted in several formats:
1. Full six-page paper submissions: Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings and will
   be selected for either an oral presentation or a featured poster presentation. Featured posters will have
   a 1 minute "teaser" presentation as part of the main conference session and will be showcased in the
   poster sessions. Maximum two-extra pages can be acceptable for a publication fee of $100 per page.

2. Two-page poster abstract submissions: To encourage discussion of late-breaking results or for work that
   is not sufficiently mature for a full paper, we will accept 2-page abstracts. These submissions will NOT
   be included in the conference proceedings. Accepted abstracts will be presented during poster sessions.

3. Tutorials and workshops: We invite experts in different areas to organize either a tutorial or a workshop
   to be held on the first day of the conference. Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific
   topics as well as overviews that will inform the interdisciplinary audience about the state-of-the-art in
   child development, neuroscience, robotics, or any of the other disciplines represented at the conference.
   A workshop is an opportunity to present a topic cumulatively. Workshops can be half- or full-day in
   duration including oral presentations as well as posters. Submission format: two pages including title,
   list of speakers, concept and target audience.

4. Babybot challenge (Deadline June 15, 2015): Special submissions are invited for the Babybot
challenge, which is for the first time introduced to this conference. For detailed information please visit
www.icdl-epirob.org and navigate to “Babybot Challenge.”

All submissions will be peer reviewed.
Submission website through paperplaza at: http://ras.papercept.net

== Important dates
March 23, 2015, paper submission deadline
May 15, 2015, author notification
July 1, 2015, final version (camera ready) due
August 13th-16th, 2015, conference

== Program committee

General Chairs:
Matthew Schlesinger (Southern Illinois Univ.)
Dima Amso (Brown University)

Bridge Chairs:
Jeffrey Krichmar (UC Irvine)
Bertram Malle (Brown University)

Program Chairs:
Anne Warlaumont (UC Merced)
Clemént Moulin-Frier (INRIA)

Publications Chairs:
Lisa Meeden (Swarthmore College)

Publicity Chairs:
Lola Cañamero (Univ. of Hertfordshire)
Matthias Rolf (Osaka University)
Benjamin Rosman (CSIR)

Local chairs:
David Sobel (Brown University)
Thomas Serre (Brown University)

Finance chairs:
Clayton Morrison (University of Arizona)