Conferences and Symposia
The Automation and Robotics Section is very keen in promoting exchange of knowledge in Space Automation and Robotics. Publishing of ideas and results from R&D is actively pursued with papers submitted to space conferences (e.g. the International Astronautical Congress) and to non-space robotics conferences and journals (e.g. the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine). The Section organises also two bi-annual conferences (ASTRA and i-SAIRAS) on the specific subject of Automation and Robotics. The conferences are interlaced so that every year there is at least one conference on the subject.
ASTRA
The "Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation (ASTRA)" Workshop is organised each two years. The workshop is always held at ESTEC, in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, and gathers mainly for the European community of space A&R. The most recent edition of the ASTRA workshop has been held from April 12th to 14th, 2011. The next edition of the ASTRA workshop will be held most likely during Spring 2013.
iSAIRAS
The "International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS)" is organised every two years by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA-ASC) , the German Aerospace Agengy (DLR) , ESA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Aerospace Administration (NASA) of the United States of America. At every edition the conference venue changes continent (America, Asia and Europe) gathering for the international community of space A&R. The ninth edition of i-SAIRAS, organised by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA , was held from August 29 to September 1, 2010 at the USapporo Convention Center, Sapporo, Japan. The 11th edition of i-SAIRAS will be organised by the European Space Agency and the German Aerospace Agency DLR in Turin, Italy at the end of summer 2012.
