International Joint Workshop on Ontologies, Semantic Maps and Autonomous Robotics Standardization (J-WOSMARS 2026) @ ICRA 2026, June 1, Vienna, Austria.

This workshop is a joint workshop that has evolved from the Workshop on Ontologies and Standards for Robotics and Automation WOSRA and the Workshop on Standardization of Semantic Maps for Autonomous Robots.

Location: Vienna Congress & Convention Center in Vienna, Austria (info)

SCOPE

The development of applications in which robots and humans interact and communicate is flourishing both in research and industrial environments, raising new challenges and issues. In this context, ontological formalization, semantic maps generation and standardization emerge as essential elements for shaping a hybrid future with robots that reliably collaborate with and/or assist humans. Related to interaction, it is essential the creation of semantic maps, that incorporate contextual and meaningful environmental information. In this context, it is also crucial to identify the best practices and requirements for designing and executing human-subject studies in human-robot interaction. Regarding communication, a vocabulary with clear and concise definitions (e.g. ontologies) is a sine qua non component to enable information exchange among any group of agents (e.g. semantic map sharing, beliefs, plans, etc.), which can be human or non-human actors (e.g. robots). The integration of semantic maps (often subsymbolic) and ontologies (symbolic), is core to the current robotics literature challenges.

All these elements play a relevant role when legal and ethical aspects are at stake. The creation of new robotic standards and specifically semantic map and ontological standards for robots will help with robot certification and safe and ethical design. Hence, this workshop aims to increase interest in standardization for the Robotics and Automation (R&A) domain, focusing on semantic maps generation, human-robot studies and ontology formalization.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • Submission deadline: April 10
  • Notification: May 1
  • Camera ready: May 22 (details will appear on ‘Accepted papers’ page)
  • Workshop: June 1

CALL FOR PAPERS

Participants are invited to submit extended abstract papers of 2+n pages (n pages for references), or short papers of 4+n pages (IEEE format) for poster presentation in person at RO-MAN in Eindhoven. Contributions shall be submitted through the EasyChair conference system (submission link). Extended abstracts shall focus on insights on new or ongoing projects on ontologies. The goal is to foster engaging technical and scientific discussions among researchers and cultivate new collaborations. Short papers shall discuss previous or on-going research, preliminary results, use cases. The aim is to disseminate to the community research works but also encourage fruitful discussions on open problems and novel ideas.

All papers will be peer-reviewed (single-blind) and published on our website with the permission of authors. Submissions shall focus on subjects including but not limited to the following topics:

TOPICS OF INTEREST

  • Ontology-based Research and Standards for reasoning in Robotics and Automation
  • Ontology-based Internet of Robotics Things (IoRT), Sensors
  • Representation, reasoning, and behaviors for robot autonomy
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning for autonomous robots
  • Multiple autonomous robots and cloud robotics
  • Affordances in human robot interaction
  • Robot-robot interaction and/or Human-robot interaction
  • Metrics for Human-robot interaction studies
  • Semantic Map Building
  • Semantic SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping)
  • Spatial AI application
  • Semantic World Modeling and Knowledge Representation of Robotic World
  • Semantic Map based Human Robot Interaction and Collaboration
  • Semantic modeling and mapping framework
  • Semantic analysis and descriptors for autonomous navigation and manipulation
  • Application of semantic technology to service robot
  • Semantic map standardization
  • Knowledge-based approaches for explainable agents and robots
  • AI, Robotics and law