Call for Papers
Artificial Life is an interdisciplinary research enterprise aimed at understanding life-as-it-is and life-as-it-could-be, and at synthetizing life-like phenomena in chemical, electronic, software, and other artificial media. Artificial Life redefines the concepts of artificial and natural, blurring the borders between traditional disciplines and providing new insights into the origin and principles of life. In addition to all traditional topics, ECAL99 will encourage contributions that address the role of embodiment and physical constraints for the self-organization of life-like systems in chemical, electronic, mechanical, and other artificial media.
The conference will be single-track and will feature selected oral presentations, spotlight presentations (short talk + poster), and posters. All accepted contributions will be published in the proceedings by Springer Verlag. ECAL99 will also host invited talks, thematic debates, and public demonstrations. One day of tutorials before the conference will provide the necessary background to better enjoy the contributions from different disciplines; participation is strongly recommended.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Papers should not be longer than 10 pages (including figures) in the Springer-Verlag llncs style (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) with an abstract of 100-150 words. All submissions will be reviewed by at least two referees. Authors should make all possible efforts to state the relevance of their contribution to the field of Artificial Life and explain the implications of their results. Novelty, clarity of presentation, and scientific content will be the main criteria used by referees. Both electronic and traditional submissions will be accepted (in the latter case, please send 6 hard-copies). Demonstrations, videos, and proposals for thematic debates are also welcome.
EXAMPLES OF BROAD AREAS TO BE ADDRESSED (but not limited to):
Self-organization. Chemical origins of life. Autocatalytic systems. Prebiotic evolution. RNA systems. Evolutionary chemistry. Fitness landscapes. Natural selection. Artificial evolution. Ecosystem evolution. Multicellular development. Natural and artificial morphogenesis. Learning and development. Bio-morphic and neuro-morphic engineering. Artificial worlds. Simulation tools. Artificial organisms. Synthetic actors. Artificial (virtual and robotic) humanoids. Intelligent autonomous robots. Evolutionary Robotics. Applications of Alife technologies. Life detectors. Self-repairing hardware. Evolvable hardware. Emergent collective behaviors. Swarm intelligence. Evolution of social behaviors. Evolution of communication. Epistemology. Artificial Life and Art.
VENUE:
The conference will take place on the EPFL campus located by lake Leman, 10 minutes away by metro from the historic centre of Lausanne. The Alps can be quickly reached by public transportation. Geneva international airport is 40 minutes by train (more info on ECAL99 web page).
REGISTRATION:
ECAL99 will encourage debate, contacts, and interdisciplinary exchanges in an open-minded and informal atmosphere. Several student fellowships will be available. Registration fees (starting at 400 CHF) will include almost everything for both regular and student participants. Special offers on accomodation. Considerable savings on early registration (before 15 June 1999). Check out ECAL99 web page frequently http://www.epfl.ch/ecal99
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE (under formation):
Agnessa Babloyantz (B) Wolfgang Banzhaf (D) Randall Beer (USA) Hugues Bersini (B) Eric Bonabeau (USA) Paul Bourgine (F) Rodney Brooks(USA) Heinrich Buelthoff (D) Raffaele Calabretta (I) Pablo Chacon (E) Dave Cliff (UK) Jean-Louis Deneubourg (B) Marco Dorigo (B) Rodney Douglas (CH) Claus Emmeche (DK) Boi Faltings (CH) Toshio Fukuda (JP) Takashi Gomi (CA) Stephen Grand (UK) Howard Gutowitz (F) Tetsuya Higuchi (JP) Phil Husbands (UK) Takashi Ikegami (JP) George Kampis (H) Kunihiko Kaneko (JP) Laurent Keller (CH) Yasuo Kuniyoshi (JP) Chris Langton (USA) Kristian Lindgren (SE) Pier Luisi (CH) Henrik Lund (DK) Hanspeter Mallot (D) John McCaskill (D) Barry McMullin (IE) Olivier Michel (CH) Orazio Miglino (I) Melanie Mitchell (USA) Federico Moran (E) Alvaro Moreno (E) Domenico Parisi (I) Rolf Pfeifer (CH) Tom Ray (USA) Eduardo Sanchez (CH) Chris Sander (UK) Peter Schuster (A) Katsunori Shimohara (JP) Karl Sims (USA) Moshe Sipper (CH) Tim Smithers (E) Ricardo Sole (E) Emmet Spier (UK) Luc Steels (F) Jun Tani (JP) Adrian Thompson (UK) Peter Todd (D) Marco Tomassini (CH) Gunter Wagner (USA) Barbara Webb (UK) Michael Wheeler (UK) Norm White (CA) Tom Ziemke (SE) Stephane Zrehen (USA)