Ulrich Rückert - Böcker

The early era of neural network hardware design (starting at 1985) was mainly technology driven. Designers used almost exclusively analog signal processing concepts for the recall mode. Learning was deemed not to cause a problem because the number of implementable synapses was still so low that the determination of weights and thresholds could be left to conventional computers. Instead, designers tried to directly map neural parallelity into hardware. The architectural concepts were accordingly simple and produced the so­ called interconnection problem which, in turn, made many engineers believe it could be solved by optical implementation in adequate fashion only. Furthermore, the inherent fault-tolerance and limited computation accuracy of neural networks were claimed to justify that little effort is to be spend on careful design, but most effort be put on technology issues. As a result, it was almost impossible to predict whether an electronic neural network would function in the way it was simulated to do. This limited the use of the first neuro-chips for further experimentation, not to mention that real-world applications called for much more synapses than could be implemented on a single chip at that time. Meanwhile matters have matured. It is recognized that isolated definition of the effort of analog multiplication, for instance, would be just as inappropriate on the part ofthe chip designer as determination of the weights by simulation, without allowing for the computing accuracy that can be achieved, on the part of the user.

th This volume is an edition of the papers selected from the 12 FIRA RoboWorld C- gress, held in Incheon, Korea, August 16–18, 2009. The Federation of International Robosoccer Association (FIRA – www. fira. net) is a non-profit organization, which organizes robotic competitions and meetings around the globe annually. The RoboSoccer competitions started in 1996 and FIRA was - tablished on June 5, 1997. The Robot Soccer competitions are aimed at promoting the spirit of science and technology to the younger generation. The congress is a forum in which to share ideas and future directions of technologies, and to enlarge the human networks in robotics area. The objectives of the FIRA Cup and Congress are to explore the technical dev- opment and achievement in the field of robotics, and provide participants with a robot festival including technical presentations, robot soccer competitions and exhibits - der the theme “Where Theory and Practice Meet. ” th Under the umbrella of the 12 FIRA RoboWorld Congress Incheon 2009, six int- national conferences were held for greater impact and scientific exchange: th • 6 International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CIRAS) th • 5 International Symposium on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE) • International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) • International Conference on Advanced Humanoid Robotics Research (ICAHRR) • International Conference on Entertainment Robotics (ICER) • International Robotics Education Forum (IREF) This volume consists of selected quality papers from the six conferences.

th This volume is an edition of the papers selected from the 12 FIRA RoboWorld C- gress, held in Incheon, Korea, August 16–18, 2009. The Federation of International Robosoccer Association (FIRA – www. fira. net) is a non-profit organization, which organizes robotic competitions and meetings around the globe annually. The RoboSoccer competitions started in 1996 and FIRA was - tablished on June 5, 1997. The Robot Soccer competitions are aimed at promoting the spirit of science and technology to the younger generation. The congress is a forum in which to share ideas and future directions of technologies, and to enlarge the human networks in robotics area. The objectives of the FIRA Cup and Congress are to explore the technical dev- opment and achievement in the field of robotics, and provide participants with a robot festival including technical presentations, robot soccer competitions and exhibits - der the theme “Where Theory and Practice Meet. ” th Under the umbrella of the 12 FIRA RoboWorld Incheon Congress 2009, six int- national conferences were held for greater impact and scientific exchange: th • 6 International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CIRAS) th • 5 International Symposium on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE) • International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) • International Conference on Advanced Humanoid Robotics Research (ICAHRR) • International Conference on Entertainment Robotics (ICER) • International Robotics Education Forum (IREF) This volume consists of selected quality papers from the six conferences.

Autonomous robots must carry out useful tasks all by themselves relying entirely on their own perceptions of their environment. The cognitive abilities required for autonomous action are largely independent of robot size, which makes mini robots attractive as artefacts for research, education and entertainment. Autonomous mini robots must be small enough for experimentation on a desktop or a small laboratory. They must be easy to carry and safe for interaction with humans. They must not be expensive. Mini robot designers have to work at the leading edge of technology so that their creations can carry out purposeful autonomic action under these constraints. Since 2001 researchers have met every two years for an international symposium to report on the advances achieved in Autonomous Mini Robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE). The AMiRE Symposium is a single track conference that offers ample opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas. This volume contains the contributed papers of the 2011 AMiRE Symposium held from 23 to 25 May 2011 at Bielefeld University, Germany. The contributions in this volume represent the state-of-the-art of autonomous mini robots; they demonstrate what is currently technically feasible and show some of the applications for autonomous mini robots.