Author Information


Update!
To minimize pain and accomodate other robotics deadlines, we have pushed both PDF and video submission dates to the last possible time: June 25th, 2021. This is a firm deadline.

Uploading files:

  • Login to CMT at https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/RSS2021/
  • Make sure your role is “Author”
  • Click on “Create Camera Ready Submission” in the “Actions” column for each of your accepted papers.
  • You will be taken to a new screen where you can modify:
    1. The title and abstract
    2. Names and ordering of authors
    3. Upload files:
      • A camera-ready (PDF)
      • Your 5 min spotlight video (MP4)
    4. Submission requires acknowledgement of assent to the author agreement.

You can upload newer versions of these files until the deadline. If there additional complexities, for example in getting your surname alphabetized correctly, please email the Program Chair.

Instructions for Camera-ready Submissions

The conference proceedings for Robotics: Science and Systems 2021 will be published online with open access, and in a book. A revised version of your paper is due to be uploaded to CMT by AOE June 10, 2021 June 25, 2021. Please be aware that there will be no additional opportunity to revise your paper.

In preparing for the proceedings, please follow the author guidelines posted below under “Paper Format” and these requirements and recommendations. Your proceedings submission should, of course, include your names, affiliations, and acknowledgements as we are past the double-blind review phase. There is no provision for supplementary materials in the proceedings, so please embed links in your pdf to stable URLs for any additional content.

Note: Like the original submission, no arbitrary page limits are placed on your camera ready paper. As a rule: it should contain material that has undergone peer review, or be in response to the requests that arose during the review process. This may mean your paper may be a bit longer than your submitted manuscript in most cases, this to be an additional page or so. Use this additional freedom responsibly.

Paper Format

We only accept submissions in PDF. A paper template is available in LaTeX and Word. Do not modify the formatting provided in the templates. Any change to font sizes, page dimensions, line spacing, etc. may delay the publication of your paper. Make sure your paper does not contain page numbers.

For additional detail on formating and presentation please see these requirements and recommendations.

Instructions for uploading the pre-recorded paper spotlight presentations

At RSS 2021 all paper presentations will be pre-recorded. They will be hosted on YouTube and will be made available before the conference and stay accessible indefinitely (similar to the recordings of the talks from years 2020 and 2019).

The pre-recorded presentations need to be submitted by uploaded by AOE June 17, 2021 June 25, 2021. The upload is as a file directly in CMT, as a second file (see above). You are free to use any tools you like to create the video. Below we have a list of potential tools for your help. The requirements for the videos are:

  • Duration max. 5 min
  • MP4 format
  • File size max. 350 MB
  • 16:9 aspect ratio (strongly preferred)
  • 1920x1080 resolution (strongly preferred, at least 720 height)
  • Should ideally have an inset with a video of the speaker

Please email the program chair for questions related to the video submission.

Tools for recording the presentations:

General tips:

  • Prepare a script on what to say. This will also help to cut the video later.
  • Record in one long session, repeating parts that you didn’t like on the fly.
  • Then cut together the parts you like (might be easier if you prepared a script earlier).

Free cross platform (Windows, Linux, Mac) video editing tools:

Preparing a poster suitable for the interactive poster sessions in gather.town

RSS 2021 will try to emulate some of the feeling of an in-person poster session via a gather.town space. We have sent the corresponding authors a link to a form through which they can upload a file for their poster. (If you have not received this email, please email the program chair.) Half an hour before each poster session, the submitted files will be pulled from the form, automatically uploaded, and affixed to the poster stand allotted to you within the space. The poster will be seen by navigating toward the virtual poster stand, and hitting the ‘x’ key. Because this differs from the more traditional printed poster, here are some guidelines that are provided in the hope that they may be useful:

  • The only file formats that are permitted by gather.town are PNG and JPG. The maximum file size supported is 3 MB.
  • Most people will view the poster full screen, so it is wise to pick a poster proportions (and sub-boxes or content divisions) that approximates those aspect ratios. This example works well, while this is much less effective.
  • There is some ability to move the poster around on screen, which helps as not all screens are identical. Also, one may interactively magnify the view to help see some detail. This means that some smaller text can be legible, even if not at an “arm’s length”.
  • To facilitate clarity and allow reasonable magnification, a resolution of 2000×1100 pixels2 is recommended. We have had good success with more than double that size, so long as respect the requirements on the maximum file size.