Announcement 1: In response to the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, we have made adjustments to the RSS 2025 submission timeline, to show our support to the LA community who is going to generously host us this June. While the abstract/title submission (January 17) and the initial paper submission (January 24) deadlines remain unchanged, the authors will be able to continue updating the pdf of their paper until January 31, 2025 (which is also the supplementary material deadline). For more details, read our full announcement.
Announcement 2: Submitting an abstract (by the January 17 deadline) or a semi-complete paper (by the January 24 deadline) for a paper that is currently under submission to another conference (e.g. ICRA, ICLR, CVPR) is still considered a double submission and is forbidden by RSS rules. However, if the paper has substantial innovation with respect to the paper that is already in submission (i.e., it would qualify as a different and novel paper and you would not withdraw it even if the paper under review is accepted), you should feel free to submit it to RSS.
We are pleased to announce the 21st edition of the “Robotics: Science and Systems” (RSS) conference to be held at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA, from June 21 - 25, 2025.
RSS is a single-track conference that connects researchers working on all aspects of robotics including scientific foundations, mechanisms, algorithms, applications, and analysis of robotic systems. The single-track format gives attendees an opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art research in all areas of robotics. The conference will consist of oral and poster presentations of accepted papers, demonstrations, invited talks, and panels.
The conference will preserve the RSS tradition of selecting excellent papers via a thorough and fair review process. Paper submissions will be evaluated in terms of their novelty, technical quality, significance, potential impact, and clarity.
The conference will include the category of Demo contributions, similar to conferences in related research areas, resulting in a Demo Track during the main conference.
| Timeline | ||
|---|---|---|
| January 17, 2025 | 11:59pm AoE | Abstract/Title Submission Deadline |
| January 24, 2025 | 11:59pm AoE | Initial Paper and Demo Submission Deadline (this requires a semi-complete pdf of the paper, final title and abstract) |
| January 31, 2025 | 11:59pm AoE | Final PDF Submission Deadline |
| January 31, 2025 | 11:59pm AoE | Supplementary Material Submission Deadline |
| March 17, 2025 | — | Reviews Released and Rebuttal Invitations |
| March 24, 2025 | 11:59pm AoE | Rebuttal Submission Deadline |
| April 10, 2025 | — | Paper and Demo Acceptance Notification |
| June 20, 2025 | — | RSS Pioneers Workshop |
| June 21 – June 25, 2025 | — | RSS 2025, Los Angeles, California |
RSS 2025 has no page length requirements on submissions. Traditionally, RSS submissions have been 8 pages given the paper template, which is available either in LaTeX or Word format.
Detailed submission instructions are available here.
Demo submissions will be possible for RSS 2025 contributors. These single-blind submissions can range from early research demos (e.g., innovative, proof-of-concept given the state-of-the-art) to mature production-ready systems (e.g., accessible, large-scale industrial systems). Open-source and open-access systems or interactive systems that are accessible by the community are especially encouraged. Demos can relate to hardware or software contributions or their integration. They can also relate to critical system components and useful tools for the community. The deadline and the review process for demos will take place in parallel with the review of regular RSS paper submissions. Detailed submission guidelines for Demos will be available on the conference website and will be similar to last year’s process.
The review process will continue RSS’ strong tradition in emphasizing quality, fairness, and rigor. Reviews for RSS papers of all types, i.e., “science”, “systems” and “demo” papers, will remain blind. As in previous iterations of the conference, authors are encouraged to submit “systems” papers and the program committee will be encouraged to evaluate them by gauging their potential impact and usefulness to the community.
The conference includes a rebuttal stage. The submissions will undergo an initial review process and initial decisions will be announced by March 17. The submissions above the threshold will have one week to prepare a short rebuttal to address the reviewers’ and Area Chair’s concerns and provide clarifications. An Area Chair meeting will finalize decisions, taking into account both the initial reviews and the rebuttal, by April 10.
RSS 2025 will require papers to include a “Limitations” section, describing shortcomings and open problems related to the proposed contribution.
RSS 2025 requires authors to submit the title/abstract of their paper(s) by January 17, one week before the full paper submission. This gives extra time to the Program Committee for coordinating the review process.
RSS seeks high-quality research papers and demos that introduce new ideas and stimulate future trends in robotics. We invite paper and demo submissions in all areas of robotics, including:
Please check the conference website as well as the conference’s social media accounts for more information.