ieee-international-conference-on-robotics-and-automation - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: ieee-international-conference-on-robotics-and-automation description: Use when targeting IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) or deciding whether a computer-science manuscript fits this venue. Encodes conference fit, framing, evidence bar, submission-cycle checks, rebuttal posture, and desk-reject risks for robotics flagship.

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Conference positioning

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) is a top computer-science conference venue for robotics, automation, manipulation, perception, planning, control, and embodied AI systems. It rewards a robotics paper with hardware/simulation evidence, clear task definition, and real-world constraints. Treat this skill as a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool for conference submission strategy, not as a substitute for the current year's CFP, author kit, ethics policy, or submission portal.

Because CS conferences change deadlines, templates, page limits, review workflow, artifact rules, AI-use policy, and rebuttal formats every cycle, always verify the live official instructions before making a submission-ready recommendation. Start from the official source anchor recorded for this venue in ../../resources/conference-roster.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md.

When to trigger

The author names ICRA / IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation as the target venue.
A manuscript in robotics needs a conference-fit read before being formatted or submitted.
The paper must be re-framed from journal style or arXiv style into a selective CS conference narrative.
The author needs an evidence-gap, anonymity, artifact, rebuttal, or re-routing diagnosis for this venue.

Scope & topic fit

Core fit: robotics, automation, manipulation, perception, planning, control, and embodied AI systems.
Best submissions make a precise contribution type visible: algorithm, theorem, system, dataset, benchmark, empirical finding, design artifact, tool, or socio-technical analysis.
The paper should explain why the result matters to ICRA's reviewers, not just why it is interesting to the authors' lab or product context.
Position related work against the most recent conference-cycle papers in this venue and its closest siblings; stale comparisons are a common early-review weakness.
If the contribution is interdisciplinary, state which part is CS research and which part is domain evidence.

Venue-specific calibration

Reviewer lens: Read reviewers as embodied-systems researchers. Hardware, simulation, task distributions, and failure rates matter more than a clean curve alone.
Contribution hook to foreground: the venue-specific contribution bar.
Scope vocabulary to use naturally in the abstract and introduction: robotics, automation, manipulation, perception, planning, control, and embodied AI systems.
Distinctive fingerprint for reviewer calibration: robotics, automation, manipulation, perception, planning, control, embodied, venue-specific, contribution, flagship, ieee-ras.
Official anchor domain: www.ieee-ras.org. Quote annual rules only after opening that source and the current-year CFP/author kit.

Close-neighbor routing guardrail

Use this profile only when the manuscript's central contribution is genuinely in robotics flagship and the author can say why ICRA reviewers are the primary audience, not merely a convenient deadline.
Closest roster neighbors to compare before final routing: ieee-rsj-international-conference- on-intelligent-robots-and-systems (IROS), robotics-science-and-systems (RSS). Break ties by contribution type, evidence shape, reviewer community, and the current official CFP from www.ieee-ras.org.

What distinguishes this venue from its closest siblings

Sponsorship & cadence. Sole flagship of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS), held annually — distinct from IROS, which is co-sponsored by IEEE RAS and the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ) (the "IEEE/RSJ" in its name).
Center of gravity. Broad automation / manipulation / planning / control across the full robotics stack; the single most prestige-dense robotics deadline.
vs RSS. RSS is single-track and foundations/algorithmic-model forward; route model-and-theory results there and integrated hardware/system results here. Confirm the current cycle on www.ieee-ras.org.

ICRA-specific routing detail

Prefer ICRA when the contribution is broad robotics and automation: manipulation, locomotion, perception, control, planning, field robots, industrial robotics, or integrated robot systems.
Route intelligent-robot systems and community/cycle fit to IROS, experimental-method depth to ISER, and robotics research vision to ISRR.
ICRA evidence should include robot platform, task setup, trials, baselines, failure analysis, and whether results transfer beyond a single demonstration.

Method & evidence bar

Report hardware, simulation, environment, task distribution, reset procedure, and failure cases; embodied evidence must be inspectable.
Compare against meaningful robot-learning, planning, or control baselines under matched assumptions.
Separate simulation gains from real-world transfer and quantify reliability, not only best-case success.
For ICRA, the evidence must support the venue-specific signature: a robotics paper with hardware/simulation evidence, clear task definition, and real-world constraints.
Include limitations, negative results, compute/resource reporting, data provenance, and ethics details when they affect the claim.

Structure & house style

Lead with the robot task and system constraint before the algorithmic component.
Use video or supplementary material only as allowed by the current anonymous-review policy.
Use the current official template exactly; do not guess page limits, font sizes, supplement rules, anonymity exceptions, or camera-ready requirements from old cycles.
The introduction should answer: problem, why now, what is new, why this venue, and what evidence proves the claim.
Put the strongest result in the main paper, not only in the appendix or supplement; reviewers should not have to reconstruct the contribution.

Official-cycle checklist

Open the live official venue page: https://www.ieee-ras.org/conferences-workshops/fully-sponsored/icra
Re-check the current cycle's CFP, author kit, submission system, abstract/paper deadlines, page limits, supplementary-material rules, anonymity policy, dual-submission policy, ethics policy, AI-use policy, artifact/code/data expectations, rebuttal/author-response format, and camera-ready requirements.
Confirm the review workflow and portal: OpenReview / CMT / HotCRP / PCS / START or society portal, as specified for the current cycle.
Check whether accepted papers require in-person presentation, separate registration, artifact badges, proceedings copyright, or post-acceptance release forms.
If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

One sentence states why this manuscript belongs at ICRA, using the venue's scope rather than generic "top conference" language.
The claim is calibrated to the evidence: no broader than the datasets, proofs, systems, user studies, deployments, or threat model support.
Related work includes the nearest current-cycle robotics flagship papers and explains the technical delta.
The paper satisfies the current official template, anonymity, ethics, artifact, and rebuttal requirements.
The main paper is self-contained enough for reviewers to evaluate novelty and correctness without hunting through external links.

Common desk-reject triggers

Simulation-only evidence for a claim about real robots.
No clear task distribution, few trials, or missing failure analysis.
A learning curve without robot-specific insight or system integration.
Formatting, anonymity, dual-submission, external-link, or supplement violations under the current-year policy.
A contribution framed for a neighboring field while giving ICRA reviewers too little technical or empirical substance.

Re-routing decision

If the paper misses ICRA's bar, compare against ieee-rsj-international-conference-on-intelligent-robots-and-systems / robotics-science-and-systems / conference-on-robot-learning / acm-ieee-international-conference-on-human-robot-interaction. Re-route based on contribution type, not prestige: theory to a theory venue, systems to a systems venue, application-heavy work to a domain venue, and early ideas to workshops or shorter tracks when the official CFP supports them.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
[Contribution type] algorithm / theory / system / dataset / benchmark / empirical / design / security / other
[Main evidence gap] <single most important missing proof, experiment, study, artifact, or policy check>
[Official items to re-check] CFP / author kit / deadline / format / anonymity / ethics / AI-use / artifact / rebuttal / camera-ready
[Top rejection risk] <venue-specific risk>
[Re-route suggestion] <better-matched conference or journal if not a fit>