Submission Instructions
Submission Sites
Regular Papers: https://openreview.net/group?id=robot-learning.org/CoRL/2021/Conference
Blue Sky Papers: https://openreview.net/group?id=robot-learning.org/CoRL/2021/Conference/Blue_Sky
Paper Submission Requirements and Instructions
Papers may be submitted through OpenReview, via the link at the top of this page. All submissions should comply with the format and length indicated below. CoRL is double-blind, which means all papers must be anonymized. The submitted papers and reviews will be publicly accessible, but only accepted papers will be de-anonymized. Submitted papers will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. Accepted papers will appear in the Proceedings of Machine Learning Research (formerly JMLR Workshop and Conference Proceedings).
Regular Papers
Key Dates (for regular papers)
Paper submission open: 1-June-2021
Paper submission deadline: 18-June-2021; 23:59 Pacific Time (UTC-7)
Supplemental materials due: 25-June-2021; 23:59 Pacific Time (UTC-7)
Editorial Rejection: 30-June-2021
Reviews available: 16-August-2021
Rebuttals and revisions due: 30-August-2021
Paper acceptance notifications: 17-September-2021
Camera ready papers due: 1-November-2021
Submission Requirements and Instructions (for regular papers)
Submissions are due June 18, 2021 at 23:59 Pacific Time, but supplemental materials can be submitted up to a week later, by June 25, 2021, 23:59 Pacific Time. To do so, there is a "Supplementary Material" button in the OpenReview forum of the submitted papers.
The page limit will be up to eight pages, plus references. Authors will have the option to submit a supplementary file containing further details, which the reviewers may decide to consult, as well as a supplementary video. All supplementary materials will be submitted through OpenReview as a single zip file.
All accepted papers will be presented in poster sessions, while selected papers will be invited for an oral spotlight presentation.
Review Criteria (for regular papers)
Submissions will be evaluated based on the significance and novelty of the results, either theoretical or empirical. Results will be judged on the degree to which they have been objectively established and/or their potential for scientific and technological impact, as well as their relevance to robotic learning. Authors of regular paper submissions will have an opportunity to submit a response to reviewers and update the papers during the rebuttal period. Reviews and rebuttals of accepted papers will be made publicly available.
We take a broad view of robot learning. Papers with both experimental and theoretical results relevant to robot learning are welcome. Our intent is to make CoRL a selective top-tier conference on robotic learning.
Desk Reject Criteria (for regular papers)
Process: ACs will identify the desk rejection candidates, using one of the criteria below as a justification. PC will examine the candidates and make the final decision. We will err on the side of caution, and only desk reject papers when there is a consensus between all PCs and the AC.
The paper can be desk rejected for one of the three reasons: formatting issues, anonymity violation, or scope.
Formatting issues -- paper is either too long, or in an incorrect format.
Anonymity violation -- the main manuscript, supplemental materials, or a link provided in a paper identifies one or more of the authors.
Scope: All CoRL submissions must demonstrate the relevance to Robot Learning through
Intent: Explicitly address a learning question for physical robots OR
Outcome: Test the proposed learning solution on physical robots.
Rejection examples
No learning: Manually design and tune the performance of a robot controller without use of learning.
No learning: A search algorithm for model-based planning.
No robotics: A generic result on sample complexity.
No robotics: A generic RL algorithm.
Little robotics: Improved performance on a standard CV dataset, e.g., ImageNet recognition.
Gray
An RL algorithm that works only in simulator X. Does it transfer to real robot learning (sim2real, data efficiency, …)? Yes for CARLA for autonomous driving. No for Cheetah/Human-oid in Mujuco. According to our stated principles, the submission satisfies the intent. Its failure or success to demonstrate the relevance will be determined during the review process.
Blue Sky Papers
Key Dates (for blue sky papers)
Paper submission open: 1-June-2021
Paper submission deadline: 12-July-2021; 23:59 Pacific Time (UTC-7)
Editorial rejection: 26-July-2021;
Paper acceptance notifications: 17-September-2021
Camera ready papers due: 1-November-2021
Submission Requirements and Instructions (for blue sky papers)
Submissions are due July 12, 2021 at 23:59 Pacific Time, and there will be no rebuttal period. The final decision will be shared with the authors on September 17, 2021.
The page limit will be up to four pages (plus references) for the blue sky contributions.
Review Criteria (for blue sky papers)
Submissions will be evaluated based on the significance and novelty of the ideas, either theoretical or empirical. We are specifically soliciting ideas for new research areas, understudied problems, or new ways to pose relevant problems in robotics.
Submitted papers will be reviewed by at least two CoRL area chairs as reviewers.
All accepted papers will be featured in the blue sky oral session.
Submission Policy
We will not accept papers that are identical or substantially similar to papers that have previously been published or accepted for publication in an archival venue, nor papers submitted in parallel to other conferences or archival venues. Archival venues include conferences and journals with formally published proceedings, but do not include non-archival workshops. Submission is permitted for papers that have previously appeared only as a technical report, e.g. in arXiv.
Software Submission Instructions
Authors are encouraged to submit code alongside the paper. Authors should provide a readme file explaining how to run the author's software, and, when applicable, how to use it to replicate experimental results given in the article. For code that include files not directly relevant to the scientific contribution of the paper, authors should indicate in the readme file which part of the code pertains to the scientific claims of the paper to ease the review process. Please verify that the submitted code abides to the same anonymity standard as the paper.
By default and unless authors specify a different license scheme, the code submitted along the paper will be protected under exclusive copyright linked to the paper ID. Reviewers will be strictly forbidden to use the code outside the review process.
Use of Code / Citation / Licensing
Be aware that you must always cite your sources, including in code you may be using for your research. Failing to do so may lead others to believe that you are the authors of the code, which would be considered as plagiarism. Authors are requested to explicitly cite sources in the code header and in the readme file.
Authors must also ensure that they have a license to modify or use other people's code. See https://choosealicense.com/no-permission/ for information on how to act when you find code on the web that does not have a specific license.