Affiliated with the Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS) Society

Robotics and Autonomous Systems will carry articles describing fundamental developments in the field of robotics, with special emphasis on autonomous systems. An important goal of this journal is to extend the state of the art in both symbolic and sensory based robot control and learning in the context of autonomous systems.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems will carry articles on the theoretical, computational and experimental aspects of autonomous systems, or modules of such systems.

Special Issue on Selected Papers Presented at TAROS 2025
Submission Date: 2026-01-31

This is a special issue dedicated to extended versions of selected papers published in the proceedings of the 25th TAROS (Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems). TAROS is the longest-running UK-hosted international conference on robotics and autonomous systems, aimed at the presentation and discussion of the latest results and methods in autonomous robotics research and applications. In 2025, the RoboStar (robostar.cs.york.ac.uk) centre of excellence on Software Engineering for Robotics, in collaboration with colleagues at the Universities of York and Leeds, are organising TAROS at the University of York, from the 20th to the 22nd of August.

Guest editors:

Ana Cavalcanti (Executive Guest Editor), University of York, York, UK
Simon Foster, University of York, York, UK
Alvaro Miyazawa, University of York, York, UK
Rob Richardson, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Special issue information:

Contributions are sought in all areas relevant to the overall goal of the conference, including, but not limited to the following topics:

Autonomous robots
Assistive, service, and personal robotics
Aerial robots (unmanned- and micro-air vehicles) space and planetary robotics
Medical robotics, robots for surgery, and intelligent prosthetics
Humanoid and walking robots
Soft and flexible robots
Swarm, collective, and field robotics
Modular reconfigurable robots
Human-Robot Interaction
Multimodal interfaces
Navigation, localization, map building, and path planning,
Analysis of robot-environment interaction
Applications development, hardware issues, devices, and techniques
Advanced sensors and actuators
Advanced materials and techniques
Autonomous vehicles
Bio-mimetic, bio-inspired and bio-hybrid robotic systems
Evolutionary, cognitive, and developmental robotics
Robot communication and language
Ethical and societal issues in robotics
Robots in education, arts, and entertainment
Safety, verification, and validation for robotic applications
Learning and adaptation
Long-term interaction and operation
Modelling and analysis

Manuscript submission information:

Important dates:

    Submission Open Date: 1st September 2025
    Submission Deadline: 31st January 2026
    Editorial Acceptance Deadline: 30th May 2026

​Manuscripts must be submitted via the Robotics and Autonomous Systems online submission system ( Editorial Manager® ), Please select the article type “VSI: TAROS 2025” when submitting the manuscripts online.
Please refer to Guide for authors - Robotics and Autonomous Systems - ISSN 0921-8890 | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier for information on submission.

Keywords:

robotics theory, practice, and applications

Special Issue on the 12th European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR 2025)
Submission Date: 2026-04-20

The 12th European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR 2025) was held in Padua, Italy (2–5 September 2025). It is a premier biennial event in the field of mobile robotics, bringing together leading researchers on mobile robotics, human–robot interaction, perception, planning, and learning. ECMR has established itself as a recognised single-track conference featuring a rigorous peer-review process, high-quality technical programme, and strong international participation.

Guest editors:

Assist. Prof. Stefano Tortora (Executive Guest Editor), University of Padua, Padova, Italy; Email: stefano.tortora@unipd.it
Assoc. Prof. Nicola Bellotto, University of Padua, Padova, Italy; Email: nbellotto@dei.unipd.it
Prof. Antonios Gasteratos, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece; Email: agaster@pme.duth.gr

Special issue information:

Mobile robotics has seen rapid progress in recent years, driven by advances in deep learning, large-scale simulation, and collaborative AI. This results in a growing demand for resilient, safe, and sustainable autonomous mobile robots across all service domains, including industry, agriculture, healthcare, and home, to mention but a few. In this context, the 12th European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR 2025) was held in Padua, Italy (2–5 September 2025). It is a premier biennial event in the field of mobile robotics, bringing together leading researchers on mobile robotics, human–robot interaction, perception, planning, and learning. ECMR has established itself as a recognised single-track conference featuring a rigorous peer-review process, high-quality technical programme, and strong international participation. This Special Issue will gather extended and substantially revised versions of the best papers presented at ECMR 2025. This collection aims at highlighting the cognitive capabilities of today’s and tomorrow’s mobile robots, emphasizing cognition, perception, interaction, and AI-enhanced autonomy, thus addressing both fundamental and societal challenges.

The Special Issue focuses on advances in mobile robotics, integrating perception, learning, and interaction to enable robust, safe, and intelligent autonomous systems. Topics include:

Mobile robot design: Wheeled and Legged Systems, Biomimetic Robotics, UAVs, USVs, UUVs, Sensors, Actuators, and Reconfigurable Robots
Perception and Cognition: Environment Perception, Semantic Mapping, Cognitive Architectures, Active and Interactive Perception, Scene Understanding, and Memory-based Approaches
Learning: Cognitive and Reinforcement Learning Systems, Imitation Learning, Learning-based Control, Adapting to Dynamic Environments, and Sim2Real
Cognitive Interaction: Human-Robot Teaming, Natural Language Interaction, Autonomous Decision-Making, Shared Autonomy, Safe Interaction, and Human-AI Collaboration
Planning and Control: Cognitive Planning, Exploration, Resilient Navigation Behaviors, Adaptive and Robust Control, and Learning-based Planning
Distributed Systems: Multi-Robot Systems, Networked Robots, Swarms, Coordination, Task and Resource Allocation
Applications: Cognitive Service Robots, Social Robotics, Industrial and Field Robots, Healthcare Robotics, and Intelligent Surveillance

Manuscript submission information:

Important dates:

    Submission Open Date: 15th December 2025
    Submission Deadline: 20th April 2026
    Editorial Acceptance Deadline: 20th August 2026

​Manuscripts must be submitted via the Robotics and Autonomous Systems online submission system (Editorial Manager®), Please select the article type “VSI: ECMR 2025” when submitting the manuscripts online.

Please refer to Guide for authors by Elsevier for information on submission.

All submitted papers under this call will undergo the standard review process of the journal.

For any further information, the authors may contact the Guest Editors.

Keywords:

mobile robotics; cognition; perception; interaction; AI-enhanced autonomy