IEEE Orlando Section

Report for the Orlando Chapter of the Joint Control Systems; Robotics and Automation; and Systems, Man and Cybernetics (J-CRASMC) Societies

October 23, 2008

 

  1. Meetings – The third meeting of the Orlando chapter of J-CRASMC society was held on Thursday, October 23, 2008 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Red Lobster restaurant, 12557 State Road 535, Lake Buena, FL 32836, adjacent to the Crossroads Center. Information about this meeting was disseminated to members in the October 2008 newsletter of the IEEE Orlando Section.

Meeting Schedule:  Although meetings of the Orlando J-CRASMC chapter are usually held bi-monthly, the next meeting of the local chapter will be held during the third week of January 2009 at an yet to-be-determined location in Orange County, east of State Road 436.  The location will be disseminated in the January 2009 newsletter of the IEEE Orlando Section.

  1. Chapter Membership – According to last-viewed SAMIEEE statistics, as of October 2008, there are about 40 members (down from 220 members listed in May 2008) belonging to one or more of the CS, R&A and SMC Societies in the Orlando Section.  All current members are eligible for active participation in the Orlando J-CRASMC Chapter.  Former members are encouraged to rejoin one or more of the three participating societies.
  2. October 23, 2008 Meeting Report:  

Notification – The time, place and agenda of the October J-CRASMC meeting was sent to Jorge Medina of the IEEE Orlando Section for inclusion in the October newsletter for distribution to all members.

Meeting Attendees – There were 3 meeting attendees in October:  William S. Hortos, Local Chapter Chair; Mike Orlovsky, Local Chapter Chair of AESS; and Jon Acierto, a non-member who wishes to join the Orlando Section as a Student Member.

Agenda Items

(a)    Election of Chapter Officers – Again, the low level of member representation at the chapter meeting, it was decided to again defer the election of Secretary and Treasurer for the local J-CRASMC Chapter to a later meeting.

(b)   Distinguished Speakers – Dr. Donghui Wu has received confirmation that the Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Society President Prof. Daniel Yeung will come to Orlando to deliver a DLP talk on Feb. 17th 2009. The title of his talk is “Recent Development in Generalization Error for Supervised Learning Problem with Applications in Model Selection and Feature Selection.”  The likely venue for the DLP talk will be the UCF campus.  The Orlando Section will sponsor the Prof. Yeung’s trip and most of his associated expenses.  Dr. Wu is looking for other venues in the Central Florida region at which Prof. Yeung can also deliver the topic.

Early in October, William Hortos sent messages to the mentors of the robotics projects and teams active at both DeVry University and the University of Central Florida to offer the members of those teams the opportunity to deliver a talk, as soon as January 2009, on the theory and applications of robotics concepts; the talk will be sponsored by the local chapter of the J-CRASMC Society.  No responses had yet been received as of November 11, 2008.
New solicitations to the individual members of the DeVry and UCF robotics groups will be made by mid November.  

(c)    Society Conferences  On October 30 and 31, William Hortos arranged displays of IEEE Membership Development materials in the primary conference rooms of the 2008 International RuleML Symposium on Rule Interchange and Applications (RuleML), co-sponsored by the SMC Society.  The symposium was held at the Buena Vista Palace in Lake Buena Vista. Although membership materials were distributed to the conferees, no other members of the Orlando Section attended the symposium. William Hortos met with IEEE members from upstate New York and the Miami area.  The 2009 International RuleML Symposium will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, without the co-sponsorship of any IEEE society.

(d)   Contacts with Local-area Industries Engaged in Chapter Technical Subject Areas – William Hortos emailed requests in early October to members of the Orlando Section, who identify Walt Disney Company as their employer to convey interest by the J-CRASMC Society in organizing a visit by Section members for an engineering-focused, “behind-the-scenes” view of the controlled, robotic and/or cybernetic automated applications implemented at Walt Disney World.  As no responses had been received as of November 11, 2008, direct contacts will be made at the division management of WDW involved in automation, robotics or cybernetics.

(e)    Action Items – Based on the recommendations and ideas put forth at the chapter meetings of May 20, 2008 and August 28, 2008, the following action items and their current status were assigned to attendees.

AI #1.  Donghui Wu will apply for the SMC (in support of the joint society affiliation of this chapter) chapter establishment fee in the amount of $200.  This application will be completed for review at the August meeting of the Orlando J-CRASMC Chapter. Status:  Unknown, as Dr. Wu did not attend the local chapter meeting of October 23, 2008.

AI #3. William Hortos will contact the appropriate Society leadership to determine the availability and requirements of the DSs recommended at the meeting, namely, Robin Murphy, Sebastian Thrun and Lawrence O. Hall for possible scheduling of DS events in Orlando.  The contact and subsequent response by Society leaders will be documented no later than July 15, 2008.  Status:  Dr. Donghui Wu has received confirmation that the Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Society President Prof. Daniel Yeung will come to Orlando to deliver a DLP talk on Feb. 17th 2009.

William Hortos sent messages to the mentors of the robotics projects and teams active at both DeVry University and the University of Central Florida to offer the members of those teams the opportunity to deliver a talk, as soon as January 2009, on the theory and applications of robotics concepts.  Direct contacts will be made with these groups by November 25, 2008.

AI #4. William Hortos will contact the organizing program committee for the 2008 International RuleML Symposium to indicate interest by the Orlando J-CRASMC Chapter in supporting an IEEE membership display at the symposium.  The contact and subsequent response of the program committee will be documented no later than June 30, 2008. Status:  Symposium organizers, Dr Adrian Paschke and Jan Vanthienen, were contacted and pre-arranged tables for IEEE Membership Development materials at the conference meeting rooms. On October 30 and 31, William Hortos arranged displays of IEEE Membership Development materials in the designated conference rooms of the 2008 International RuleML Symposium on Rule Interchange and Applications (RuleML), co-sponsored by the SMC Society.  The symposium was held at the Buena Vista Palace in Lake Buena Vista.

AI #5. William Hortos will contact individual Orlando Section members, employed by local companies in one of the categories for potential technically oriented visits by chapter members, for assistance in establishing the content and schedule for the visits.  Contacts will be completed by June 30, 2008; responses will be required no later than July 15, 2008 for future planning purposes.  Status:  William Hortos emailed requests in early October to members of the Orlando Section, who identify Walt Disney Company as their employer, to convey the interest of the J-CRASMC Society to organize a visit by Section members for a “behind-the-scenes” technical view of the controlled, robotic and/or cybernetic automated applications implemented at Walt Disney World.  With no responses had been received as of November 11, 2008, direct contacts will be made at the division management of WDW involved in automation, robotics or cybernetics before November 25, 2008.

Please respond with your views and recommendations for additions or improvements to:

William S. Hortos, whortos@aol.com; or whortos@embarqmail.com , 

9143 Galleon Court

Orlando, FL  32819-4052

Phone:   407-876-1026