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docs: #157 — research conference opportunities and draft GSoC 2027 application
Adds two documents to docs/academic/: - conference-opportunities-2026.md: researched status of ICRA 2026 (missed — workshops already announced), CoRL 2026 (actionable — abstract deadline May 25), NeurIPS 2026 (main track missed; watch for workshop CFPs in September), Google DeepMind Accelerator (missed for current cohort), and GSoC 2027 (org application window ~Jan–Feb 2027). - gsoc-2027-application.md: draft org application with five concrete project ideas (Gazebo/ROS2 backend, VLM judge, Isaac Lab integration, live dashboard, WBC benchmark suite), eligibility checklist, mentor roster template, and submission checklist. https://claude.ai/code/session_01EPHNDzZLoHVZsx1PmxXciG
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‎docs/academic/conference-opportunities-2026.md‎

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# Academic Conference Opportunities — 2026
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_Research compiled: April 2026. Revisit for ICRA 2027 in Q4 2026; revisit for NeurIPS 2026 workshops in September 2026._
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---
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## Summary
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| Venue | Dates | Deadline | Action | Status |
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|-------|-------|----------|--------|--------|
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| ICRA 2026 | Jun 1–5, Vienna | **Passed** | Plan ICRA 2027 instead | ❌ Missed |
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| CoRL 2026 | Nov 9–12, Austin TX | Abstract May 25 / Paper May 28 | System paper possible | ⚡ Actionable |
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| NeurIPS 2026 (main) | Dec 6–12 | May 6 AOE | **Passed** | ❌ Missed |
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| NeurIPS 2026 (workshops) | Dec 6–12 | ~September (TBA) | Monitor, submit demo/position paper | ⏳ Watch |
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| Google DeepMind Accelerator | Cohort Jun 2026 | Closed Mar 25 | Monitor for next cohort | ❌ Missed, next TBA |
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| GSoC 2027 | Summer 2027 | Org apps ~Jan–Feb 2027 | Prepare materials Q4 2026 | ⏳ Plan |
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---
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## ICRA 2026 — Missed, Plan for 2027
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**Dates:** June 1–5, 2026 (workshops: June 1 and June 5), VIECON, Vienna, Austria
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**Status:** Workshop notifications already sent. All workshop submission deadlines have passed.
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### Relevant workshops (for reference and ICRA 2027 planning)
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The following workshops at ICRA 2026 are closely aligned with roboharness:
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| Workshop | Day | Relevance |
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|----------|-----|-----------|
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| Synthetic Data for Robot Learning | Mon Jun 1 | Simulation-based data, visual validation |
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| Generative Digital Twins for Sim2Real and Real2Sim Transfer | Mon Jun 1 | Sim-to-real validation gap — exactly what roboharness addresses |
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| Reinforcement Learning in the Era of Imitation Learning | Mon Jun 1 | Evaluation methodology for RL policies |
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| From Data to Decisions: VLA Pipelines for Real Robots | Fri Jun 5 | VLA evaluation, tool-chain gap |
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| Beyond Teleoperation: Learning from Diverse Human and Simulation Data | Fri Jun 5 | Sim-based learning evaluation |
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**ICRA 2027 action plan (Q4 2026):**
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- Identify call for workshop proposals (typically released ~October, deadline ~December)
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- Submit a **workshop proposal** for "Visual Evaluation Frameworks for Robot Learning Agents"
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- Angle: AI coding agents need visual feedback loops; existing CI for robotics is blind
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- Roboharness positions as a reference implementation of the harness engineering approach
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- Alternatively, submit a **demo paper** to an aligned workshop (Sim2Real or RL evaluation)
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---
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## CoRL 2026 — Actionable (Abstract Due May 25)
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**Dates:** November 9–12, 2026, Austin, Texas, USA
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**Abstract deadline:** May 25, 2026
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**Full paper deadline:** May 28, 2026
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**Submission:** https://openreview.net/group?id=robot-learning.org/CoRL/2026/Conference
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### Fit assessment
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CoRL accepts papers on robot learning with real-robot experiments or strong sim-to-real evidence. A roboharness **system paper** is plausible if:
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1. Experimental validation with a real robot (or convincing sim-to-real transfer evidence) is available
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2. The paper demonstrates improvement in an agent's iteration speed or debugging quality
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3. User study or quantitative comparison with baseline (no visual feedback) exists
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**Current gap:** Roboharness lacks the real-robot experiments CoRL requires. Purely sim-based results are unlikely to clear review bar without sim-to-real justification.
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### Recommended paper angle (if experiments are available)
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**Title:** "Harness Engineering for Robot Learning: Visual Checkpoint Testing Accelerates AI Agent Iteration"
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**Key claims:**
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- AI coding agents editing robot control policies benefit from visual feedback at checkpoint intervals
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- Checkpoint screenshots + structured JSON reduce debugging loop time vs. log-only iteration
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- Integration is three lines of code (drop-in `RobotHarnessWrapper`)
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- Demonstrated on: MuJoCo Grasp, G1 WBC Reach, G1 LeRobot locomotion
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**Decision checklist (before submitting):**
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- [ ] Can we generate quantitative data comparing agent iteration speed with/without roboharness?
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- [ ] Do we have real-robot or strong sim-to-real experiment?
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- [ ] Is the paper 8 pages achievable given current result set?
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**If yes to all → submit.** Deadline May 25 for abstract.
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---
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## NeurIPS 2026 — Main Track Missed; Watch for Workshops
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**Dates:** December 6–12, 2026
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**Main track full paper deadline:** May 6, 2026 AOE — **passed**
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**Workshop CFPs:** Typically announced September 2026 (check neurips.cc/Conferences/2026)
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### Workshop strategy
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NeurIPS workshops are a better fit for roboharness than the main track because:
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- Lower bar for tool/framework papers without extensive real-robot experiments
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- Position papers and demos are common
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- Robotics × ML × evaluation methodology is a natural workshop fit
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**Candidate workshop topics to watch for in September 2026:**
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- "Robot Learning" or "Embodied AI" workshop
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- "Evaluation and Benchmarking in Robotics" (recurring topic)
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- "Machine Learning for Robotics" or "Foundation Models for Robotics"
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- "AI for Scientific Discovery" (sim-based agent testing fits here)
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**When workshops are announced:**
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1. Identify 2–3 workshops with deadlines in October–November 2026
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2. Submit a **4-page demo/position paper** describing roboharness + results from showcase demos
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3. Angle: "Harness engineering as the missing CI layer for robot learning"
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---
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## Google DeepMind Accelerator: Robotics
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**Status:** First cohort applications closed March 25, 2026. Cohort kicks off June 2026 in London.
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**Program details:**
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- 10–15 early-stage robotics startups (European HQ, VC-backed, 5+ technical team members)
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- Equity-free, 12–15 weeks
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- Up to $350K Google Cloud credits via Google for Startups
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- Target sectors: logistics, manufacturing, health/life sciences, HRI, education, navigation
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**Current eligibility gap:**
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- roboharness is an open-source project, not a VC-backed startup — does not meet current eligibility criteria
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- The program targets commercial startups, not OSS/academic tools
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**Action:** Monitor for future cohorts or a research track. Check https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-robotics/accelerator/ in Q3/Q4 2026 for next cohort announcement.
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---
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## GSoC 2027 — Prepare Materials Q4 2026
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**Program:** Google Summer of Code — open-source organization sponsoring student contributors
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**Org application window:** Typically January 22 – February 6 (based on 2026 timeline; 2027 dates not yet published)
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**Accepted orgs announced:** ~February 21 (based on 2026)
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### Eligibility checklist
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- [x] Open-source project (MIT license)
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- [x] Active GitHub repository with meaningful commit history
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- [x] Clear contributing guide (CONTRIBUTING.md exists)
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- [ ] Prior GSoC participation (not required for first-time orgs, but helpful)
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- [ ] Minimum 2 mentors willing to commit time (need to identify)
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### What to prepare (Q4 2026, target November–December)
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See `docs/academic/gsoc-2027-application.md` for the full draft application.
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**Key sections needed for org application:**
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1. Organization name and description (2–3 sentences)
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2. Why Google should accept roboharness as a GSoC org
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3. Project ideas list (3–5 concrete ideas with scope, skills required, difficulty)
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4. Mentor roster (name, GitHub handle, availability)
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5. Communication channels (GitHub Discussions, Discord, etc.)
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**Project idea candidates:**
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- **Gazebo/ROS2 backend** — implement `SimulatorBackend` for ROS-based Gazebo simulation
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- **VLM evaluation judge** — integrate open-source 4B VLM for autonomous checkpoint scoring
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- **Isaac Lab checkpoint integration** — full round-trip with NVIDIA Isaac Lab, visual reports
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- **Web dashboard** — real-time Rerun/Meshcat-based live monitoring dashboard
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- **Pinocchio/MuJoCo benchmark suite** — standardized evaluation harness for WBC controllers
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**Timeline:**
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- Q3 2026 (Jul–Sep): Build community presence (ROS Discourse, HuggingFace, Discord)
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- Q4 2026 (Oct–Dec): Draft project ideas, identify mentors, prepare application
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- Jan 2027: Submit org application when window opens
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- Feb 2027: If accepted, publish project ideas and start engaging potential contributors
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---
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## References
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- ICRA 2026: https://2026.ieee-icra.org/
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- CoRL 2026: https://www.corl.org/
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- NeurIPS 2026: https://neurips.cc/Conferences/2026
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- Google DeepMind Accelerator: https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-robotics/accelerator/
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- GSoC timeline (2026 reference): https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline
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- Issue: miaodx/roboharness#157

‎docs/academic/gsoc-2027-application.md‎

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# GSoC 2027 — Organization Application Draft
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_Status: Draft — finalize and submit when org application window opens (~January 2027)_
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_Reference timeline: GSoC 2026 org window was Jan 22 – Feb 6; accepted orgs announced ~Feb 21_
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---
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## Organization Profile
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**Organization name:** Roboharness
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**Short description (≤ 180 chars):**
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Visual testing harness for AI coding agents in robot simulation. Helps Claude Code and Codex see what robots are doing and iterate autonomously.
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**Long description:**
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Roboharness is the first harness engineering tool built specifically for robotics. When AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) write or debug robot control code, they are blind — they can read logs and numbers but cannot see what the robot is actually doing. Roboharness solves this by capturing multi-view screenshots and structured state JSON at user-defined checkpoints, giving agents the visual context they need to iterate autonomously.
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The project supports MuJoCo, Gymnasium (zero-change `RobotHarnessWrapper`), Isaac Lab, LeRobot G1 locomotion, and SONIC motion tracking. It produces auto-generated HTML visual reports that CI can publish, and includes an MCP server so agents can query checkpoint results directly. The project is MIT-licensed, Python 3.10+, and follows a SimulatorBackend protocol for easy extension to new simulators.
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Roboharness is where robotics meets harness engineering — a category that until now existed only for software, not physical systems.
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**Website:** https://github.com/MiaoDX/roboharness
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**License:** MIT
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**Primary language:** Python
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**Tags:** robotics, simulation, testing, AI agents, MuJoCo, Gymnasium, evaluation
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---
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## Why Should Google Accept Roboharness?
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1. **Category-defining project.** Roboharness occupies a unique niche: visual regression testing for robot simulation. No other open-source tool targets this exact intersection of AI coding agents + robot simulation + visual feedback.
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2. **Growing relevance.** AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) are now writing real robot code. The tooling to support them — especially visual testing and evaluation — doesn't exist yet. Roboharness fills that gap.
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3. **Student-friendly architecture.** The `SimulatorBackend` protocol (structural typing, no inheritance) makes adding a new simulator backend an ideal GSoC project: well-scoped, testable, standalone, and directly useful to the community.
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4. **Active development.** Regular commits, CI with real robot simulation tests, live HTML reports auto-generated on every push.
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5. **Mentor capacity.** Two core mentors available (see Mentors section), with domain expertise in robotics simulation, Python, and AI agent tooling.
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---
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## Project Ideas
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### 1. Gazebo / ROS 2 Backend (Medium, 350 hours)
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**Goal:** Implement a `SimulatorBackend` for ROS 2 / Gazebo, letting roboharness capture checkpoint screenshots from a running Gazebo simulation via ROS topics and TF.
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**Why it matters:** Gazebo is the most widely used simulator in the ROS ecosystem. A ROS 2 backend would make roboharness accessible to thousands of ROS developers.
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**Skills:** Python, ROS 2 (rclpy), Gazebo, basic image processing
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**Difficulty:** Medium
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**Deliverables:**
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- `roboharness/backends/ros2_gazebo.py` — implements `SimulatorBackend` protocol
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- Subscribes to `/camera/image_raw` (or similar) ROS topic for screenshot capture
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- Gets robot state via `tf2_ros`
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- Integration tests using `roboharness[dev]` (mock ROS publisher)
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- Example: `examples/ros2_gazebo_example.py`
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- Documentation
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**Mentor:** TBD
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---
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### 2. VLM Evaluation Judge (Hard, 350 hours)
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**Goal:** Add an optional `VLMJudge` evaluator that scores checkpoint screenshots using an open-source vision-language model (e.g., a 4B-parameter robot-specific VLM).
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**Why it matters:** Currently, pass/fail evaluation requires hand-written constraint functions. A VLM judge would enable natural-language task specifications like "is the robot holding the cube?" without writing code.
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**Skills:** Python, HuggingFace Transformers, vision-language models, evaluation methodology
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**Difficulty:** Hard
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**Deliverables:**
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- `roboharness/evaluate/vlm_judge.py` — pluggable VLM backend with a common interface
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- Support for at least two backends: local model (HuggingFace) + API model (Claude via anthropic SDK)
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- Prompt templates for common robot tasks (grasp success, reach target, avoid collision)
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- Benchmarking script comparing VLM scores vs. ground-truth constraint evaluators
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- Tests using mocked VLM responses
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- Documentation
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**Mentor:** TBD
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---
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### 3. Isaac Lab Checkpoint Integration (Medium, 175 hours)
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**Goal:** Complete the Isaac Lab integration with full round-trip checkpoint capture and auto-generated HTML visual reports, matching the quality of the MuJoCo backend.
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**Why it matters:** NVIDIA Isaac Lab is the dominant GPU-based robot learning platform. Full roboharness support would make it accessible to Isaac Lab users without changing their training/eval code.
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**Skills:** Python, NVIDIA Isaac Lab, PyTorch (basic), understanding of `SimulatorBackend` protocol
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**Difficulty:** Medium
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**Deliverables:**
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- `roboharness/backends/isaac_lab.py` — full implementation (currently partial)
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- Round-trip: observation → checkpoint → screenshot → structured JSON → HTML report
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- `examples/isaac_lab_harness_example.py` using a standard Isaac Lab environment
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- CI smoke test (mocked; real GPU test in separate CI tier)
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- Documentation
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**Mentor:** TBD
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---
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### 4. Web Dashboard for Live Monitoring (Medium, 350 hours)
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**Goal:** Build a lightweight web dashboard that shows live checkpoint screenshots and state data during a running simulation, using Rerun or a simple WebSocket server.
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**Why it matters:** Currently, roboharness produces static HTML reports after the fact. A live dashboard would let agents (and humans) monitor robot behavior in real time.
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**Skills:** Python, WebSocket, HTML/CSS/JS (basic), Rerun SDK or similar
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**Difficulty:** Medium
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**Deliverables:**
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- `roboharness/server/` — lightweight async WebSocket server (Python)
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- Live screenshot streaming (JPEG/PNG over WebSocket)
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- Static HTML frontend with auto-refreshing image grid + state JSON panel
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- `harness serve` CLI command
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- Tests (mock WebSocket client)
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- Documentation
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**Mentor:** TBD
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---
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### 5. Benchmark Suite for Whole-Body Controllers (Medium, 350 hours)
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**Goal:** Create a standardized benchmark suite that uses roboharness checkpoints to evaluate WBC (whole-body control) policies, producing comparable metrics across different controllers.
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**Why it matters:** There is no standard benchmark for WBC evaluation. roboharness checkpoint data (screenshots + joint state + task success) is the right primitive for building one.
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**Skills:** Python, MuJoCo, robotics (basic kinematics), statistics
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**Difficulty:** Medium
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**Deliverables:**
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- `roboharness/benchmark/` — benchmark runner + metric collection
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- At least 3 task scenarios: reach, grasp, balance
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- Per-scenario pass/fail + summary report
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- Comparison across at least 2 controllers (e.g., Pinocchio+Pink WBC vs. scripted baseline)
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- HTML report with per-task visual breakdown
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- Documentation
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**Mentor:** TBD
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---
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## Mentors
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_Note: Finalize mentor list before submitting. Each mentor must have a GitHub account and agree to the GSoC mentoring commitment (~5 hours/week during coding period)._
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| Name | GitHub | Expertise | Availability |
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|------|--------|-----------|--------------|
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| TBD | @TBD | Robotics simulation, Python | TBD |
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| TBD | @TBD | AI agents, ML tooling | TBD |
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**Minimum required:** 2 mentors (1 primary + 1 backup per project)
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---
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## Communication
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- **GitHub Issues/Discussions:** https://github.com/MiaoDX/roboharness/discussions (primary channel)
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- **Discord:** TBD (set up before org application)
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- **Mailing list:** TBD (Google Groups or similar)
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---
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## Application Checklist
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Before submitting the org application:
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- [ ] At least 2 confirmed mentors with GSoC accounts
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- [ ] Discord server set up with `#gsoc-2027` channel
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- [ ] GitHub Discussions enabled and active
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- [ ] Project ideas page published on GitHub Wiki or docs site
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- [ ] CONTRIBUTING.md updated with GSoC-specific onboarding section
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- [ ] At least 3 merged contributor PRs from non-core team (shows welcoming community)
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- [ ] README has "Contributing" and "Community" sections prominently visible
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---
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## Submission Steps (when window opens ~Jan 2027)
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1. Go to https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/
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2. Sign in with a Google account associated with a GitHub account that has org admin access to MiaoDX/roboharness (or the `roboharness` org)
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3. Click "Apply as a Mentoring Organization"
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4. Fill in the profile using the sections above
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5. Submit before the deadline (~February 6, 2027 based on 2026 timeline)
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6. Monitor for acceptance announcement (~February 21, 2027)
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---
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_See also: `docs/academic/conference-opportunities-2026.md` for conference strategy_
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_Issue: miaodx/roboharness#157_

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