<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none"><!-- p { margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; }--></style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr" style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;background-color:#FFFFFF;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<p></p>
<div id="Signature">
<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px">
<div style="font-family:Tahoma">
<div style="font-family:Tahoma">
<div style="font-family:Tahoma">
<div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"></p>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dear ROS Community,</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In recent years there have been many great developments in robotic skin and coverings. These include embedded tactile, infrared, temperature, and accelerometer elements
among others. Several projects have made considerable contributions to developing full body multi-modal skin sensors. This increased activity is exciting for the robotic skin community and it makes standardization of methods and procedures increasingly important.</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Although there is vast experience in the area of robotic skin research, there is a lack of common tools and common standards in robot middleware and robot simulators.</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">To address the need for common tools and interfaces in ROS and Gazebo, and the larger need for standardization of communication, display, and message formats etc. we propose
forming a <strong>Robot Skin Special Interest Group (SIG)</strong> within the ROS community to openly discuss and collaboratively solve some of these issues.</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We have created an initial page for the SIG at http://wiki.ros.org/sig/RobotSkin and the corresponding Google group at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ros-sig-robot-skin.</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Please consider joining the Robot Skin SIG and contribute to the discussions!</span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Best Regards, </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Isura </span></div>
<div><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">------------------------------------------------------------------------------ </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Isura Ranatunga </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">PhD Student</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Next Generation Systems (NGS) Research Group </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI) </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">7300 Jack Newell Blvd. S. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Fort Worth, TX 76118 </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">------------------------------------------------------------------------------ </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>