This time next week, we’ll be on our way to a swanky five star beach resort in Portugal. Is this the vacation that we deserve after months and months of non-stop robotics news? NO. IT’S NOT. NO VACATIONS. This is IROS, the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Last year it was held in San Francisco, and this year, we’re heading to the Algarve, on the southern coast of Portugal just west of Spain and north of Africa. Don’t worry, though: we’ll be lucky if we manage to set even one single foot on the beach with all the robot stuff we’ll have to cover. It’s gonna be awesome. [read more..]