Call for Proposals: Global ROSCon 2026 in Toronto

[Katherine_Scott]

ROSCon Global 2026 Call for Proposals Now Open!

The ROSCon call for proposals is now open! You can find full proposal details on the ROSCon 2026 website.

ROSCon Global 2026 will be held in Toronto, Canada, from September 22nd to September 24th, 2026. This year, we are officially adopting the “Global” moniker to reflect our growing international community and the many regional ROSCons happening worldwide.

Submission Deadlines

• Workshops: Due by 2026-04-05T00:00:00Z. Submit via Google Form
• Talk Proposals: Due by 2026-04-26T00:00:00Z Submit via HotCRP
• Birds of a Feather (BoF): Due by 2026-07-24T00:00:00Z, submissions opening soon.

Important Dates

• Diversity Scholarship Deadline: 2026-03-22T00:00:00Z Submit here
• Workshop Acceptance Notification: 2026-05-12T00:00:00Z
• Ticket Sales Begin: 2026-05-11T00:00:00Z
• Presentation Acceptance Notification: 2026-06-09T00:00:00Z

Diversity Scholarship Program

If you require financial assistance to attend ROSCon Global and meet the qualifications, please apply for our Diversity Scholarship Program. Thanks to our sponsors, scholarships include complimentary registration, four nights of hotel accommodation, and a travel stipend.

The deadline for the scholarship is 2026-03-22T00:00:00Z, which is well before the CFP deadlines to allow for travel planning and visa processing.

What are we looking for?

The core of ROSCon is community-contributed content. We are looking for:

• Workshops: Participatory, interactive experiences (Day 1).
• Presentations: Technical talks (10-30 minutes) on new tools, libraries, or novel applications.
• Birds of a Feather: Self-organized meetings for specific interest groups (e.g., medical robotics, space, or debugging).

We want to see your robots! Whether it is maritime robots, lunar landers, or industrial factory fleets, we want to hear the technical lessons you learned. We encourage original content, high-impact ideas, and, as always, a focus on open-source availability.

How to Prepare

If you are new to ROSCon we recommend reviewing the archive of previous talks. You are also welcome to use this Discourse thread to workshop your ideas and find collaborators.

Questions and concerns can be directed to the ROSCon Executive Committee (roscon-2026-ec@openrobotics.org) or posted in this thread. We look forward to seeing the community in Toronto!

[polobyte]

This is exciting to see. ROSCon has always been a great place for the community to share real-world robotics work and lessons learned. I’m also planning to apply for the diversity scholarship this year and hope to be able to attend. Looking forward to the talks and projects the community will bring to ROSCon Global 2026.

[azmyin12]

Hi @Katherine_Scott really excited about ROSCon 2026 (and really hoping this time I will be able to make it). I was wondering about the rules and regulations regarding the presentation proposal submission. Should I direct these questions on the provided email or is there a Discourse channel handling these questions separately?

[mjcarroll]

I think if it’s a general question, it’s probably best to ask here so that the whole community can benefit from the response.

If it’s something very specific to your presentation/proposal, it’s probably better to direct to the program committee/executive committee: roscon-2026-ec@openrobotics.org

[mjcarroll]

I have also started a chat thread on Zulip for folks to discuss the types of talks that they would like to give or like to see (at least from a ROS perspective): #ROS General > ROSCon Presentation Topic Ideas

[Katherine_Scott]

Bumping. ROSCon Global Workshop proposals are due Sunday, April 5th.