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CORL Governance
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Foundation on Robot Learning Governance

Last updated: Sep 30, 2025

The Robot Learning Foundation (RLF) is an incorporated nonprofit entity (registered in Massachusetts, EIN: 88-3454889). For the purposes of clarifying roles and responsibilities, here are the guidelines under which it operates.

Executive Board (corl-executive-board@googlegroups.com)

  1. The activities and affairs of CoRL shall be managed under the ultimate direction of the Executive Board.  
  2. The officers of the Executive Board are the President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and such other officers with such titles and duties as shall be determined by the Board. For details (tasks, dates, links, etc.) see the Annual Calendar
  1. The President’s responsibilities are to:  
  1. convene and preside over board meetings, and address any issues that the Executive Board wishes to raise;
  2. maintain CoRL’s commitment to diversity at every level of operation;
  3. act as signatory for the RLF bank account and finances (the RLF maintains a bank account in the US, with the RLF President as the primary owner of this account and the Treasurer as secondary).
  1. The Secretary shall have the responsibilities of:
  1. record and distribute the minutes of meetings;
  2. maintain communications across the different boards, schedule meetings and ensure that timelines are met;
  3. maintain the annual calendar
  4. maintain and update credentials for long-lived conference-related assets, such as mailing lists, contact information, and the conference website.
  1. The Treasurer shall have the responsibilities of:
  1. coordinating all RLF finances, audits, and RLF bank account transactions
  2. review and approve budget for each CoRL
  3. filing tax (Form 990) return and maintain good standing for the RLF
  4. maintain the history of sponsorship relations and contact information from year to year, to be collected from each outgoing General Chair or their Sponsorship Chair, and provided to the next General Chair or Sponsorship Chair.
  1. Executive Board officers serve staggered 3 year terms, at which point they may run for re-election.
  2. In addition to the 3 officers, the Executive Board shall consist of no fewer than 4 directors, and not more than 8.
  3. New Directors shall be elected by the Executive Board at each annual meeting of the Board.
  1. Nominations for new Directors will be solicited by the President and reported to the Executive and Advisory Boards two months before the annual meeting at CoRL.
  2. The voting for new Directors will occur at the annual meeting at CoRL.
  1. Directors serve for a term of 3 years, notwithstanding that two initial Board members will serve a term of one year, and two initial Board members will serve a term of two years.
  2. CoRL General Chairs can be invited to become Directors of the Executive Board.

Advisory Board (corl-advisory@googlegroups.com)

  1. The Advisory Board is a non-voting body that advises the Executive Board.
  2. The Advisory Board provides advice on policy and changes, and helps with the promotion of CoRL.
  3. When an Executive Board member’s  term expires, they will be invited to join  the Advisory Board.
  4. Membership on the Advisory Board is based on activity; inactive members will be retired from the Advisory Board periodically.  

CoRL General Chair Selection

  1. There is a 3-step procedure for proposals to Chair CoRL conferences (for details see the corresponding Guidelines document):
  1. Step 1: For a proposal to host Year N, a max 1 page letter of intent needs to be submitted by 1 August of Year N-3. These are assessed at the Year N-3 board meeting.
  2. Step 2: Proposals selected in Step 1 submit a max 10 page proposal by 1 August of Year N-2 and give a 10min presentation at the Year N-2 board meeting. The winning proposal is determined at the Year N-2 board meeting.
  3. Step 3: The full plan for hosting CoRL Year N needs to be submitted by 1 August of Year N-1. These plans are presented in a 10min presentation at the Year N-1 board meeting.
  1. All questions and communications should be to the Secretary and the email should be confirmed as received.
  2. The Executive Board is expected to consider gender, ethnic and geographic diversity in applications.
  3. The expectation is that the General Chair will host the conference in their home city, however, the General Chair may choose an alternate location with approval of the Executive Board.

CoRL Committee Roles and Responsibilities

  1. CoRL General Chair(s)
  1. The General Chair’s responsibilities are to:  
  1. oversee all planning and finances
  2. communicate regularly with the Executive Board
  3. recruit Local and Remote Chairs
  4. propose a slate of 3 candidate Program Chairs, to be approved by the Executive Board
  5. secure approval of the Venue and above from the Executive Board, at the latest 2 months after the selection.
  6. recruit the various other chairs, such as finance, publications, publicity, web, openreview, registration, workshop, demo, sponsorship, social-media, inclusion, volunteer, etc.
  7. strive for a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in CoRL.
  8. coordinate actively with the PCs to ensure that all deadlines are met (in particular the posting of paper decisions by the announced specific time and date or earlier with associated papers, and program details within 2 weeks of that date).
  9. report finances and survey results
  10. transfer all remaining funds to RLF
  1. CoRL Program Chairs
  1. The Program Chairs responsibilities are to:
  1. recruit area chairs
  2. manage the paper solicitation process
  3. manage the review process
  4. have the final authority on paper acceptance decisions
  5. recruit invited speakers
  6. plan the structure of the program, in terms of schedule and activities
  1. Program Chairs must share their program plan with the Executive Board at least 3 months in advance of the conference submission deadline.
  2. Program Chairs have the flexibility to propose modifications of the review process to the Executive Board, e.g., rebuttal, author response, review mechanisms, but the expectation is that the conference is consistent in themes and maintains a high level of quality from year to year.
  3. See General Chair duties above regarding deadlines.
  1. CoRL Local Arrangements Chair(s)
  1. The Local Arrangements Chair’s responsibilities are to:
  1. prepare and manage a budget for hosting the conference, including both expenses and expected revenue
  2. the local arrangements chair should have a mechanism for ensuring that they are not taking personal liability for lost deposits, etc.  
  3. identify the venues for different aspects of CoRL. The local arrangements chairs will need to coordinate with the program chairs on requirements, such as poster sessions, receptions, etc.
  4. arrange the venue and meals as needed
  5. arrange the registration
  6. coordinate with sponsors on providing them a place to meet with attendees

Executive Board Members

Last updated: Nov 14, 2025

General Chairs