MARC Researchers Spotlight Uncertainty Challenges at ACSOS 2025 in Tokyo

3/10/2025

Tokyo, Japan – October 2, 2025 – The IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS), the leading international forum on autonomic computing, self-adaptation, and self-organization, is underway in Tokyo from September 29 to October 3, 2025. Now in its sixth edition, the conference gathers world-class researchers and practitioners to explore how autonomous systems are reshaping technology and society.

A highlight of the conference was the expert panel discussion, “Uncertainty Interaction in Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems,” held yesterday afternoon. The session brought together prominent voices in the field, including Professor Alessandro V. Papadopoulos, leader of MARC RA2 (Control and Robotics), Professor David Garlan of Carnegie Mellon University, and Associate Professor Lola Burgueño of the University of Málaga.

The panelists emphasized the pivotal role of the Uncertainty Interaction Problem (UIP), stressing that managing the interplay of uncertainties is essential for building safer and more resilient self-adaptive and self-organizing systems.

The discussion underscored how software-controlled systems are increasingly deployed in critical domains such as healthcare, transportation, and finance. These systems must function under unpredictable conditions shaped by human interaction, machine learning components, interconnected physical-software structures, and volatile environments. While research over the last decade has developed tools and methods to address uncertainty, panelists noted that many approaches treat uncertainty types in isolation. The interaction of uncertainties, they warned, can lead to emergent and often unpredictable effects that jeopardize system goals. Addressing UIP is therefore a central challenge for the future of autonomous systems.

The conference theme reflects this urgency, highlighting the shift toward systems that require dynamic decision-making under uncertainty, holistic integration of system and environment, and advanced self-managing properties.

MARC’s contributions to ACSOS extended beyond the panel. Branko Miloradovic and Alessandro V. Papadopoulos, MARC researchers, received the Best Student Paper Award for the work “A Field-based Approach for Runtime Replanning in Swarm Robotics.” The paper, co-authored with Gianluca Aguzzi, Martina Baiardi, Angela Cortecchia,Danilo Pianini, and Mirko Viroli, from University of Bolologna, was recognized as one of the most promising contributions in the conference to the future of swarm robotics and adaptive systems.