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name: iros-related-work description: Use when positioning an IROS submission against robotics-systems literature across ICRA, IROS, RSS, CoRL, RA-L, and T-RO, covering the lanes embodied-systems reviewers check, concurrent arXiv work, prior-version overlap, IEEE Xplore archival status, and keeping self-citations anonymous under the double-anonymous cycle.

IROS Related Work

Use this to audit novelty and eligibility. Reopen the current CFP for dual-submission, anonymity, and prior-publication rules before advising authors. At IROS the question a reviewer asks is not only "is this new?" but "does the paper know the nearest systems it resembles and say what it does differently?"

Positioning checks

• Separate a systems contribution from a component tweak: a new integration, a new capability under a constraint, a new reliability level, or a deployment insight — not merely a swapped module.
• Cover the robotics-systems lanes, not just the one nearest your method; a manipulation paper still owes the perception and planning neighbors it builds on.
• Treat IEEE Xplore proceedings, RA-L, and T-RO as archival; position against them honestly rather than around them.
• Cite arXiv and prior workshop versions so double-anonymous review survives — never point a reviewer to an identity-revealing page or repository.
• Explain overlap with any prior or concurrent version of your own work, and do not submit duplicate archival material.

The lanes robotics reviewers check

Lane	Typical sources	What IROS reviewers check
Conference systems	ICRA, prior IROS, RSS, CoRL	Whether the nearest deployed system is compared or explicitly distinguished
Robotics journals	RA-L, T-RO, T-ASE, IJRR, Autonomous Robots	Whether mature, revised results are acknowledged, not dodged
Perception/learning	CVPR/ICCV, NeurIPS/ICML when a component derives from them	Whether a borrowed component is credited and evaluated in the robotics setting
Field/application	Domain venues (field robotics, medical, aerial)	Whether deployment realities and prior fielded systems are cited

A bibliography citing only your own subfield tells a reviewer the paper may be re-deriving a neighboring system's idea — a recognizable IROS weakness no amount of demo polish repairs.

Concurrent-work judgment calls

• Independently concurrent arXiv work: cite neutrally, state the technical difference, and avoid priority claims a reviewer cannot verify.
• Your own workshop version: usually non-archival and citable, but verify against the current CFP and phrase the citation so anonymity holds.
• When unsure whether a venue counts as archival for dual-submission, declare the overlap in the submission form rather than gambling on an editor's read.

Positioning vignette

Imagine the paper presents a lidar-inertial state estimator that runs on an embedded computer. Its nearest neighbors: a prior IROS lidar-odometry system it extends, an RA-L fusion method with a heavier compute footprint, and a CVPR learned-odometry component it borrows a front end from. The novelty sentence should name all three contrasts — tighter fusion than the IROS predecessor, a smaller compute budget than the RA-L method, and the learned front end credited and re-evaluated on real field data.

Novelty sentence template:
  "Unlike <nearest system> which <limitation>, our system <capability>
   under <embodiment constraint>, evidenced by <embodied result>."

Output format

[Eligibility] clear / needs declaration / risky
[Closest lanes] <conference/journal/perception/field>
[Nearest 3 systems] <system -> distinction>
[Archival-overlap risk] <none/issues>
[Novelty sentence] <IROS-ready systems contrast>