A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to…

MITAuto-check passed

Install Icra Topic Selection

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icra-topic-selection -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills icra-topic-selection --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/ICRA-Skills/skills/icra-topic-selection .claude/skills/icra-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
icra-topic-selection
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
793 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to…

  • Works in 5 steps: Clock. Missed September or the result… → Revision tolerance. RA-L allows a… → CV target. Some fields and hiring… → …
  • Deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA
  • SKILL.md covers The embodiment test, Fit by contribution type, Direct ICRA vs RA-L with… and Quick routing script, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Icra Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to IROS, RSS, CoRL, T-RO, HRI, or CASE based on contribution type, evidence shape, and the embodiment test.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: Journal-specific Claude Code/Codex skill packs covering mainstream journals — AER, QJE, Nature, Cell, 管理世界, 经济研究 & 200+ more — your fast track to getting published. | 覆盖主流期刊的… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA
  • Choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation
  • Re-routing to IROS
  • CASE based on contribution type

Example prompts

  • “/icra-topic-selection”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Clock. Missed September or the result matures in November? RA-L is the only
  2. Revision tolerance. RA-L allows a revision cycle; direct ICRA is
  3. CV target. Some fields and hiring committees weight the journal line (RA-L)
  4. Length. Both cap near 6-8 pages, so length rarely decides; T-RO or IJRR is
  5. Dual-submission trap. The same manuscript must never sit in the ICRA

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 932eb23. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Icra Topic Selection loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 76 tokens; SKILL.md has 793 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~76
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills at commit 932eb23, republished under its MIT licence (© brycewang-stanford). 793 words, ~1,710 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/icra-topic-selection/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
icra-topic-selection
description
Use when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to IROS, RSS, CoRL, T-RO, HRI, or CASE based on contribution type, evidence shape, and the embodiment test.

ICRA Topic Selection

Route a robotics project before any formatting work begins. ICRA — the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) — is the broadest and largest robotics deadline of the year, but "broad" does not mean "anything with a robot picture." This skill runs two decisions in order: (1) is the contribution ICRA-shaped at all, and (2) if yes, should it travel as a direct conference paper or as an RA-L journal paper carrying a conference-presentation option.

The embodiment test

Ask what breaks if the physical robot is deleted from the paper.

  • If the answer is "nothing — the method is really about images, language, or generic optimization," ICRA reviewers will say so. Route to a vision, ML, or optimization venue and cite robotics as an application.
  • If the answer is "the whole contribution — the method exists because of contact, dynamics, sensing noise, actuation limits, real-time constraints, or task resets," the project is in ICRA territory.
  • Middle cases (learning method evaluated only in simulation) can survive at ICRA, but the burden shifts to the experiments plan; see icra-experiments before committing.

Fit by contribution type

Contribution typeICRA fitStronger alternative to weigh
New manipulation / locomotion / navigation algorithm with hardware trialsCoreRSS if the algorithmic idea is the star
Integrated robot system solving a hard task end to endCoreIROS, field-robotics journals
Robot-learning method, sim-heavy, some real transferGoodCoRL if learning is the entire story
Control / estimation theory with robot validationGoodT-RO or RA-L for longer proofs
Dataset or benchmark for robot tasksGoodRA-L, IJRR for archival datasets
Human-robot interaction with a user studyPossibleHRI conference for study-centric work
Factory / logistics automation, schedulingPossibleCASE, T-ASE
Perception with no downstream robot taskWeakCVPR/ICCV, then a robotics follow-up
Pure RL / optimization theory, no embodimentWeakNeurIPS, ICML, L4DC

Direct ICRA vs RA-L with conference presentation

The RAS ecosystem offers two distinct roads to an ICRA podium, and choosing between them is a real strategic decision, not a formality:

  • Direct ICRA submission. One deadline per year (mid-September for a late-May/June conference), conference peer review, proceedings in IEEE Xplore, 6 pages plus up to 2 pages of references at submission in the 2026 cycle.
  • RA-L (IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters). Year-round submission, first decision targeted within about three months, revise-and-resubmit possible, 6 pages including references with up to 2 extra pages at USD 175 each. Accepted RA-L papers can be transferred, within the posted window and within 270 days of acceptance, for presentation at an upcoming RAS conference such as ICRA — a journal publication plus the same stage.

Decide with these levers:

  1. Clock. Missed September or the result matures in November? RA-L is the only road that still reaches the next ICRA stage.
  2. Revision tolerance. RA-L allows a revision cycle; direct ICRA is accept-or-reject on one shot. Work with one fixable weakness favors RA-L.
  3. CV target. Some fields and hiring committees weight the journal line (RA-L) differently from the conference line (ICRA proceedings). Check what the career context rewards; the presentation looks identical at the venue.
  4. Length. Both cap near 6-8 pages, so length rarely decides; T-RO or IJRR is the route for genuinely long papers.
  5. Dual-submission trap. The same manuscript must never sit in the ICRA conference pipeline and at RA-L simultaneously; that is a rejection offense in both systems.
Show full SKILL.md (224 more words)Show less

Quick routing script

text
Q1 Embodiment: does deleting the robot delete the contribution?
   no  -> route to the parent field's venue; stop.
Q2 Maturity: results solid by early September?
   no  -> RA-L (rolling) or next IROS deadline (typically March).
Q3 One clean contribution statable in 6 pages?
   no  -> T-RO / IJRR long-form, or split the project.
Q4 Is the star the algorithmic idea (RSS), the learning method (CoRL),
   the user study (HRI), or the factory floor (CASE)?
   yes -> weigh that sibling before defaulting to ICRA.
Q5 Otherwise -> direct ICRA; record why in one sentence for the intro.

Lighter tracks at the same conference

Not every result deserves — or needs — the full-paper gauntlet. The ICRA weeks also host workshops with their own paper calls, late-breaking/abstract-style contributions, competitions, and demo slots, each with separate winter/spring deadlines and lighter (often non-archival) review. Correct uses:

  • A promising-but-thin result: workshop now, full paper next September with the workshop feedback baked in.
  • A dataset or tool needing community exposure before the archival paper.
  • A negative or replication result that the main track rarely rewards but a topical workshop will discuss seriously.

Check archival status per call: some workshop papers preclude later "new" submission of the same content, most do not — read the specific call's wording.

Anti-patterns that waste a cycle

  • Submitting a workshop-depth demo as a full paper: ICRA has late-breaking, poster, and workshop tracks better suited to preliminary results — check the current year's calls.
  • Choosing ICRA purely for prestige when the reviewer pool for the subfield (e.g., soft robotics, surgical robotics) is deeper at a specialized venue.
  • Planning "we will add real-robot results during rebuttal" — the classic ICRA pipeline has no author-response phase to add them in (see icra-review-process), so the evidence must be complete at submission.
  • Ignoring that ICRA 2026 moved to double-anonymous review: a framing that leans on "our lab's famous platform" no longer helps and may leak identity.

Output format

text
[Embodiment test] pass / borderline / fail — <one line>
[Route] direct ICRA / RA-L + presentation option / sibling venue <name>
[Deadline reality] <next reachable deadline and date to verify>
[Contribution type] algorithm / system / learning / theory / dataset / HRI / automation
[Single biggest routing risk] <one line>
[Verify before commitment] current CFP at the ICRA year-site + RA-L information-for-authors page

© brycewang-stanford, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in ICRA-Skills/skills/icra-topic-selection of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

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Robot Framework Skillsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Robots Metathedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist74k—~494Automated safety check: PassMIT
Robots Txtthedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist74k—~483Automated safety check: PassMIT
TopicsZimoLiao/scholaraio577—~294Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Icra Topic Selection

What does Icra Topic Selection do?

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to…. Icra Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA, choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation, or re-routing to IROS, RSS, CoRL, T-RO, HRI, or CASE based on contribution type, evidence shape, and the embodiment test.

When should I use Icra Topic Selection?

Icra Topic Selection fits situations like: deciding whether a robotics project belongs at ICRA; choosing between a direct ICRA submission and the RA-L journal route with conference presentation; re-routing to IROS; CASE based on contribution type.

How do I install Icra Topic Selection in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icra-topic-selection -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (ICRA-Skills/skills/icra-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .claude/skills/icra-topic-selection in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Icra Topic Selection in Codex?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icra-topic-selection -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (ICRA-Skills/skills/icra-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .agents/skills/icra-topic-selection in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Icra Topic Selection in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icra-topic-selection -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/icra-topic-selection, .gemini/skills/icra-topic-selection, .github/skills/icra-topic-selection and .opencode/skills/icra-topic-selection in your project.

What does Icra Topic Selection need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Icra Topic Selection is instructions for the agent only.

Does Icra Topic Selection access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Icra Topic Selection safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Icra Topic Selection use?

Icra Topic Selection is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Icra Topic Selection use?

About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Icra Topic Selection?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Icra Topic Selection: Robots Meta Conflict (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars), Robot Framework Skill (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars), Robots Meta (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars) and Robots Txt (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Icra Topic Selection?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,228 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2,387 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 27, 2026.

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.