# Iros Writing Style > Use when revising an IROS paper for a task-first opening, an integrated-system narrative, the references-counted-in page budget with no supplementary PDF, double-anonymous wording, demo-speak-to-numbers rewrites, and figure-first structure that carries the argument in the body for embodied-systems reviewers. - Skill: `thedixitjain/iros-writing-style` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add thedixitjain/iros-writing-style` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thedixitjain/iros-writing-style/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: thedixitjain (https://skillmd.com/u/thedixitjain) - Updated: 2026-09-08 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thedixitjain/iros-writing-style --- # IROS Writing Style Use this when revising the main paper. An IROS paper has to make a reviewer picture the robot, the task, and the physical constraint quickly, then trust that the system runs — all inside a page budget that counts references and offers no appendix escape hatch. ## Revision rules - Open with the **robot task and the embodiment constraint**, not with "robots are increasingly important." The first paragraph should name the platform, the task, and what makes it physically hard. - Present the contribution as an **integrated system**: name the sensors, the interfaces between components, and the compute/latency budget, so the pipeline is reconstructable from the body. - Treat the **body as the whole paper** — IROS has no supplementary PDF. Anything load-bearing (metric definition, protocol, key ablation) lives in the main text or it does not exist for the reviewer. - Budget **references as content**; they count against the page limit, so a bloated bibliography costs real space. - Convert **demo-speak to numbers**: "works robustly" becomes a trial count with a success interval and a failure taxonomy. - Keep **double-anonymous** wording clean in self-citations, prior-platform references, acknowledgements, and figure/video captions. ## Figure-first discipline - Robotics reviewers read figures before prose; a system diagram and a results figure should convey the contribution before a word is read. - Make the hero figure a **system diagram with real interfaces**, not a clip-art robot — show what senses what and what commands what. - Every plot of contact force, trajectory error, or success rate needs axis units and a stated trial count in the caption; a curve without n is decoration. - Prefer vector figures: reviewers zoom into force and trajectory plots, and rasterized exports blur at 400%. ## Sentence-level rewrites | Draft pattern | IROS-safe rewrite | |---|---| | "Our system robustly opens doors." | "Succeeds on 108/120 trials across 15 unseen doors (Wilson 95% CI ...)." | | "Real-time performance." | "Runs the full loop at 18 Hz within a 30 W onboard budget." | | "Outperforms the baseline." | "Reduces trajectory error by X on the same platform and route." | | "Works in the real world." | "Sim-to-real gap of Y points; failures categorized in Table II." | ## Vignette: compressing into the page budget A draft with a sprawling related-work section, six figures, and a full appendix of derivations: keep the system diagram and the two decision-critical results figures, fold related work into per-system contrasts, and inline only the equations the reviewer must see — the rest is cut, not deferred, because there is no appendix PDF. The test of a good cut: a reviewer reconstructs the system and believes the evidence from the body alone. ```text First-page checklist: [ ] robot + task + physical constraint stated in the first paragraph [ ] system diagram with real sensor/actuator interfaces as the hero figure [ ] each claim carries a number (Hz, watts, trials, error, gap) [ ] references budgeted inside the page limit [ ] no dependence on a non-existent supplement [ ] anonymity clean in text, figures, and video captions ``` ## Output format ```text [Writing diagnosis] task-clear / demo-speak / system-vague / over-budget [First-page fix] [Claim discipline] number/figure/trial> [Compression cuts] [Anonymity edits] ``` --- **Source:** [`brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills`](https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) → `IROS-Skills/skills/iros-writing-style/SKILL.md`