Modelling of Autonomous Search and Rescue Missions by Interval-Valued Neutrosophic WASPAS Framework

The application of autonomous robots in search and rescue missions represents a complex task which requires a robot to make robust decisions in unknown and dangerous environments. However, imprecise robot movements and small measurement errors obtained by robot sensors can have an impact on the autonomous environment exploration quality, and therefore, should be addressed while designing search and rescue (SAR) robots. In this paper, a novel frontier evaluation strategy is proposed, that address technical, economic, social, and environmental factors of the sustainable environment exploration process, and a new extension of the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method, modelled under interval-valued neutrosophic sets (IVNS), is introduced for autonomous mobile robots. The general-purpose Pioneer 3-AT robot platform is applied in simulated search and rescue missions, and the conducted experimental assessment shows the proposed method efficiency in commercial and public-type building exploration. By addressing the estimated measurement errors in the initial data obtained by the robot sensors, the proposed decision-making framework provides additional reliability for comparing and ranking candidate frontiers. The interval-valued multi-criteria decision-making method combined with the proposed frontier evaluation strategy enables the robot to exhaustively explore and map smaller SAR mission environments as well as ensure robot safety and efficient energy consumption in relatively larger public-type building environments.This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques for Improvement Sustainability Engineering Processe

Review of the techniques used in motor‐cognitive human‐robot skill transfer

Abstract A conventional robot programming method extensively limits the reusability of skills in the developmental aspect. Engineers programme a robot in a targeted manner for the realisation of predefined skills. The low reusability of general‐purpose robot skills is mainly reflected in inability in novel and complex scenarios. Skill transfer aims to transfer human skills to general‐purpose manipulators or mobile robots to replicate human‐like behaviours. Skill transfer methods that are commonly used at present, such as learning from demonstrated (LfD) or imitation learning, endow the robot with the expert's low‐level motor and high‐level decision‐making ability, so that skills can be reproduced and generalised according to perceived context. The improvement of robot cognition usually relates to an improvement in the autonomous high‐level decision‐making ability. Based on the idea of establishing a generic or specialised robot skill library, robots are expected to autonomously reason about the needs for using skills and plan compound movements according to sensory input. In recent years, in this area, many successful studies have demonstrated their effectiveness. Herein, a detailed review is provided on the transferring techniques of skills, applications, advancements, and limitations, especially in the LfD. Future research directions are also suggested

Towards adaptive multi-robot systems: self-organization and self-adaptation

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The development of complex systems ensembles that operate in uncertain environments is a major challenge. The reason for this is that system designers are not able to fully specify the system during specification and development and before it is being deployed. Natural swarm systems enjoy similar characteristics, yet, being self-adaptive and being able to self-organize, these systems show beneficial emergent behaviour. Similar concepts can be extremely helpful for artificial systems, especially when it comes to multi-robot scenarios, which require such solution in order to be applicable to highly uncertain real world application. In this article, we present a comprehensive overview over state-of-the-art solutions in emergent systems, self-organization, self-adaptation, and robotics. We discuss these approaches in the light of a framework for multi-robot systems and identify similarities, differences missing links and open gaps that have to be addressed in order to make this framework possible

An Evaluation Schema for the Ethical Use of Autonomous Robotic Systems in Security Applications

We propose a multi-step evaluation schema designed to help procurement agencies and others to examine the ethical dimensions of autonomous systems to be applied in the security sector, including autonomous weapons systems