Towards the Safety of Human-in-the-Loop Robotics: Challenges and Opportunities for Safety Assurance of Robotic Co-Workers

The success of the human-robot co-worker team in a flexible manufacturing environment where robots learn from demonstration heavily relies on the correct and safe operation of the robot. How this can be achieved is a challenge that requires addressing both technical as well as human-centric research questions. In this paper we discuss the state of the art in safety assurance, existing as well as emerging standards in this area, and the need for new approaches to safety assurance in the context of learning machines. We then focus on robotic learning from demonstration, the challenges these techniques pose to safety assurance and indicate opportunities to integrate safety considerations into algorithms "by design". Finally, from a human-centric perspective, we stipulate that, to achieve high levels of safety and ultimately trust, the robotic co-worker must meet the innate expectations of the humans it works with. It is our aim to stimulate a discussion focused on the safety aspects of human-in-the-loop robotics, and to foster multidisciplinary collaboration to address the research challenges identified

Responsible Design - an experiment in collaboration

The imminent impact of the climate change has forced architecture schools to rethink their pedagogic structures. Using a scaffolded approach in our new MArch studio, we can demonstrate that the multiple narratives are required to deliver a responsive building capable of being durable, resilient and flexible. We argue that understanding these intertwined narratives is an essential method in dealing with the dynamic character of a building under construction, in use and reuse. The paper plots the structured narrative in a necessary linear fashion, where each phase employs specific methods of enquiry to deliver quantitative data that supports evidenced design decisions. However measurement is not everything, because the student teams must find a way of balancing the objective with the qualitative. The studio remains an open looped learning paradigm where the students are encouraged to reflect on the processes to build for themselves a leadership and decision model for future practice. This is an iterative cyclical model where invention, crisis and paradigm shift are built in. Through learning histories (both shared and personal), through storytelling (Roth & Kleiner, 1998), the story of the MArch Collaborative Studio at TU Dublin is revealed

Why We Fail to Enact the Change We Need: A Framework for Adaptive Change at Large Churches

It is difficult for leaders at large churches to make changes to their ministry models. As culture rapidly evolves, large, attractional churches look to adapt their approach to reaching the unchurched. Attendance and participation in large churches continues to decline, despite the breadth of suggestions for what and how to change. These suggestions for change are often top-down, leader-centric, and rarely grounded in the academic research about change management. This paper seeks to address a comprehensive model for leading adaptive changes at large, established churches. Chapter One describes the problem, describing trends in cultural change and the impact on church participation. Chapter Two describes the theological foundation for change. There are four biblical perspectives of change, the last of which transforms a preexisting reality into something new. This transformational approach is on display through the leadership of Moses’ successor Joshua and Jesus’ brother James, both of whom take a preexisting missional community into a new season. Chapter Three explores the best practices of change management as described in the academic research. The research of two primary voices are compared, as are several secondary and alternative perspectives. Chapters Four and Five describe a four-part framework for change within large organizations: narrative discovery and role clarity (Four), and organizational structures and vital measurables (Five). Chapter Six applies the principles in the above to the specific ministry context of large, established churches

Managing Expectations – Contemporary Design Culture, Conservation and the Transformation of The Richards Laboratories

Louis I. Kahn’s Richards Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania are a paradoxical building. At the same time that they perhaps represent the epitome of Kahn's literal expression of structure and material hierarchy, servant and served spaces and the role of mechanical systems in determining architectural form, these powerful ideas never came together programmatically to enable a fully functional, complete work of architecture. This paper describes the quest to solve the functional conundrum and technical shortcomings of Richards, to bring the architecture and program closer together. Through a synthesis combining transformation — a significant change in use that allowed the opening of the laboratory floors to the unique light and views that were always latent in the promise of Kahn’s essential architectural idea — and rehabilitation, where the best aspects of Richards — the glazed, vitrine-like facades and the beautiful logic of the building services distribution, were renovated for enhanced performance, Kahn’s original architectural vision and present function were able to be successfully reconciled

Servant Leadership Impact on Organizational Performance

Leadership matters because individuals desire to improve their personal, social, and professional lives; corporations seek individuals with specific leadership qualities to improve organizational and financial performance and gain a competitive advantage; and universities provide programs in leadership studies. Leadership encompasses influence over others to accomplish a specific or common goal (Northouse, 2019). This qualitative research study focused on a contemporary leadership approach, servant leadership, and its influence on organizational performance. Researchers have acknowledged a positive relationship between servant leadership and organizational performance (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016; Saleem et al., 2020; A. Wong et al., 2018). This qualitative case study corroborates existing research and was primarily based on interview data from 26 individuals across five companies within the oil and gas sector, survey data from 51 participants, and a review of publicly available documents. Servant leadership is an effective leadership style that can positively influence organizational performance from the perspective of organizational culture, employee engagement, and business strategy. Servant leaders effect this influence through empowering and holding employees accountable, creating a sense of community within their organizations, prioritizing helping followers grow and succeed, maintaining proper business ethics and integrity, adhering to core values regardless of national cultural dimensions, and placing greater emphasis on diversity and inclusion and corporate social responsibility

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Online failure prediction in air traffic control systems

This thesis introduces a novel approach to online failure prediction for mission critical distributed systems that has the distinctive features to be black-box, non-intrusive and online. The approach combines Complex Event Processing (CEP) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) so as to analyze symptoms of failures that might occur in the form of anomalous conditions of performance metrics identified for such purpose. The thesis presents an architecture named CASPER, based on CEP and HMM, that relies on sniffed information from the communication network of a mission critical system, only, for predicting anomalies that can lead to software failures. An instance of Casper has been implemented, trained and tuned to monitor a real Air Traffic Control (ATC) system developed by Selex ES, a Finmeccanica Company. An extensive experimental evaluation of CASPER is presented. The obtained results show (i) a very low percentage of false positives over both normal and under stress conditions, and (ii) a sufficiently high failure prediction time that allows the system to apply appropriate recovery procedures

Online failure prediction in air traffic control systems

This thesis introduces a novel approach to online failure prediction for mission critical distributed systems that has the distinctive features to be black-box, non-intrusive and online. The approach combines Complex Event Processing (CEP) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) so as to analyze symptoms of failures that might occur in the form of anomalous conditions of performance metrics identified for such purpose. The thesis presents an architecture named CASPER, based on CEP and HMM, that relies on sniffed information from the communication network of a mission critical system, only, for predicting anomalies that can lead to software failures. An instance of Casper has been implemented, trained and tuned to monitor a real Air Traffic Control (ATC) system developed by Selex ES, a Finmeccanica Company. An extensive experimental evaluation of CASPER is presented. The obtained results show (i) a very low percentage of false positives over both normal and under stress conditions, and (ii) a sufficiently high failure prediction time that allows the system to apply appropriate recovery procedures