Characterization of Functionality in a Dynamic Environment

Identifying the functionality in objects means to be able to associate a purpose with them in a specific environment. The purpose depends on the intention of the agent and on the applicability of the object in a particular task. In our investigation of functionality we focus on functionalities which involve changes of physical relation and properties between objects in the environment. A formal model, based on Discrete Event Dynamic System Theory (DEDS), is introduced to define an interactive task for recovering and describing functionality. To observe and control the recovery process we introduce the notion of piecewise observability of a task by different sensors. This allows the description of a dynamic system in which neither all events nor the time of their occurrence may be predicted in advance. We have developed an experimental system consisting of actuators and both force and position sensors, for carrying out the interactive recovery of functionality. In particular, we demonstrate how this approach can be used by carrying out some experiments investigating the functionality of piercing. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of a multisensory approach for the observation and interpretation of functionality

Cooperative Material Handling by Human and Robotic Agents:Module Development and System Synthesis

In this paper we present the results of a collaborative effort to design and implement a system for cooperative material handling by a small team of human and robotic agents in an unstructured indoor environment. Our approach makes fundamental use of human agents\u27 expertise for aspects of task planning, task monitoring, and error recovery. Our system is neither fully autonomous nor fully teleoperated. It is designed to make effective use of human abilities within the present state of the art of autonomous systems. It is designed to allow for and promote cooperative interaction between distributed agents with various capabilities and resources. Our robotic agents refer to systems which are each equipped with at least one sensing modality and which possess some capability for self-orientation and/or mobility. Our robotic agents are not required to be homogeneous with respect to either capabilities or function. Our research stresses both paradigms and testbed experimentation. Theory issues include the requisite coordination principles and techniques which are fundamental to the basic functioning of such a cooperative multi-agent system. We have constructed a testbed facility for experimenting with distributed multi-agent architectures. The required modular components of this testbed are currently operational and have been tested individually. Our current research focuses on the integration of agents in a scenario for cooperative material handling

Motion planning for mobile robots in unknown environments with real time configuration space construction.

by Wong Hon-chuen.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-87).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Acknowledgements --- p.iList of Figures --- p.vList of Table --- p.viiiAbstract --- p.ixContentsChapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 2 --- Algorithm Outline --- p.7Chapter 2.1 --- Assumptions --- p.7Chapter 2.2 --- Algorithm Outline --- p.8Chapter 3 --- Obstacle Detection --- p.11Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.11Chapter 3.2 --- Image Processing --- p.14Chapter 3.3 --- Coordinate Transformation --- p.14Chapter 3.4 --- Example --- p.20Chapter 4 --- Real-time Construction of Configuration Space --- p.22Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.22Chapter 4.2 --- Configuration Space --- p.23Chapter 4.3 --- Type-A Contact --- p.26Chapter 4.4 --- Type-B Contact --- p.27Chapter 4.5 --- Inverse Mapping Method --- p.29Chapter 4.6 --- Simulation --- p.31Chapter 5 --- Motion Planning and Re-Construction of C-space --- p.34Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.34Chapter 5.2 --- Path Planning --- p.36Chapter 5.3 --- Update of C-space --- p.41Chapter 5.4 --- Re-planning of Robot Path --- p.44Chapter 6 --- Implementation and Experiments --- p.55Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.55Chapter 6.2 --- Architecture of the Mobile Robot System --- p.55Chapter 6.3 --- Algorithm Implementation --- p.56Chapter 6.4 --- Experiment --- p.58Chapter 6.4.1 --- Experiment on a Fixed Unknown Environment --- p.58Chapter 6.4.2 --- Experiment on a Dynamic Unknown Environment --- p.70Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.81References --- p.8