120,626 research outputs found
Hybrid automata dicretising agents for formal modelling of robots
Some of the fundamental capabilities required by autonomous vehicles and systems for their intelligent decision making are: modelling of the environment and forming data abstractions for symbolic, logic based reasoning. The paper formulates a discrete agent framework that abstracts and controls a hybrid system that is a composition of hybrid automata modelled continuous individual processes. Theoretical foundations are laid down for a class of general model composition agents (MCAs) with an advanced subclass of rational physical agents (RPAs). We define MCAs as the most basic structures for the description of complex autonomous robotic systems. The RPAās have logic based decision making that is obtained by an extension of the hybrid systems concepts using a set of abstractions. The theory presented helps the creation of robots with reliable performance and safe operation in their environment. The paper emphasizes the abstraction aspects of the overall hybrid system that emerges from parallel composition of sets of RPAs and MCAs
Modularity and Openness in Modeling Multi-Agent Systems
We revisit the formalism of modular interpreted systems (MIS) which
encourages modular and open modeling of synchronous multi-agent systems. The
original formulation of MIS did not live entirely up to its promise. In this
paper, we propose how to improve modularity and openness of MIS by changing the
structure of interference functions. These relatively small changes allow for
surprisingly high flexibility when modeling actual multi-agent systems. We
demonstrate this on two well-known examples, namely the trains, tunnel and
controller, and the dining cryptographers.
Perhaps more importantly, we propose how the notions of multi-agency and
openness, crucial for multi-agent systems, can be precisely defined based on
their MIS representations.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2013, arXiv:1307.416
Effects of communication and utility-based decision making in a simple model of evacuation
We present a simple cellular automaton based model of decision making during
evacuation. Evacuees have to choose between two different exit routes,
resulting in a strategic decision making problem. Agents take their decisions
based on utility functions, these can be revised as the evacuation proceeds,
leading to complex interaction between individuals and to jamming transitions.
The model also includes the possibility to communicate and exchange information
with distant agents, information received may affect the decision of agents. We
show that under a wider range of evacuation scenarios performance of the model
system as a whole is optimal at an intermediate fraction of evacuees with
access to communication.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Modelling of Multi-Agent Systems: Experiences with Membrane Computing and Future Challenges
Formal modelling of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) is a challenging task due to
high complexity, interaction, parallelism and continuous change of roles and
organisation between agents. In this paper we record our research experience on
formal modelling of MAS. We review our research throughout the last decade, by
describing the problems we have encountered and the decisions we have made
towards resolving them and providing solutions. Much of this work involved
membrane computing and classes of P Systems, such as Tissue and Population P
Systems, targeted to the modelling of MAS whose dynamic structure is a
prominent characteristic. More particularly, social insects (such as colonies
of ants, bees, etc.), biology inspired swarms and systems with emergent
behaviour are indicative examples for which we developed formal MAS models.
Here, we aim to review our work and disseminate our findings to fellow
researchers who might face similar challenges and, furthermore, to discuss
important issues for advancing research on the application of membrane
computing in MAS modelling.Comment: In Proceedings AMCA-POP 2010, arXiv:1008.314
A Process-Oriented Architecture for Complex System Modelling
A fine-grained massively-parallel process-oriented model of platelets (potentially artificial) within a blood vessel is presented. This is a CSP inspired design, expressed and implemented using the occam-pi language. It is part of the TUNA pilot study on nanite assemblers at the universities of York, Surrey and Kent. The aim for this model is to engineer emergent behaviour from the platelets, such that they respond to a wound in the blood vessel wall in a way similar to that found in the human body -- i.e. the formation of clots to stem blood flow from the wound and facilitate healing. An architecture for a three dimensional model (relying strongly on the dynamic and mobile capabilities of occam-pi) is given, along with mechanisms for visualisation and interaction. The biological accuracy of the current model is very approximate. However, its process-oriented nature enables simple refinement (through the addition of processes modelling different stimulants/inhibitors of the clotting reaction, different platelet types and other participating organelles) to greater and greater realism. Even with the current system, simple experiments are possible and have scientific interest (e.g. the effect of platelet density on the success of the clotting mechanism in stemming blood flow: too high or too low and the process fails). General principles for the design of large and complex system models are drawn. The described case study runs to millions of processes engaged in ever-changing communication topologies. It is free from deadlock, livelock, race hazards and starvation em by design, employing a small set of synchronisation patterns for which we have proven safety theorems
A Calculus of Mobility and Communication for Ubiquitous Computing
We propose a Calculus of Mobility and Communication (CMC) for the modelling
of mobility, communication and context-awareness in the setting of ubiquitous
computing. CMC is an ambient calculus with the in and out capabilities of
Cardelli and Gordon's Mobile Ambients. The calculus has a new form of global
communication similar to that in Milner's CCS. In CMC an ambient is tagged with
a set of ports that agents executing inside the ambient are allowed to
communicate on. It also has a new context-awareness feature that allows
ambients to query their location. We present reduction semantics and labelled
transition system semantics of CMC and prove that the semantics coincide. A new
notion of behavioural equivalence is given by defining capability barbed
bisimulation and congruence which is proved to coincide with barbed
bisimulation congruence. The expressiveness of the calculus is illustrated by
two case studies.Comment: In Proceedings WWV 2015, arXiv:1508.0338
Memory transition between communicating agents
Abstract: What happens to a memory when it has been externalised and embodied but has not reached its addressee yet? A letter that has been written but has not been read, a monument before it is unveiled or a Neolithic tool buried in the ground ā all these objects harbour human memories engrained in their physicality; messages intended for those who will read the letter, admire the monument and hold the tool. According to Ilyenkovās theory of objective idealism, the conscious and wilful input encoded in all manmade objects as the āidealā has an objective existence, independent from the author, but this existence lasts only while memories are shared between communicating parties. If all human minds were absent from the world for a period of time, the āidealā, or memories, would cease to exist. They would spring back to existence, however, once humans re-entered the world. Ilyenkovās analysis of memories existing outside an individual human consciousness is informative and thorough but, following his line of thought, we would have to accept an ontological gap in the process of memory acquisition, storage and transmission. If there is a period, following memory acquisition and receding its transmission, when memories plainly do not exist, then each time a new reader, spectator or user
perceives them, he or she must create the authorās memories ex nihilo. Bergsonās theory of duration and intuition can help us to resolve this paradox.
This paper will explore the ontological characteristics of memory passage in communication taken at different stages of the process. There will be an indicationof how the findings of this investigation could be applicable to concrete cases of memory transmission. In particular, this concerns intergenerational communication, technological memory, the use of digital devices and the Internet
Decentralized Motion Planning with Collision Avoidance for a Team of UAVs under High Level Goals
This paper addresses the motion planning problem for a team of aerial agents
under high level goals. We propose a hybrid control strategy that guarantees
the accomplishment of each agent's local goal specification, which is given as
a temporal logic formula, while guaranteeing inter-agent collision avoidance.
In particular, by defining 3-D spheres that bound the agents' volume, we extend
previous work on decentralized navigation functions and propose control laws
that navigate the agents among predefined regions of interest of the workspace
while avoiding collision with each other. This allows us to abstract the motion
of the agents as finite transition systems and, by employing standard formal
verification techniques, to derive a high-level control algorithm that
satisfies the agents' specifications. Simulation and experimental results with
quadrotors verify the validity of the proposed method.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA), Singapore, 201
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