A survey of agent-oriented methodologies

This article introduces the current agent-oriented methodologies. It discusses what approaches have been followed (mainly extending existing object oriented and knowledge engineering methodologies), the suitability of these approaches for agent modelling, and some conclusions drawn from the survey

Localization Services for Online Common Operational Picture and Situation Awareness

Many operations, be they military, police, rescue, or other field operations, require localization services and online situation awareness to make them effective. Questions such as how many people are inside a building and their locations are essential. In this paper, an online localization and situation awareness system is presented, called Mobile Urban Situation Awareness System (MUSAS), for gathering and maintaining localization information, to form a common operational picture. The MUSAS provides multiple localization services, as well as visualization of other sensor data, in a common frame of reference. The information and common operational picture of the system is conveyed to all parties involved in the operation, the field team, and people in the command post. In this paper, a general system architecture for enabling localization based situation awareness is designed and the MUSAS system solution is presented. The developed subsystem components and forming of the common operational picture are summarized, and the future potential of the system for various scenarios is discussed. In the demonstration, the MUSAS is deployed to an unknown building, in an ad hoc fashion, to provide situation awareness in an urban indoor military operation.Peer reviewe

From teleoperation to the cognitive human-robot interface

Robots are slowly moving from factories to mines, construction sites, public places and homes. This new type of robot or robotized working machine – field and service robots (FSR) – should be capable of performing different kinds of tasks in unstructured changing environments, not only among humans but through continuous interaction with humans. The main requirements for an FSR are mobility, advanced perception capabilities, high "intelligence" and easy interaction with humans. Although mobility and perception capabilities are no longer bottlenecks, they can nevertheless still be greatly improved. The main bottlenecks are intelligence and the human - robot interface (HRI). Despite huge efforts in "artificial intelligence" research, the robots and computers are still very "stupid" and there are no major advancements on the horizon. This emphasizes the importance of the HRI. In the subtasks, where high-level cognition or intelligence is needed, the robot has to ask for help from the operator. In addition to task commands and supervision, the HRI has to provide the possibility of exchanging information about the task and environment through continuous dialogue and even methods for direct teleoperation. The thesis describes the development from teleoperation to service robot interfaces and analyses the usability aspects of both teleoperation/telepresence systems and robot interfaces based on high-level cognitive interaction. The analogue in the development of teleoperation interfaces and HRIs is also pointed out. The teleoperation and telepresence interfaces are studied on the basis of a set of experiments in which the different enhancement-level telepresence systems were tested in different tasks of a driving type. The study is concluded by comparing the usability aspects and the feeling of presence in a telepresence system. HRIs are studied with an experimental service robot WorkPartner. Different kinds of direct teleoperation, dialogue and spatial information interfaces are presented and tested. The concepts of cognitive interface and common presence are presented. Finally, the usability aspects of a human service robot interface are discussed and evaluated.reviewe

A sensor-based personal navigation system and its application for incorporating humans into a human-robot team

In this thesis methods for the sensor-based localisation of human beings are studied. The thesis presents the theory, test results and a realisation of the methods, which is called PeNa. PeNa is further applied to incorporate a human into a human-robot team that performs a simulated search and rescue task. Human-robot teamwork provides the vision for this thesis. Furthermore, the PeLoTe project and its search and rescue task provided the primary motivation for the research. However, the major part of this work and contribution is on sensor-based personal navigation. The approaches studied for personal navigation systems are based on sensor-based dead reckoning, laser-based dead reckoning, and map-based localisation. Sensor-based dead reckoning is based on heading estimation using a compass and gyro and step length estimation. Two alternative step length estimation methods are presented, ultrasound-based and accelerometer-based. Two laser dead reckoning methods are presented; a pose correlation method and a combined angle histogram matcher with position correlation. Furthermore, there are three variations for map-based localisation based on the well-known Monte Carlo Localisation (MCL): topological MCL, scan-based MCL, and a combined MCL method. As a result of the research it can be stated that it is possible to build a personal navigation system that can localise a human being indoors using only self-contained sensors. The results also show that this can be achieved using various combinations of sensors and methods. Furthermore, the personal navigation system that was developed is used to incorporate a human being into a human-robot team performing a search and rescue task. The initial results show that the location information provides a basis for creating situational awareness for a spatially distributed team

Existing technology and the one that is being used by insurance companies in the Iberian Peninsula A Gap Analysis

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThis Master’s Thesis dissertation focuses on the insurance sector, more precisely on the insurance companies present in the Iberian Peninsula and how new technologies are being used. New technology trends, digital transformation, and technology disruption are widely used terms nowadays; however, while it is quite common to use these terms, their practices and theories are not always applied by businesses. Several factors can be the cause of the failure to implement technological trends in insurance companies, either due to lack of expertise, high costs, or simply because the technologies are not mature enough and there is some fear of creating a bad reputation with customers. In order to investigate this gap between the existing technology and the technology that is being used by the insurance companies, a case study analysis was performed. Based on the technologies identified in the literature review, in-depth interviews were conducted with CIO’s, CTO’s, IT Directors, and Heads of IT of some insurance companies (from small insurance companies to market-leading insurance companies) and the results were analyzed in order to reach a valid conclusion about this gap and why it exists. After carrying out the case analysis and analyzing the answers given by the respondents, it is possible to identify that the technological gap exists and what the main reasons are for the lack of usage of the new technological trends in most insurance companies

Shared task representation for human–robot collaborative navigation: the collaborative search case

© The Author(s) 2023Recent research in Human Robot Collaboration (HRC) has spread and specialised in many sub-fields. Many show considerable advances, but the human–robot collaborative navigation (HRCN) field seems to be stuck focusing on implicit collaboration settings, on hypothetical or simulated task allocation problems, on shared autonomy or on having the human as a manager. This work takes a step forward by presenting an end-to-end system capable of handling real-world human–robot collaborative navigation tasks. This system makes use of the Social Reward Sources model (SRS), a knowledge representation to simultaneously tackle task allocation and path planning, proposes a multi-agent Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) planner for human–robot teams, presents the collaborative search as a testbed for HRCN and studies the usage of smartphones for communication in this setting. The detailed experiments prove the viability of the approach, explore collaboration roles adopted by the human–robot team and test the acceptability and utility of different communication interface designs.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported under the Spanish State Research Agency through the Maria de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI (MDM-2016-0656) and ROCOTRANSP project (PID2019- 106702RB-C21 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033), the European research grant TERRINet (H2020-INFRAIA-2017-1-730994) and by JST Moonshot R & D Grant Number JPMJMS2011-85.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Creating order in hybrid systems: reflexions on the interaction of man and smart machines

Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion und der Schaffung hybrider Systeme, in denen der Mensch nur ein kleiner Bestandteil eines hochautomatisierten Räderwerks ist, das weitgehend von Robotern, von autonomen Software-Agenten sowie sich selbst steuernden Multi-Agenten-Systemen geprägt ist. Im zweiten Kapitel werden die sozialen Folgen dieser fortschreitenden Verwissenschaftlichung und Technisierung aller gesellschaftlichen Bereiche behandelt. Das dritte Kapitel enthält eine Fallstudie zu dem Kollisionswarnsystem in der Luftfahrt (TACS), das das erste Beispiel dafür ist, dass ein Multi-Agenten-System versagt hat. Im vierten und fünften Kapitel werden Schlussfolgerungen gezogen und Forschungsbedarfe aufgezeigt. (ICD

THE HYBRONAUT AND THE UMWELT: WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY AS ARTISTIC STRATEGY

This dissertation explores the use of irony in networked wearable technology art as a strategy to emphasise the complexity of conjunction between techno-organic human and the techno-organic world. The research addresses the relationship between technologically enhanced human and networked hybrid environment, and speculates on the impact of technological enhancements to the subjective construction of Umwelt through ironic interventions. The project employs both artistic practice and critical theory. The practice-based part of the dissertation is comprised of three wearable technology artworks produced during the study. These concrete artefacts employ irony as a means to expose the techno-organic relationship between humans and their environment under scrutiny. The works highlight the significance of technological modifications of the human for the formation of subjective worldview in an everyday hybrid environment. The theoretical part navigates between the fields of art, design, technology, science and cultural studies concerning the impact of technology and networks on human experience and perception of the world. In the background of this research is biologist Jakob von Uexküll’s concept of the Umwelt, which is a subjective perception created by an organism through its active engagement with the everyday living environment. This dissertation focuses on the Umwelt that is formed in an interaction between hybrid environment and the technologically enhanced human, the Hybronaut. 4 Hybrid environment is a physical reality merged with technologically enabled virtual reality. The Hybronaut is an artistic strategy developed during the research based on four elements: wearable technology, network ability, irony and contextualised experience for the public. Irony is one of the prominent characteristics of the Hybronaut. Irony functions as a way to produce multiple paradoxical perspectives that enable a critical inquiry into our subjective construction of Umwelt. The research indicates that ironic networked wearable technology art presents an opportunity to re-examine our perception concerning the human and his environment