Temporal Logic Motion Planning

In this paper, a critical review on temporal logic motion planning is presented. The review paper aims to address the following problems: (a) In a realistic situation, the motion planning problem is carried out in real-time, in a dynamic, uncertain and ever-changing environment, and (b) The accomplishment of high-level specification tasks which are more than just the traditional planning problem (i.e., start at initial state A and go to the goal state B) are considered. The use of theory of computation and formal methods, tools and techniques present a promising direction of research in solving motion planning problems that are influenced by high-level specification of complex tasks. The review, therefore, focuses only on those papers that use the aforementioned tools and techniques to solve a motion planning problem. A proposed robust platform that deals with the complexity of more expressive temporal logics is also presented.Defence Science Journal, 2010, 60(1), pp.23-38, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.60.9

Specification: The Biggest Bottleneck in Formal Methods and Autonomy

Advancement of AI-enhanced control in autonomous systems stands on the shoulders of formal methods, which make possible the rigorous safety analysis autonomous systems require. An aircraft cannot operate autonomously unless it has design-time reasoning to ensure correct operation of the autopilot and runtime reasoning to ensure system health management, or the ability to detect and respond to off-nominal situations. Formal methods are highly dependent on the specifications over which they reason; there is no escaping the “garbage in, garbage out” reality. Specification is difficult, unglamorous, and arguably the biggest bottleneck facing verification and validation of aerospace, and other, autonomous systems. This VSTTE invited talk and paper examines the outlook for the practice of formal specification, and highlights the on-going challenges of specification, from design-time to runtime system health management. We exemplify these challenges for specifications in Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) though the focus is not limited to that specification language. We pose challenge questions for specification that will shape both the future of formal methods, and our ability to more automatically verify and validate autonomous systems of greater variety and scale. We call for further research into LTL Genesis

Automated Game Design Learning

While general game playing is an active field of research, the learning of game design has tended to be either a secondary goal of such research or it has been solely the domain of humans. We propose a field of research, Automated Game Design Learning (AGDL), with the direct purpose of learning game designs directly through interaction with games in the mode that most people experience games: via play. We detail existing work that touches the edges of this field, describe current successful projects in AGDL and the theoretical foundations that enable them, point to promising applications enabled by AGDL, and discuss next steps for this exciting area of study. The key moves of AGDL are to use game programs as the ultimate source of truth about their own design, and to make these design properties available to other systems and avenues of inquiry.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for CIG 201