Robots in Retirement Homes: Applying Off-the-Shelf Planning and Scheduling to a Team of Assistive Robots

This paper investigates three different technologies for solving a planning and scheduling problem of deploying multiple robots in a retirement home environment to assist elderly residents. The models proposed make use of standard techniques and solvers developed in AI planning and scheduling, with two primary motivations. First, to find a planning and scheduling solution that we can deploy in our real-world application. Second, to evaluate planning and scheduling technology in terms of the ``model-and-solve'' functionality that forms a major research goal in both domain-independent planning and constraint programming. Seven variations of our application are studied using the following three technologies: PDDL-based planning, time-line planning and scheduling, and constraint-based scheduling. The variations address specific aspects of the problem that we believe can impact the performance of the technologies while also representing reasonable abstractions of the real world application. We evaluate the capabilities of each technology and conclude that a constraint-based scheduling approach, specifically a decomposition using constraint programming, provides the most promising results for our application. PDDL-based planning is able to find mostly low quality solutions while the timeline approach was unable to model the full problem without alterations to the solver code, thus moving away from the model-and-solve paradigm. It would be misleading to conclude that constraint programming is ``better'' than PDDL-based planning in a general sense, both because we have examined a single application and because the approaches make different assumptions about the knowledge one is allowed to embed in a model. Nonetheless, we believe our investigation is valuable for AI planning and scheduling researchers as it highlights these different modelling assumptions and provides insight into avenues for the application of AI planning and scheduling for similar robotics problems. In particular, as constraint programming has not been widely applied to robot planning and scheduling in the literature, our results suggest significant untapped potential in doing so.California Institute of Technology. Keck Institute for Space Studie

Integrating mission, logistics, and task planning for skills-based robot control in industrial kitting applications

This paper presents an integrated cognitive robotics systemfor industrial kitting operations in a modern factory setting.The robot system combines low-level robot control and execution monitoring with automated mission and task planning,and a logistics planner which communicates with the factory’smanufacturing execution system. The system has been implemented and tested on a series of automotive kitting problems,where collections of parts are picked from a warehouse anddelivered to the production line. The system has been empirically evaluated and the complete framework shown to besuccessful at assembling kits in a small factory environment

Multi-robot task allocation system to improve assistance in domestic scenarios

The AURORA project aims at developing new strategies to take assistive robotics a step further. In order to provide extended services to potential users, engaging a team of simpler robots is often preferable to using a unique, super-capable robot. In such multi-robot systems, the coordination for task execution is one of the major challenges to overcome. The present thesis proposes a solution to the specific issue of multi-robot task allocation within an heterogeneous team of robots, with additional inter-task precedence constraints. The main elements of the state of the art that support this project are reported, including useful taxonomies and existing methods. From the analyzed solutions, the one that better fits with the constraints of the project is an iterated auction-based algorithm able to manage precedence constraints, which has been modified to handle heterogeneity and partial scheduling. The selected solution has been designed and implemented with the particular purpose of being applied to the robotized kitchen setup of the AURORA project; it is however flexible and scalable and can therefore be applied to other use-cases, for instance vehicle-routing problems. Several evaluation scenarios have been tested, that demonstrate the good functioning and characteristics of the system, as well as the possibility to integrate humans into the task assignation process

On the application of classical planning to real social robotic tasks

Pittsburgh, USA (19-20 June 2017)Automated Planning is now a mature area offering several techniques and search heuristics extremely useful to solve problems in realistic domains. However, its application to real and dynamic environments as Social Robotics requires much work focused, not only in the efficiency of the planners, but also in tractable task modeling and efficient execution and monitoring of the plan into the robotic control architecture. This paper identifies the main issues that must be taken into account while using classical Automated Planning for the control of a social robot and contributes some practical solutions to overcome such inherent difficulties. Some of them are the discrimination between predicates for internal control and external sensing, the concept of predicted nominal behavior with corrective actions or plans, the continuous monitoring of the plan execution and the handling of action interruptions. This manuscript highlights the dependencies between all the design and deployment activities involved: task modeling, plan generation, and action execution and monitoring. A task of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is used as an illustrative example that can be easily generalized to any other interactive task

Modern computing: Vision and challenges

Over the past six decades, the computing systems field has experienced significant transformations, profoundly impacting society with transformational developments, such as the Internet and the commodification of computing. Underpinned by technological advancements, computer systems, far from being static, have been continuously evolving and adapting to cover multifaceted societal niches. This has led to new paradigms such as cloud, fog, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), which offer fresh economic and creative opportunities. Nevertheless, this rapid change poses complex research challenges, especially in maximizing potential and enhancing functionality. As such, to maintain an economical level of performance that meets ever-tighter requirements, one must understand the drivers of new model emergence and expansion, and how contemporary challenges differ from past ones. To that end, this article investigates and assesses the factors influencing the evolution of computing systems, covering established systems and architectures as well as newer developments, such as serverless computing, quantum computing, and on-device AI on edge devices. Trends emerge when one traces technological trajectory, which includes the rapid obsolescence of frameworks due to business and technical constraints, a move towards specialized systems and models, and varying approaches to centralized and decentralized control. This comprehensive review of modern computing systems looks ahead to the future of research in the field, highlighting key challenges and emerging trends, and underscoring their importance in cost-effectively driving technological progress

Reimagining Robotic Walkers For Real-World Outdoor Play Environments With Insights From Legged Robots: A Scoping Review

PURPOSE For children with mobility impairments, without cognitive delays, who want to participate in outdoor activities, existing assistive technology (AT) to support their needs is limited. In this review, we investigate the control and design of a selection of robotic walkers while exploring a selection of legged robots to develop solutions that address this gap in robotic AT. METHOD We performed a comprehensive literature search from four main databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore. The keywords used in the search were the following: “walker”, “rollator”, “smart walker”, “robotic walker”, “robotic rollator”. Studies were required to discuss the control or design of robotic walkers to be considered. A total of 159 papers were analyzed. RESULTS From the 159 papers, 127 were excluded since they failed to meet our inclusion criteria. The total number of papers analyzed included publications that utilized the same device, therefore we classified the remaining 32 studies into groups based on the type of robotic walker used. This paper reviewed 15 different types of robotic walkers. CONCLUSIONS The ability of many-legged robots to negotiate and transition between a range of unstructured substrates suggests several avenues of future consideration whose pursuit could benefit robotic AT, particularly regarding the present limitations of wheeled paediatric robotic walkers for children’s daily outside use. For more information: Kod*lab (link to kodlab.seas.upenn.edu

BizGuru 1.0 : Design and Development of a Mobile�based Digital Marketing Guide for Elderly

BizGuru 1.0 is an online learning platform using mobile devices known as mobile-based learning. It is a modernized alternative to acquiring knowledge which is suitable with the current digitalized environment. BizGuru provides learning materials that promote business-related knowledge, focusing on Digital Marketing. However, in this study, the mobile application design will be focusing on the elder’s group to cater for their needs. The target users are people aged 60 years old and above, who use an Android smartphone and are interested in gaining new knowledge. The purpose of the proposed application is to help these retired elderlies find an alternative that enables them to gain income at late age to continue supporting their living expenses. With the current pandemic situation and how they are often related to poverty, both circumstances result in the elders having to struggle to survive financially. Therefore, by using BizGuru, the elderlies do not only get to familiarize themselves with modern devices, but also they could look for other alternatives to gain income and avoid poverty which helps to fulfil the 1st goal of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on the eradication of poverty issues. Besides, this proposed application also provides learning opportunities for elderlies who have the desire to gain knowledge at late age which can help fulfil the 4th goal of SDG which is promoting life-long learning opportunities for all

Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications, part 1

The application of artificial intelligence to spacecraft and aerospace systems is discussed. Expert systems, robotics, space station automation, fault diagnostics, parallel processing, knowledge representation, scheduling, man-machine interfaces and neural nets are among the topics discussed