Multi-robot task planning problem with uncertainty in game theoretic framework

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31665-4_6An efficiency of an multi-robot systems depends on proper coordinating tasks of all robots. This paper presents a game theoretic approach to modelling and solving the pick-up and collection problem. The classical form of this problem is modified in order to introduce the aspect of an uncertainty related to an information about the workspace inside of which robots are intended to perform the task. The process of modelling the problem in game theoretic framework, as well as cooperative solution to the problem is discussed in these paper. Results of exemplary simulations are presented to prove the suitability of the approach presented.Skrzypczyk, K.; Mellado Arteche, M. (2013). Multi-robot task planning problem with uncertainty in game theoretic framework. En Advanced Technologies for Intelligent Systems of National Border Security. Springer. 69-80. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31665-4_6S6980Alami, R., et al.: Toward human-aware robot task planning. In: Proc. of AAAI Spring Symposium, Stanford (USA), pp. 39–46 (2006)Baioletti, M., Marcugini, S., Milani, A.: Task Planning and Partial Order Planning: A Domain Transformation Approach. In: Steel, S. (ed.) ECP 1997. LNCS, vol. 1348. Springer, Heidelberg (1997)Desouky, S.F., Schwartz, H.M.: Self-learning Fuzzy logic controllers for pursuit-evasion differential games. Robotics and Autonomous Systems (2010), doi:10.1016/j.robot.2010.09.006Harmati, I., Skrzypczyk, K.: Robot team coordination for target tracking using fuzzy logic controller in game theoretic framework. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 57(1) (2009)Kaminka, G.A., Erusalimchik, D., Kraus, S.: Adaptive Multi-Robot Coordination: A Game-Theoretic Perspective. In: Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Anchorage, Alaska, USA (2002)Kok, J.R., Spaan, M.T.J., Vlassis, N.: Non-communicative multi-robot coordination in dynamic environments. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 50(2-3), 99–114 (2005)Klusch, M., Gerber, A.: Dynamic coalition formation among rational agents. IEEE Intelligent Systems 17(3), 42–47 (2002)Kraus, S., Winkfeld, J., Zlotkin, G.: Multiagent negotiation under time constraints. Artificial Intelligence 75, 297–345 (1995)Kraus, S.: Negotiation and cooperation in multiagent environments. Artificial Intelligence 94(1-2), 79–98 (1997)Mataric, M., Sukhatme, G., Ostergaard, E.: Multi-Robot Task Allocation in Uncertain Environments. Autonomous Robots (14), 255–263 (2003)Meng, Y.: Multi-Robot Searching using Game-Theory Based Approach. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems 5(4) (2008)Jones, C., Mataric, M.: Adaptive Division of Labor in Large-Scale Minimalist Multi-Robot Systems. In: Proc. of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Las Vegas, USA, pp. 1969–1974 (2003)Sariel, S., Balch, T., Erdogan, N.: Incremental Multi-Robot Task Selection for Resource Constrained and Interrelated Tasks. In: Proc. of 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Diego, CA, USA (2007)Schneider-Fontan, M., Mataric, M.J.: Territorial Multi-Robot Task Division. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation 14(5), 815–822 (1998)Song, M., Gu, G., Zhang, R., Wang, X.: A method of multi-robot formation with the least total cost. International Journal of Information and System Science 1(3-4), 364–371 (2005)Cheng, X., Shen, J., Liu, H., Gu, G.-c.: Multi-robot Cooperation Based on Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning. In: Shi, Y., van Albada, G.D., Dongarra, J., Sloot, P.M.A. (eds.) ICCS 2007. LNCS, vol. 4489, pp. 90–97. Springer, Heidelberg (2007

On the Utility of Learning about Humans for Human-AI Coordination

While we would like agents that can coordinate with humans, current algorithms such as self-play and population-based training create agents that can coordinate with themselves. Agents that assume their partner to be optimal or similar to them can converge to coordination protocols that fail to understand and be understood by humans. To demonstrate this, we introduce a simple environment that requires challenging coordination, based on the popular game Overcooked, and learn a simple model that mimics human play. We evaluate the performance of agents trained via self-play and population-based training. These agents perform very well when paired with themselves, but when paired with our human model, they are significantly worse than agents designed to play with the human model. An experiment with a planning algorithm yields the same conclusion, though only when the human-aware planner is given the exact human model that it is playing with. A user study with real humans shows this pattern as well, though less strongly. Qualitatively, we find that the gains come from having the agent adapt to the human's gameplay. Given this result, we suggest several approaches for designing agents that learn about humans in order to better coordinate with them. Code is available at https://github.com/HumanCompatibleAI/overcooked_ai.Comment: Published at NeurIPS 2019 (http://papers.nips.cc/paper/8760-on-the-utility-of-learning-about-humans-for-human-ai-coordination

Mutual Modelling in Robotics: Inspirations for the Next Steps

Mutual modelling, the reciprocal ability to establish a mental model of the other, plays a fundamental role in human interactions. This complex cognitive skill is however difficult to fully apprehend as it encompasses multiple neuronal, psychological and social mechanisms that are generally not easily turned into computational models suitable for robots. This article presents several perspectives on mutual modelling from a range of disciplines, and reflects on how these perspectives can be beneficial to the advancement of social cognition in robotics. We gather here both basic tools (concepts, formalisms, models) and exemplary experimental settings and methods that are of relevance to robotics. This contribution is expected to consolidate the corpus of knowledge readily available to human-robot interaction research, and to foster interest for this fundamentally cross-disciplinary field

Learning Legible Motion from Human–Robot Interactions

International audienceIn collaborative tasks, displaying legible behavior enables other members of the team to anticipate intentions and to thus coordinate their actions accordingly. Behavior is therefore considered to be legible when an observer is able to quickly and correctly infer the intention of the agent generating the behavior. In previous work, legible robot behavior has been generated by using model-based methods to optimize task-specific models of legibility. In our work, we rather use model-free reinforcement learning with a generic, task-independent cost function. In the context of experiments involving a joint task between (thirty) human subjects and a humanoid robot, we show that: 1) legible behavior arises when rewarding the efficiency of joint task completion during human-robot interactions 2) behavior that has been optimized for one subject is also more legible for other subjects 3) the universal legibility of behavior is influenced by the choice of the policy representation. Fig. 1 Illustration of the button pressing experiment, where the robot reaches for and presses a button. The human subject predicts which button the robot will push, and is instructed to quickly press a button of the same color when sufficiently confident about this prediction. By rewarding the robot for fast and successful joint completion of the task, which indirectly rewards how quickly the human recognizes the robot's intention and thus how quickly the human can start the complementary action, the robot learns to perform more legible motion. The three example trajectories illustrate the concept of legible behavior: it enables correct prediction of the intention early on in the trajectory

Survey of maps of dynamics for mobile robots

Robotic mapping provides spatial information for autonomous agents. Depending on the tasks they seek to enable, the maps created range from simple 2D representations of the environment geometry to complex, multilayered semantic maps. This survey article is about maps of dynamics (MoDs), which store semantic information about typical motion patterns in a given environment. Some MoDs use trajectories as input, and some can be built from short, disconnected observations of motion. Robots can use MoDs, for example, for global motion planning, improved localization, or human motion prediction. Accounting for the increasing importance of maps of dynamics, we present a comprehensive survey that organizes the knowledge accumulated in the field and identifies promising directions for future work. Specifically, we introduce field-specific vocabulary, summarize existing work according to a novel taxonomy, and describe possible applications and open research problems. We conclude that the field is mature enough, and we expect that maps of dynamics will be increasingly used to improve robot performance in real-world use cases. At the same time, the field is still in a phase of rapid development where novel contributions could significantly impact this research area