Commentary on: "P&S Requirements for ePartner-supported Astronaut-Rover Teams during Planetary Surface Operations"

The article (Grant, Neerincx, and Wolff 2011) introduces some considerations taken from the experience of the authors participation in the ESA project called MECA (Mission Execution Crew Assistant). The idea of MECA is to form a network of agents (both human and software), in which each unit, called e-partner, is capable of detecting and influencing the physical, cognitive and affective state of its respective human users. The article describes the three stages along which the project evolves and presents a list of system requirements among which authors highlight those that can be classified under the label of Planning and Scheduling (P&S). In addition to the P&S requirements the most interesting contribution of the paper is probably the concept of e-partners and the description of the cognitive workload model on the base of which authors think to build the e-partner agent. We subdivide the commentary in different parts. We first offer a slightly different perspective with respect to the role of planning and scheduling, then sketch an architecture for using planning technology in continuous loop with the humans, and then we formulate some questions to corroborate debate at the workshop.http://www.congrex.nl/11c05/Papers/Grant_commentary.pd

Integrated Planning and Scheduling in the RoboCare Project

No abstract availableThis article sketches the research of the Planning and Scheduling Unit of the ROBOCARE Project, aimed at designing and implementing distributed systems for generating user services for the care of the elderly. We will briefly outline the lines of research our unit is involved in

Robocare, un progetto pilota su tecnologie intelligenti per aiutare anziani in casa

No abstract availabl

Toward a general purpose software environment for timeline-based planning

Timeline-based Planning and Scheduling applications have been successfully deployed in various contexts. Often such applications use specific solving algorithms and cannot be easily applied for solving different kind of problems. Then, an open research issue for such planning modeling is the one of creating a software infrastructure with a controllable search engine. In this regard, this paper presents an attempt to synthesize such a software environment. The Extensible Planning and Scheduling Library (EPSL) evolves from the Timeline Representation Framework (APSI-TRF), a software environment supported by the European Space Agency. Goal of EPSL is to obtain a software architecture having the flexibility to focus on specific problem solving aspects. The paper is an initial report on this effort: it introduces the whole idea, then focuses on the definition of suitable heuristic functions, and presents experiments related to two domains generated by current applications

Interactive Planning for Space Applications

No abstract availabl

Long-term Evaluation of a Mobile Remote Presence Robot for the Elderly

We are currently working on a project, named ExCITE, the goal of which is to intensively evaluate a tele-presence robot against a wide spectrum of requirements of the elderly. This work is at the intersection of two emerging fields, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), and involves both long term and cross-cultural user evaluation

Fast Production and Flexible Maintenance of Schedule for Space Applications

This paper presents an overview of a software system named O-OSCAR for schedule production and management in space applications. The main features of the architecture are presented and some aspects of the current application to project management are discussed

Long-Term Evaluation of a Telepresence Robot for the Elderly: Methodology and Ecological Case Study

Telepresence robotic systems are proposed in different contexts and specifically in the area of social robotics for assisting older adults at home. Similarly to other robotic systems, such robots are often designed and then evaluated in laboratory settings for a limited period of time. Lab-based evaluations present limitations because they do not take into account the different challenges imposed by the fielding of robotic solutions into real contexts for longer periods. In order to perform long-term experiments in real ecological settings it is very important to define a structured approach to assess the impact of a prolonged and constant use of the telepresence robot. This paper proposes a methodology in the area of elderly people support, called MARTA, for M ultidimensional A ssessment of telepresence R obo T for older A dults. It introduces the main variables of interest as well as the instruments and administration timeline for assessing relevant changes that may occur over time. MARTA is also validated in a one year-long case study during which a telepresence robot, called Giraff, has been deployed and iteratively assessed. The paper also provides remarks on the technology readiness and suggestions for its improvements

Into the Wild: Pushing a Telepresence Robot Outside the Lab

Most robotic systems are usually used and evaluated in laboratory setting for a limited period of time. The limitation of lab evaluation is that it does not take into account the different challenges imposed by the fielding of robotic solutions into real contexts. Our current work evaluates a robotic telepresence platform to be used with elderly people. This paper describes our progressive effort toward a comprehensive, ecological and longitudinal evaluation of such robots outside the lab. It first discusses some results from a twofold short term evaluation performed in Italy. Specifically we report results from both a usability assessment in laboratory and a subsequent study obtained by interviewing 44 healthcare workers as possible secondary users (people connecting to the robot) and 10 older adults as possible primary users (people receiving visits through the robot). It then describes a complete evaluation plan designed for a long term assessment to be applied "outside the lab" dwelling on the initial application of such methodology to test sites in Italy

Supporting Increment Planning Processes within the ULISSE Framework

ULISSE is an EU project whose aim is data valorization around the ISS experiments. The ULISSE software platform is endowed with a number of additional services to improve both data production and data analysis. This paper describes the Planning and Scheduling Service, a module developed to support functions of data production around the ISS activities and integrated in the ULISSE platform. Its current use to support work for the Fluid Science Laboratory facility is also shown and fully analyzed from design to application service delivery