A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication

In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion

ViSpec: A graphical tool for elicitation of MTL requirements

One of the main barriers preventing widespread use of formal methods is the elicitation of formal specifications. Formal specifications facilitate the testing and verification process for safety critical robotic systems. However, handling the intricacies of formal languages is difficult and requires a high level of expertise in formal logics that many system developers do not have. In this work, we present a graphical tool designed for the development and visualization of formal specifications by people that do not have training in formal logic. The tool enables users to develop specifications using a graphical formalism which is then automatically translated to Metric Temporal Logic (MTL). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of our tool, we have also designed and conducted a usability study with cohorts from the academic student community and industry. Our results indicate that both groups were able to define formal requirements with high levels of accuracy. Finally, we present applications of our tool for defining specifications for operation of robotic surgery and autonomous quadcopter safe operation.Comment: Technical report for the paper to be published in the 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems held in Hamburg, Germany. Includes 10 pages and 19 figure

La poética de Julio Cortázar : el universo neogótico en sus textos

Se ha disertado mucho sobre la vertiente fantástica en los cuentos de Julio Cortázar, una flexión verdaderamente preeminente en su proyecto narrativo y calificada con el prefijo "neo" como parte más amplia de la propuesta canonizada por Franz Kafka. No obstante, consideramos buena parte de esta prolífica producción como una evolución, darwiniamente hablando, de la flexión gótica de la literatura de terror a la que calificamos como neogótica, por analogía con el respectivo membrete relacionado con la evolución del género neofantástico. En el presente artículo exploramos dicha faceta del autor argentino proponiendo una lectura alternativa de sus cuentos desde esta perspectiva.The fantastic aspect of Julio Cortazar's short stories, a genre which is really preeminent in his narrative project and qualified by the prefix "neo" as part of the much wider proposal canonized by Franz Kafka, has been extensively discussed. Nevertheless, we consider a big part of this prolific production as an evolution, in the Darwinian sense, of the gothic genre of horror literature, which could as well be qualified as neo-gothic, by analogy with the evolution of the neo-fantastic genre. In this article we explore this facet of the Argentinian writer, proposing an alternative lecture on his short stories from this perspective

Complete information pivotal-voter model with asymmetric group size

We study the equilibria of the standard pivotal-voter participation game between two groups of voters of asymmetric sizes (majority and minority), as originally proposed by Palfrey and Rosenthal (Public Choice 41(1):7–53, 1983). We find a unique equilibrium wherein the minority votes with certainty and the majority votes with probability in (0,1); we prove that this is the only equilibrium in which voters of only one group play a pure strategy, and we provide sufficient conditions for its existence. Equilibria where voters of both groups vote with probability in (0, 1) are analyzed numerically

Neolithic pottery groups from the Agia Triada Cave, southern Euboea, and the Aegean Late Neolithic: some remarks

Στο κείμενο που ακολουθεί παρουσιάζονται τα προκαταρκτικά συμπεράσματα της εν εξελίξει μελέτης του υλικού των ανασκαφών που πραγματοποιήθηκαν κατά τα έτη 2007-2010 στο σπήλαιο της Αγίας Τριάδας Καρύστου. 1 Από τα έως τώρα δεδομένα προκύπτει ότι ορισμένα κεραμικά σύνολα διαφορο- ποιούνται ως προς τα τυπο-τεχνολογικά τους χαρακτηριστικά από την κεραμική της Νεότερης Νεο- λιθικής ΙΙ. Η πιο χαρακτηριστική κατηγορία είναι η γραπτή κεραμική με λευκή διακόσμηση σε σκούρο βάθος που χαρακτηρίζει τη Νεότερη Νεολιθική Ι περίοδο των νησιών του κεντρικού, ανατολικού Αι- γαίου και άλλων περιοχών. Ο μικρός αριθμός αντιπροσωπευτικών οστράκων και η κακή κατάσταση διατήρησης τους δυσχεραίνουν ιδιαίτερα τη μελέτη

Social capital, communication channels and opinion formation

We study how different forms of social capital lead to different distributions of multidimensional opinions by affecting the channels through which individuals communicate. We develop a model to compare and contrast the evolution of opinions between societies whose members communicate through bonding associations (i.e., which bond similar people together) and societies where communication is through bridging associations (i.e., which bridge the gap among different people). Both processes converge towards opinion distributions where there are groups within which there is consensus in all issues. Bridging processes are more likely to lead to society-wide consensus and converge to distributions that have, on average, fewer opinion groups. The latter result holds even when the confidence bound that allows successful communication in the bridging process is much smaller than the respective bound in the bonding process

The practice of humanitarian intervention after the end of the Cold War: emerging norm or just practice?: humanitarian intervention and international law

This thesis examines the practice of humanitarian intervention after the end of the Cold War. In the 90s there was an evident willingness of the world community to promote and protect human rights. The Security Council got involved in matters traditionally regarded internal affairs of states and imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions. What is more, the UN authorised military interventions in cases where massive abuses of human rights have taken place and this is the most significant normative change regarding humanitarian intervention. Thus, from "unilateral" humanitarian intervention we move to "collective" humanitarian intervention. Accordingly, the UN Security Council authorised military action in Somalia, Rwanda and Haiti. Yet, although the Council granted authorisation of the use of force, states had been reluctant to recognise a "unilateral" right of humanitarian intervention. Kosovo is the most challenging case that caused a wide debate regarding the legality of humanitarian intervention. Yet, Kosovo has set a very bad precedent for humanitarian intervention. NATO's violations of humanitarian laws, the bombing against civilian infrastructures, as well as the significant loss of civilian lives proved that the means used were against the proclaimed humanitarian ends. Furthermore, NATO intervention did not bring peace to Kosovo, but the situation remains tense. Thus, it could be argued that the 1999 intervention did not bring a positive and long-term outcome. This is a good case that can illustrate how political and moral omissions can create bad precedents for the emergence of a new norm. Finally, this thesis concludes that after the attacks of 9/11, the prospects of humanitarian intervention in the future are questionable. War against terrorism became the new form of interventionism in the new millennium. Thus, omissions and failures of the past, along with the new challenges of the world community have curtailed the future of humanitarian intervention