MERLIN2: MachinEd Ros 2 pLanINg

Permanent link to code/repository used for this code version: https://github.com/SoftwareImpacts/SIMPAC-2023-26[EN] Any service robot should be able to make decisions and schedule tasks to reach predefined goals such as opening a door or assisting users at home. However, these processes are not single short-term tasks anymore and it is required to set long-term skills for establishing a control architecture that allows robots to perform daily tasks. This paper presents MERLIN2, a hybrid cognitive architecture based on symbolic planning and state machine decision-making systems that allows performing robot behaviors. The architecture can run in any robot running ROS 2, the latest version of the Robot Operative System. MERLIN2 is available at https://github.com/MERLIN2-ARCH/merlin2.SIMinisterio de Universidades (FPU21/01438)EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND (ERDF) "Una manera de hacer Europa

KANT: A tool for Grounding and Knowledge Management

The intelligent robotics community usually organizes knowledge into symbolic and sub-symbolic levels. These two levels establish the set of symbols and rules for manipulating knowledge based on their (symbol system - dictionary). Thus, the correspondences -- Grounding or knowledge representation -- require specific software techniques for anchoring continuous and discrete state variables between these two levels. This paper presents the design and evaluation of an Open Source tool called KANT(Knowledge mAnagemeNT) to let different components of the system architecture controlling the robot query, save, edit, and delete the data from the Knowledge Base without having to worry about the type and the implementation of the source data. Using KANT, components managing subsymbolic information can smoothly interact with symbolic components. Besides, implementation mechanisms used in KANT, such as the use of in-memory and non-SQL databases, improve the performance of the knowledge management systems in ROS middleware, as shown by the evaluations presented in this work

Integration of Large Language Models within Cognitive Architectures for Autonomous Robots

The usage of Large Language Models (LLMs) has increased recently, not only due to the significant improvements in their accuracy but also because of the use of the quantization that allows running these models without intense hardware requirements. As a result, the LLMs have proliferated. It implies the creation of a great variety of LLMs with different capabilities. This way, this paper proposes the integration of LLMs in cognitive architectures for autonomous robots. Specifically, we present the design, development and deployment of the llama\_ros tool that allows the easy use and integration of LLMs in ROS 2-based environments, afterward integrated with the state-of-the-art cognitive architecture MERLIN2 for updating a PDDL-based planner system. This proposal is evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, measuring the impact of incorporating the LLMs in the cognitive architecture.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to ICRA 202

A robot-based surveillance system for recognising distress hand signal

[EN] Unfortunately, there are still cases of domestic violence or situations where it is necessary to call for help without arousing the suspicion of the aggressor. In these situations, the help signal devised by the Canadian Women's Foundation has proven to be effective in reporting a risky situation. By displaying a sequence of hand signals, it is possible to report that help is needed. This work presents a vision-based system that detects this sequence and implements it in a social robot, so that it can automatically identify unwanted situations and alert the authorities. The gesture recognition pipeline presented in this work is integrated into a cognitive architecture used to generate behaviours in robots. In this way, the robot interacts with humans and is able to detect if a person is calling for help. In that case, the robot will act accordingly without alerting the aggressor. The proposed vision system uses the MediaPipe library to detect people in an image and locate the hands, from which it extracts a set of hand landmarks that identify which gesture is being made. By analysing the sequence of detected gestures, it can identify whether a person is performing the distress hand signal with an accuracy of 96.43%.SIAgencia Estatal de InvestigaciónEDMAR Project PID2021-126592OB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europ

Towards explainability in robotics: A performance analysis of a cloud accountability system

[EN] Understanding why a robot's behaviour was triggered is a growing concern to get human-acceptable social robots. Every action, expected and unexpected, should be able to be explained and audited. The formal model proposed here deals with different information levels, from low-level data, such as sensors' data logging; to high-level data that provide an explanation of the robot's behaviour. This study examines the impact on the robot system of a custom log engine based on a custom ROS logging node and investigates pros and cons when used together with a NoSQL database locally and in a cloud environment. Results allow to characterize these alternatives and explore the best strategy for offering a fully log-based accountability engine that maximizes the mapping between robot behaviour and robot logs.SIInstituto Nacional de CiberseguridadMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovació

YASMIN: Yet Another State MachINe library for ROS 2

State machines are a common mechanism for defining behaviors in robots, defining them based on identifiable stages. There are several libraries available for easing the implementation of state machines in ROS 1, as SMACH or SMACC, but there are fewer alternatives for ROS 2. YASMIN is yet another library specifically designed for ROS 2 for easing the design of robotic behaviors using state machines. It is available in C++ and Python, provides some default states to speed up the development, and a web viewer for monitoring the execution of the system and helping in the debugging.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ROSCon FR 202

MERLIN a Cognitive Architecture for Service Robots

[EN] Many social robots deployed in public spaces hide hybrid cognitive architectures for dealing with daily tasks. Mostly, two main blocks sustain these hybrid architectures for robot behavior generation: deliberative and behavioral-based mechanisms. Robot Operating System offers different solutions for implementing these blocks, however, some issues arise when both are released in the robot. This paper presents a software engineering approach for normalizing the process of integrating them and presenting them as a fully cognitive architecture named MERLIN. Providing implementation details and diagrams for established the architecture, this research tests empirically the proposed solution using a variation from the challenge defined in the SciRoc @home competition. The results validate the usability of our approach and show MERLIN as a hybrid architecture ready for short and long-term tasks, showing better results than using a by default approach, particularly when it is deployed in highly interactive scenarios.SIAgencia Estatal de Investigació

Explaining Autonomy: Enhancing Human-Robot Interaction through Explanation Generation with Large Language Models

This paper introduces a system designed to generate explanations for the actions performed by an autonomous robot in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Explainability in robotics, encapsulated within the concept of an eXplainable Autonomous Robot (XAR), is a growing research area. The work described in this paper aims to take advantage of the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in performing natural language processing tasks. This study focuses on the possibility of generating explanations using such models in combination with a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) method to interpret data gathered from the logs of autonomous systems. In addition, this work also presents a formalization of the proposed explanation system. It has been evaluated through a navigation test from the European Robotics League (ERL), a Europe-wide social robotics competition. Regarding the obtained results, a validation questionnaire has been conducted to measure the quality of the explanations from the perspective of technical users. The results obtained during the experiment highlight the potential utility of LLMs in achieving explanatory capabilities in robots.Comment: 26 pages, 15 Figures, 11 Tables. This paper is a preprint of an article submitted to the International Journal of Social Robotic

Use of Tablet Pcs in Higher Education: A new Strategy for Training Engineers in European Bachelors and Masters Programmes

The use of technology in classrooms in Spanish universities has been following an upward path, and in many cases technological devices are substituting other materials that until now have been used, such as books, notebooks and so on. Step by step in higher education, more of these latest generationdevices are being used, and are providing significant improvements in training. Nowadays, there are Spanish universities that use tablets, a device with multiple applications for teaching as well as for students to study differently. They are definitely a notable innovation that will gradually become incorporated into university life. Tablet PCs make teaching more dynamic and available to students through the use of up to date digital materials, something which is key in training engineers. This paper presents their different functions employed in three Spanish universities to support teachingin engineering degrees and masters using the tablet PC, and their impact on the training process. Possible uses in specific programs like the Erasmus Masters Programmes are also assessed. The main objective of using tabletsis to improve the academic performance of students through the use of technology.This work has been developed in the framework of the RECLAND Project. It has been funded by the European Union under Lifelong Learning Programme, Erasmus Programme: Erasmus Multilateral Projects, 526746-LLP-1-2012-1-ES-ERASMUS-EMCR, MSc Programme in Climate Change and Restoration of Degraded Land

Excess of naturally occurring fluoride in groundwater discharge in Macaronesia: Brava Island, Cape Verde

A high concentration of fluoride in groundwater poses a risk to human health. One of the best-known problems related to excess fluoride in drinking water is dental fluorosis. The characteristic composition of volcanic rocks in oceanic islands tends to present high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater discharge in springs. This study investigates fluoride content in two springs (Encontro and Ferreiros) on the island of Brava (Cape Verde), with the objective of monitoring the operational control production and distribution of drinking water. Using a spectrophotometric method, the level of fluoride found in the water discharged from the Encontro spring was found to be in the range of 4.8 to 6.5 mg/L, whereas at the Ferreiros spring, it was 5.8 to 6.2 mg/L. These results are far above the threshold limit established in the decree No. 5 of 2017 of the Cape Verdean legislation, whose legal threshold value for fluoride is 1.5 mg/L, the same value established by the World Health Organization (WHO). Due to geological conditions and consequences for the health of the population, the water is not adequate for consumption without proper treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio