RAPP: A Robotic-Oriented Ecosystem for Delivering Smart User Empowering Applications for Older People

International audienceIt is a general truth that increase of age is associated with a level of mental and physical decline but unfortunately the former are often accompanied by social exclusion leading to marginalization and eventually further acceleration of the aging process. A new approach in alleviating the social exclusion of older people involves the use of assistive robots. As robots rapidly invade everyday life, the need of new software paradigms in order to address the user's unique needs becomes critical. In this paper we present a novel architectural design, the RAPP [a software platform to deliver smart, user empowering robotic applications (RApps)] framework that attempts to address this issue. The proposed framework has been designed in a cloud-based approach, integrating robotic devices and their respective applications. We aim to facilitate seamless development of RApps compatible with a wide range of supported robots and available to the public through a unified online store

RAPP System Architecture

International audience— Robots are fast becoming a part of everyday life. This rise can be evidenced both through the public news and announcements, as well as in recent literature in the robotics scientific communities. This expanding development requires new paradigms in producing the necessary software to allow for the users' particular needs. In this paper we present a novel architectural design of the RAPP framework that attempts to address this issue, developed within the context of the EU funded project RAPP "Robotic Applications for Delivering Smart User Empowering Application". The proposed framework has been designed aiming towards a cloud-based approach to integrating robotic devices and their respective applications. This goal was defined going beyond the up-coming trends in infrastructures, and focusing on alternative approaches to conventional robotic controllers, while at the same time expanding the capabilities of the RAPP framework in a seamless and scaling manner

Variable structure robot control systems: The RAPP approach

International audienceThis paper presents a method of designing variable structure control systems for robots. As the on-board robot computational resources are limited, but in some cases the demands imposed on the robot by the user are virtually limitless, the solution is to produce a variable structure system. The task dependent part has to be exchanged, however the task governs the activities of the robot. Thus not only exchange of some task-dependent modules is required, but also supervisory responsibilities have to be switched. Such control systems are necessary in the case of robot companions, where the owner of the robot may demand from it to provide many services.

An integrated architecture for one or multiple robots towards urban search and rescue applications

There is a need of autonomy in many aspects of everyday life and especially in tasks that are hard to be performed by manpower or that are dangerous to the human life. One such task is Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) applications.The current Ph.D. focuses on the proposal of a unified solution for the autonomous exploration of ‚disaster environments‛ from one or multiple robotic vehicles. The term ‚disaster environments‛ is defined as civil constructions which have suffered structural deformations (for example due to an earthquake), such that traversing the space with a robotic vehicle is feasible. During the exploration, the robots check the surrounding environment for potential victims and pinpoint their position.A unified proposal for exploration and full coverage of an unknown a priori environment, from a single robot or a team of agents is addressed. The algorithms and the assumptions made, are focused on application in the international robotic competition RoboCup – RoboRescue, where some of them (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping and one-robot full exploration and coverage) have already been used successfully in 2009 (Austria) and 2011 (Turkey) from the robotic team P.A.N.D.O.R.A. of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.Innovations presented in the current Ph.D. are scattered in multiple fields of robotics. Initially, CRSM SLAM, a novel method for Simultaneous Localization And Mapping is proposed, using the concept of scan-matching, in order for the agent to perceive in detail its surrounding environment. Furthermore a survey of path planning methods is presented, which includes algorithms from different families, such as RRTs, Visibility Graphs, PRMs etc.. These methods are modified in order to to perform on a constant basis, regardless to the space morphology. Another contribution is in the way the robot chooses its next best target. The targets are exported as the set of the nodes of a topological graph, created by the space skeletonization using the Brushfire algorithm, in conjunction with morphological operations. After that, four different weights / costs are assigned to each possible target, they are combined efficiently and the next best goal is chosen. Finally the above methods are applied to a multi-agent system, where three different problems are addressed: a) exploration with known initial positions, b) with unknown initial positions and c) with unknown initial positions and problems in communication. The information merging is performed with spatial criteria, assuming that RFID tags are scattered in the environment, combining their topological information extracted by a localization module, RANSAC and ICP algorithms.Τπάρχει μία ανάγκη αυτονομίας σε πολλές πτυχές της καθημερινής μας ζωής, και ειδικά σε προβλήματα τα οποία είναι δύσκολο να επιλυθούν από ανθρώπους. Ένα τέτοιο πρόβλημα αφορά την διάσωση θυμάτων σε αστικά περιβάλλοντα (USAR).Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή εστιάζει στην πρόταση μίας ενοποιημένης λύσης για την αυτόνομη εξερεύνηση περιβαλλόντων καταστροφής από ένα ή πολλά ρομποτικά οχήματα. Ο όρος «Περιβάλλοντα καταστροφής» ορίζεται ως αστικές δομές οι οποίες έχουν υποστεί δομικές παραμορφώσεις, τέτοιες ώστε να επιτρέπεται η διέλευση κάποιου ρομποτικού οχήματος από αυτά. Κατά τη διάρκεια της εξερεύνησης, τα ρομπότ ελέγχουν το περιβάλλον γύρω τους για πιθανά θύματα και σημειώνουν την θέση τους.΢την διδακτορική αυτή διατριβή έχει ερευνηθεί μία ενοποιημένη λύση για εξερεύνηση και πλήρη κάλυψη ενός αγνώστου εκ των προτέρων χώρου από ένα όχημα ή από μία ομάδα οχημάτων. Οι αλγόριθμοι που κατασκευάστηκαν και οι υποθέσεις που έγιναν είναι σε συμφωνία με τους κανονισμούς του παγκοσμίου ρομποτικού διαγωνισμού RoboCup-RoboRescue, όπου κάποιες από αυτές τις μεθόδους (SLAM και εξερεύνηση ενός οχήματος) έχουν ήδη χρησιμοποιηθεί με επιτυχία το 2009 (Αυστρία) και το 2011 (Σουρκία) στο όχημα της ομάδας ρομποτικής P.A.N.D.O.R.A. του Σμήματος Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Μηχανικών Τπολογιστών του Αριστοτελείου Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλονίκης.Οι συνεισφορές της διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι διασκορπισμένες σε πολλά επιστημονικά πεδία της ρομποτικής. Αρχικά, προτείνεται το CRSM SLAM, μία πρωτότυπη μέθοδος χαρτογράφησης του χώρου, η οποία χρησιμοποιεί την τεχνική της αντιστοίχισης σκαναρισμάτων. Επιπλέον έγινε έρευνα στην περιοχή της δημιουργίας μονοπατιών, η οποία περιλαμβάνει μεθόδους διαφορετικών οικογενειών, όπως RRTs, γράφους ορατότητας, Probabilistic RoadMaps κτλ. Οι μέθοδοι αυτές μεταβλήθηκαν έτσι ώστε να έχουν σταθερή απόδοση ανεξαρτήτως περιβάλλοντος. Μία ακόμη συνεισφορά είναι στον τρόπο που το ρομποτικό όχημα επιλέγει τον επόμενο στόχο του. Οι πιθανοί στόχοι είναι οι κόμβοι ενός τοπολογικού γράφου, ο οποίος δημιουργείται με χρήση του αλγορίθμου Brushfire σε συνδυασμό με μορφολογικούς τελεστές. ΢τη συνέχεια υπολογίζονται τέσσαρα διαφορετικά βάρη / κόστη για κάθε πιθανό στόχο, συνδυάζονται αποδοτικά και επιλέγεται ο καλύτερος επόμενος στόχος.Σέλος, οι παραπάνω μέθοδοι επεκτάθηκαν για χρήση σε ένα σύστημα πολλαπλών ρομπότ, όπου ερευνήθηκαν τρεις διαφορετικές πειραματικές συνθήκες, α) η εξερεύνηση με γνωστές αρχικές θέσεις των οχημάτων, β) με άγνωστες αρχικές θέσεις και γ) με άγνωστες αρχικές θέσεις και προβλήματα επικοινωνίας. Η συγχώνευση της πληροφορίας μεταξύ πρακτόρων γίνεται με χωρικά κριτήρια, υποθέτοντας ότι υπάρχουν διάσπαρτα RFID tags στο περιβάλλον, συνδυάζοντας την τοπολογική τους πληροφορία μα τους αλγορίθμους RANSAC και ICP

R4Alz-Revised: A Tool Able to Strongly Discriminate ‘Subjective Cognitive Decline’ from Healthy Cognition and ‘Minor Neurocognitive Disorder’

Background: The diagnosis of the minor neurocognitive diseases in the clinical course of dementia before the clinical symptoms’ appearance is the holy grail of neuropsychological research. The R4Alz battery is a novel and valid tool that was designed to assess cognitive control in people with minor cognitive disorders. The aim of the current study is the R4Alz battery’s extension (namely R4Alz-R), enhanced by the design and administration of extra episodic memory tasks, as well as extra cognitive control tasks, towards improving the overall R4Alz discriminant validity. Methods: The study comprised 80 people: (a) 20 Healthy adults (HC), (b) 29 people with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and (c) 31 people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The groups differed in age and educational level. Results: Updating, inhibition, attention switching, and cognitive flexibility tasks discriminated SCD from HC (p ≤ 0.003). Updating, switching, cognitive flexibility, and episodic memory tasks discriminated SCD from MCI (p ≤ 0.001). All the R4Alz-R’s tasks discriminated HC from MCI (p ≤ 0.001). The R4Alz-R was free of age and educational level effects. The battery discriminated perfectly SCD from HC and HC from MCI (100% sensitivity—95% specificity and 100% sensitivity—90% specificity, respectively), whilst it discriminated excellently SCD from MCI (90.3% sensitivity—82.8% specificity). Conclusion: SCD seems to be stage a of neurodegeneration since it can be objectively evaluated via the R4Alz-R battery, which seems to be a useful tool for early diagnosis

R4Alz-Revised: A Tool Able to Strongly Discriminate ‘Subjective Cognitive Decline’ from Healthy Cognition and ‘Minor Neurocognitive Disorder’

Background: The diagnosis of the minor neurocognitive diseases in the clinical course of dementia before the clinical symptoms’ appearance is the holy grail of neuropsychological research. The R4Alz battery is a novel and valid tool that was designed to assess cognitive control in people with minor cognitive disorders. The aim of the current study is the R4Alz battery’s extension (namely R4Alz-R), enhanced by the design and administration of extra episodic memory tasks, as well as extra cognitive control tasks, towards improving the overall R4Alz discriminant validity. Methods: The study comprised 80 people: (a) 20 Healthy adults (HC), (b) 29 people with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and (c) 31 people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The groups differed in age and educational level. Results: Updating, inhibition, attention switching, and cognitive flexibility tasks discriminated SCD from HC (p ≤ 0.003). Updating, switching, cognitive flexibility, and episodic memory tasks discriminated SCD from MCI (p ≤ 0.001). All the R4Alz-R’s tasks discriminated HC from MCI (p ≤ 0.001). The R4Alz-R was free of age and educational level effects. The battery discriminated perfectly SCD from HC and HC from MCI (100% sensitivity—95% specificity and 100% sensitivity—90% specificity, respectively), whilst it discriminated excellently SCD from MCI (90.3% sensitivity—82.8% specificity). Conclusion: SCD seems to be stage a of neurodegeneration since it can be objectively evaluated via the R4Alz-R battery, which seems to be a useful tool for early diagnosis