Quantifying the Evolutionary Self Structuring of Embodied Cognitive Networks

We outline a possible theoretical framework for the quantitative modeling of networked embodied cognitive systems. We notice that: 1) information self structuring through sensory-motor coordination does not deterministically occur in Rn vector space, a generic multivariable space, but in SE(3), the group structure of the possible motions of a body in space; 2) it happens in a stochastic open ended environment. These observations may simplify, at the price of a certain abstraction, the modeling and the design of self organization processes based on the maximization of some informational measures, such as mutual information. Furthermore, by providing closed form or computationally lighter algorithms, it may significantly reduce the computational burden of their implementation. We propose a modeling framework which aims to give new tools for the design of networks of new artificial self organizing, embodied and intelligent agents and the reverse engineering of natural ones. At this point, it represents much a theoretical conjecture and it has still to be experimentally verified whether this model will be useful in practice.

Fostering Progress in Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Robotic and Automation Systems

We have shared benchmarks for many engineering systems and products in the market that can be used to compare solutions and systems. We can compare cars in terms of maximum speed, acceleration, and maximum torque; computers in terms of flops, random access memory, and hard disk capacity; and smartphones in terms of battery life and screen dimensions. We also have shared usability metrics based on human factors, which are used to compare the ease of use of different software interfaces. When we come to the evaluation and the comparison of how intelligent, robust, adaptive, and antifragile the behaviors of robots are in performing a given set of tasks, such as daily life activities with daily life objects such as in a kitchen or a hospital room, we are in trouble

Task-oriented kinematic design of a symmetric assistive climbing robot

ASIBOT is an assistive climbing robot that is capable of aiding in daily tasks from fixed docking stations in the environment. A task-oriented design process was applied to improve the robot kinematic structure, which was based on the grid method. Twelve different robot designs were optimized for typical kitchen scenarios, followed by a quantitative comparison

Robotic Services for New Paradigm Smart Cities Based on Decentralized Technologies

This article describes different methods of organizing robotic services for smart cities using secure encrypted decentralized technologies and market mechanisms—as opposed to models based on centralized solutions based (or not) on using cloud services and stripping citizens of the control of their own data. The basis of the proposed methods is the Ethereum decentralized computer with the mechanism of smart contracts. In this work, special attention is paid to the integration of technical and economic information into one network of transactions, which allows creating a unified way of interaction between robots—the robot economy. Three possible scenarios of robotic services for smart cities based on the economy of robots are presented: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), environmental monitoring, and smart factories. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scenarios, three experiments are presented and discussed. Our work shows that the Ethereum network can provide, through smart contracts and their ability to activate programs to interact with the physical world, an effective and practical way to manage robot services for smart cities

Can we Reproduce it? Toward the Implementation of good Experimental Methodology in Interdisciplinary Robotics Research

Lier F, Lücking P, de Leeuw J, Wachsmuth S, Šabanović S, Goldstone R. Can we Reproduce it? Toward the Implementation of good Experimental Methodology in Interdisciplinary Robotics Research. In: Bonsignorio FP, ed. ICRA 2017 Workshop on Reproducible Research in Robotics: Current Status and Road Ahead. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE Xplore. IEEE; 2017