Towards Persistent Storage and Retrieval of Domain Models using Graph Database Technology

We employ graph database technology to persistently store and retrieve robot domain models.Comment: Presented at DSLRob 2015 (arXiv:1601.00877

Towards automation of user interface design

This paper suggests an approach to automatic software design in the domain of graphical user interfaces. There are still some drawbacks in existing user interface management systems (UIMS's) which basically offer only quantitative layout specifications via direct manipulation. Our approach suggests a convenient way to get a default graphical user interface which may be customized and redesigned easily in further prototyping cycles

A Platform-independent Programming Environment for Robot Control

The development of robot control programs is a complex task. Many robots are different in their electrical and mechanical structure which is also reflected in the software. Specific robot software environments support the program development, but are mainly text-based and usually applied by experts in the field with profound knowledge of the target robot. This paper presents a graphical programming environment which aims to ease the development of robot control programs. In contrast to existing graphical robot programming environments, our approach focuses on the composition of parallel action sequences. The developed environment allows to schedule independent robot actions on parallel execution lines and provides mechanism to avoid side-effects of parallel actions. The developed environment is platform-independent and based on the model-driven paradigm. The feasibility of our approach is shown by the application of the sequencer to a simulated service robot and a robot for educational purpose

RoCKIn@Work: Industrial Robot Challenge

RoCKIn@Work was focused on benchmarks in the domain of industrial robots. Both task and functionality benchmarks were derived from real world applications. All of them were part of a bigger user story painting the picture of a scaled down real world factory scenario. Elements used to build the testbed were chosen from common materials in modern manufacturing environments. Networked devices, machines controllable through a central software component, were also part of the testbed and introduced a dynamic component to the task benchmarks. Strict guidelines on data logging were imposed on participating teams to ensure gathered data could be automatically evaluated. This also had the positive effect that teams were made aware of the importance of data logging, not only during a competition but also during research as useful utility in their own laboratory. Tasks and functionality benchmarks are explained in detail, starting with their use case in industry, further detailing their execution and providing information on scoring and ranking mechanisms for the specific benchmark

Chapter RoCKIn@Home: Domestic Robots Challenge

Service robots performing complex tasks involving people in houses or public environments are becoming more and more common, and there is a huge interest from both the research and the industrial point of view. The RoCKIn@Home challenge has been designed to compare and evaluate different approaches and solutions to tasks related to the development of domestic and service robots. RoCKIn@Home competitions have been designed and executed according to the benchmarking methodology developed during the project and received very positive feedbacks from the participating teams. Tasks and functionality benchmarks are explained in detail

RoCKIn@Home: Domestic Robots Challenge

Service robots performing complex tasks involving people in houses or public environments are becoming more and more common, and there is a huge interest from both the research and the industrial point of view. The RoCKIn@Home challenge has been designed to compare and evaluate different approaches and solutions to tasks related to the development of domestic and service robots. RoCKIn@Home competitions have been designed and executed according to the benchmarking methodology developed during the project and received very positive feedbacks from the participating teams. Tasks and functionality benchmarks are explained in detail

Perspective Chapter: European Robotics League – Benchmarking through Smart City Robot Competitions

The SciRoc project, started in 2018, is an EU-H2020 funded project supporting the European Robotics League (ERL) and builds on the success of the EU-FP7/H2020 projects RoCKIn, euRathlon, EuRoC and ROCKEU2. The ERL is a framework for robot competitions currently consisting of three challenges: ERL Consumer, ERL Professional and ERL Emergency. These three challenge scenarios are set up in urban environments and converge every two years under one major tournament: the ERL Smart Cities Challenge. Smart cities are a new urban innovation paradigm promoting the use of advanced technologies to improve citizens’ quality of life. A key novelty of the SciRoc project is the ERL Smart Cities Challenge, which aims to show how robots will integrate into the cities of the future as physical agents. The SciRoc Project ran two such ERL Smart Cities Challenges, the first in Milton Keynes, UK (2019) and the second in Bologna, Italy (2021). In this chapter we evaluate the three challenges of the ERL, explain why the SciRoc project introduced a fourth challenge to bring robot benchmarking to Smart Cities and outline the process in conducting a Smart City event under the ERL umbrella. These innovations may pave the way for easier robotic benchmarking in the future

Educational Robotics: On the Role of Robotics in Learning and Education

Motivation is a key ingredient for learning: Only if the learner is motivated, successful learning is possible. Educational robotics has proven to be an excellent tool for motivating students at all ages from 8 to 80. Robot competitions for kids, like RoboCupJunior, are instrumental to sustain motivation over a significant period of time. This increases the chances that the learner acquires more in-depth knowledge about the subject area and develops a genuine interest in the field

Application of path planning algorithm by slime molds

This paper proposes an Artificial Plasmodium Algorithm (APA) mimicked a contraction wave of a plasmodium of physarum polucephalum. Plasmodia can live using the contracion wave in their body to communicate to others and transport a nutriments. In the APA, each plasmodium has two information as the wave information: the direction and food index. We apply APA to a maze solving and route planning of road map

Playing Robot Soccer under Natural Light: A Case Study

Abstract. The recent debate in the RoboCup middle-size community about natural light conditions shows that a more in-depth analysis of the problems incurred by this is necessary in order to draft out a focused and realistic roadmap for research. Based on real-world images taken under varying lighting conditions, we performed descriptive and statistical analysis of the effects on color-based vision routines. The results show that pure color-based image processing is not likely to perform well under varying lighting conditions, even if the vision system is calibrated on a per-game base. We conclude that color-based vision has to be combined with other methods and algorithms in order to work robustly in more difficult environments with varying illumination.