Beyond the Frontiers of Timeline-based Planning

Any agent, either biological or artificial, understands how to behave in its environment according to its prior knowledge and to its prior experience. The process of deciding which actions to undertake and how to perform them so as to achieve some desired objective is called deliberation. In particular, planning is an abstract and explicit deliberation process that chooses and organizes actions, by anticipating their expected outcomes, with the aim to achieve, as best as possible, some pre-stated objectives called goals. Among the most widespread approaches to automated planning, the classical approach broadly pursues to the following definition of planning: starting from a description of the initial state of the world, a description of the desired goals, and a description of a set of possible actions, the planning problem consists in synthesizing a plan, i.e., a sequence of actions, that is guaranteed, when applied to the initial state, to generate a state, called a goal state, which contains the desired goals. In order to cope with computational complexity, however, the classical approach to planning introduces some restrictive assumptions. Among them, for example, there is no explicit model of time and concurrency is treated only roughly. Additionally, goals are specified as a set of goal states, therefore, objectives such as states to be avoided and constraints on state trajectories or utility functions are not handled. In order to relax these restrictions, some alternative approaches have been proposed over the years. The timeline-based approach to planning, in particular, represents an effective alternative to classical planning for complex domains requiring the use of both temporal reasoning and scheduling features. This thesis focuses on timeline-based planning, aiming at solving some efficiency issues which inevitably raise as a consequence of the drop out of these restrictions. Regardless of the followed approach, indeed, it turns out that automated planning is a rather complex task from a computational point of view. Furthermore, not all of the approaches proposed in literature can rely on effective heuristics for efficiently tackling the search. This is particularly true in the case of the more recent and hence less investigated timeline-based formulation. Most of the timeline-based planners, in particular, have usually neglected the advantages triggered in classical planning from the use of Graphplan and/or modern heuristic search, namely the capability of reasoning on the whole domain model. This thesis aims at reducing the performance gap between the classical approach at planning and the timeline-based one. Specifically, the overall goal is to improve the efficiency of timeline-based reasoners taking inspiration from techniques applied in more classical approaches to planning. The main contributions of this thesis, therefore, are a) a new formalism for timeline-based planning which overcomes some limitations of the existing ones; b) a set of heuristics, inspired by the classical approach, that improve the performance of the timeline-based approach to planning; c) the introduction of sophisticated techniques like the non-chronological backtracking and the no-good learning, commonly used in other fields such as Constraint Processing, into the search process;d) the reorganization of the existing solver architectures, of a new solver called ORATIO, that allows to push the reasoning process beyond the sole automated planning, winking at emerging fields like, for example, Explainable AI and e) the introduction of a new language for expressing timeline-based planning problems called RIDDLE

APSI-based Deliberation in Goal Oriented Autonomous Controllers

This paper describes a timeline-based, domain independent deliberative layer, based on E SA APSI technology, deployed in the context of the Goal Oriented Autonomous Controller (G OAC) project. In particular the paper describes a new controller composed by (1) a planning module that exploits the timeline-based approach provided by the APSI - TRF and is able to model and solve planning problems, (2) a module that dispatches planned timelines, supervises their execution status and entails continuous planning and re-planning. An example will illustrate both modules at work

Opening the PANDORA-BOX: Planning and Executing Timelines in a Training Environment

This paper introduces a novel use of timeline-based planning as the core element within a dynamic training environment designed for crisis managers. Training for crisis decision makers at the strategic level poses a number of challenges that range from the necessity to foster creative decision making to the need for the creation of engaging and realistic scenarios in support of experiential learning. This article describes our efforts to build an end-to-end system, called the PANDORA BOX, that helps the trainer to populate and deliver a continuous 4-5 hours training session encompassing exercises that encourage a group of decision makers to achieve joint decisions. Specifically the emphasis is given to (a) the timeline-based representation as the core component for creating training sessions and unifying different concepts of the PANDORA domain; (b) the combination of planning and execution functionalities required to maintain and dynamically adapt a "lesson plan" on the basis of both trainee-trainer interaction and individual behaviors and performance; (c) the importance of keeping the trainer in close control of the activity loop

Training Crisis Managers in Strategic Decision-Making

The goal of PANDORA is to apply state-of-the-art ICT technologies to build a learning environment for strategic crisis managers. We are currently refining a first version where training sessions are animated by reproducing realistic crisis events and fostering creative decision-making. Central to PANDORA is an original use of the timeline-based planning strategies used to diversify crisis scenarios by creating alternative training paths and to model trainees behavioral patterns for personalized training

Ontologies, rules and linked data to support Crisis Managers Training

In a catastrophic event, human behaviour determines the efficacy of crisis management. Timeliness of reactions and exactness of decisions are the most relevant factors. In this context, training plays an important role to prepare Crisis Managers. To re-create crisis scenarios, PANDORA employs a Crisis Planner based on Timeline-based Planning and Scheduling technologies. This Planner creates training storyboards of "events" for the trainees (e.g. news videos, phone calls or e-mails) and "reacts" to trainees\u27 strategic decisions, triggering consequent events to continue the training session. To simulate the scenario, a great effort is required to understand the problem specificity and to model the relevant aspects. Within the PANDORA project, we are building the Crisis Knowledge Base (CKB) collecting and maintaining the "knowledge" about crisis scenarios and training sessions

AI and robotics to help older adults: Revisiting projects in search of lessons learned

Abstract This article is a retrospective overview of work performed in the domain of Active Assisted Living over a span of almost 18 years. The authors have been creating and refining artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions to support older adults in maintaining their independence and improving their quality of life. The goal of this article is to identify strong features and general lessons learned from those experiences and conceive guidelines and new research directions for future deployment, also relying on an analysis of similar research efforts. The work considers key points that have contributed to increase the success of the innovative solutions grounding them on known technology acceptance models. The analysis is presented with a threefold perspective: A Technological vision illustrates the characteristics of the support systems to operate in a real environment with continuity, robustness, and safety; a Socio-Health perspective highlights the role of experts in the socio-assistance domain to provide contextualized and personalized help based on actual people's needs; finally, a Human dimension takes into account the personal aspects that influence the interaction with technology in the long term experience. The article promotes the crucial role of AI and robotics in ensuring intelligent and situated assistive behaviours. Finally, considering that the produced solutions are socio-technical systems, the article suggests a transdisciplinary approach in which different relevant disciplines merge together to have a complete, coordinated, and more informed vision of the problem

Decellularization and Delipidation Protocols of Bovine Bone and Pericardium for Bone Grafting and Guided Bone Regeneration Procedures

The combination of bone grafting materials with guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes seems to provide promising results to restore bone defects in dental clinical practice. In the first part of this work, a novel protocol for decellularization and delipidation of bovine bone, based on multiple steps of thermal shock, washes with detergent and dehydration with alcohol, is described. This protocol is more effective in removal of cellular materials, and shows superior biocompatibility compared to other three methods tested in this study. Furthermore, histological and morphological analyses confirm the maintenance of an intact bone extracellular matrix (ECM). In vitro and in vivo experiments evidence osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the produced scaffold, respectively. In the second part of this study, two methods of bovine pericardium decellularization are compared. The osmotic shock-based protocol gives better results in terms of removal of cell components, biocompatibility, maintenance of native ECM structure, and host tissue reaction, in respect to the freeze/thaw method. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate the characterization of a novel protocol for the decellularization of bovine bone to be used as bone graft, and the acquisition of a method to produce a pericardium membrane suitable for GBR applications

Technology-enhanced learning to support active ageing

The increasing dynamism of contemporary society poses some challenges also to current learning processes that could benefit from new methods based upon intelligent technologies. The use of technology, in this context, can be an enabling factor. The Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), for example, are systems that, despite some limitations (for example, lack of dynamic adaptability and reduced innovation compared to classical learning environments), are able to support the acquisition of knowledge by their users through the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies. The experience of the authors in the field of education, coming from the development of crisis management training systems, has been renewed and enriched over the years, arriving to a new generation of ITSs. This latter one is able to support the dynamic adaptation of the lessons and to bring the educational processes out of the classrooms, overcoming the original limitations of the ITSs and pursuing the idea of a continuous learning both in time and in space. Tecnologie intelligenti per la formazione a supporto dell’invecchiamento attivoLa crescente dinamicità della società contemporanea pone delle sfide anche agli attuali processi di apprendimento che potrebbero trarre beneficio da nuovi metodi basati su tecnologie intelligenti. L’utilizzo della tecnologia, in questo contesto, può risultare un fattore abilitante. Gli Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), ad esempio, sono sistemi che nonostante alcune limitazioni (per es., scarse capacità di adattamento dinamico e ridotta innovazione rispetto agli ambienti di apprendimento classici), sono in grado di supportare l’acquisizione di conoscenze da parte dei loro utenti attraverso l’utilizzo di moderne tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione. L’esperienza degli autori nel campo dell’educazione, generata prevalentemente durante lo sviluppo di sistemi di addestramento alla gestione delle crisi, si è rinnovata ed arricchita negli anni, fino ad andare verso una nuova generazione di ITS in grado di supportare l’adattamento dinamico delle lezioni e di portare i processi educativi fuori dalle aule, superando le originarie limitazioni degli ITS e perseguendo l’idea di un apprendimento continuo sia nel tempo che nello spazio

Steps Toward End-to-End Personalized AAL Services

In Ambient Assisted Living research and development, a significant effort has been dedicated to issues like gathering continuous information at home, standardizing formats in order to create environments more easily, extracting further information from raw data using different techniques to reconstruct context. An aspect relatively less developed but also important is the design of personalized end-to-end services for technology users being them either primary (older people) or secondary (medical doctors, caregiver, relatives). This paper explores an effort, internal to the EU project GIRAFFPLUS, for designing such services starting from a state-of-the-art continuous data gathering infrastructure. The paper presents the general project idea, the current choices for the middleware infrastructure and the pursued direction for a set of services personalized to different classes of users

End-to-End Personalized AAL Services for Elderly with Chronic Conditions

In the recent years, the number of the elderly living with chronic diseases (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) is continuously growing, potentially affecting their independence. Therefore, many efforts have been given in AAL applications for supporting the monitoring activities and, particularly, focusing to the issue of gathering continuous information at home, standardizing formats, extracting further information from raw sensors data using different techniques to reconstruct a context. One aspect that is rather important but less developed in current investigation is the design of personalized end-to-end services for classes of users of such technology being them either primary user (old people) or secondary users (medical doctors, caregiver, relatives)