06231 Abstracts Collection -- Towards Affordance-Based Robot Control

From June 5 to June 9, 2006, the Dagstuhl Seminar 06231 ``Towards Affordance-Based Robot Control\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. %The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available. Additionally, papers related to a selection of the above-mentioned presentations willbe published in a proceedings volume (Springer LNAI) early in 2007

Advanced services for critical infrastructures protection

In this paper an overview of the first results of FP7 CIPRNet project is presented. Particularly, we demonstrate CIPRNet services for critical infrastructure protection (CIP) stakeholders. The role of the proposed services is to support decisions in the CIP domain. Moreover, those services are expected to serve as the underpinnings for the European Infrastructures Simulation and Analysis Centre (EISAC) which, similarly to the US NISAC, should provide operational services on CIP, for the benefits of CI operators, stakeholders and the Public Authorities committed to CIP

Computational visual attention systems and their cognitive foundation: A survey

Permission to make digital/hard copy of all or part of this material without fee for personal or classroom use provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the ACM copyright/server notice, the title of the publication, and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. (c) 2010 ACMBased on concepts of the human visual system, computational visual attention systems aim to detect regions of interest in images. Psychologists, neurobiologists, and computer scientists have investigated visual attention thoroughly during the last decades and profited considerably from each other. However, the interdisciplinarity of the topic holds not only benefits but also difficulties: concepts of other fields are usually hard to access due to differences in vocabulary and lack of knowledge of the relevant literature. This paper aims to bridge this gap and bring together concepts and ideas from the different research areas. It provides an extensive survey of the grounding psychological and biological research on visual attention as well as the current state of the art of computational systems. Furthermore, it presents a broad range of applications of computational attention systems in fields like computer vision, cognitive systems and mobile robotics. We conclude with a discussion on the limitations and open questions in the field

Computational visual attention systems and their cognitive foundation: A survey

Permission to make digital/hard copy of all or part of this material without fee for personal or classroom use provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the ACM copyright/server notice, the title of the publication, and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. (c) 2010 ACMBased on concepts of the human visual system, computational visual attention systems aim to detect regions of interest in images. Psychologists, neurobiologists, and computer scientists have investigated visual attention thoroughly during the last decades and profited considerably from each other. However, the interdisciplinarity of the topic holds not only benefits but also difficulties: concepts of other fields are usually hard to access due to differences in vocabulary and lack of knowledge of the relevant literature. This paper aims to bridge this gap and bring together concepts and ideas from the different research areas. It provides an extensive survey of the grounding psychological and biological research on visual attention as well as the current state of the art of computational systems. Furthermore, it presents a broad range of applications of computational attention systems in fields like computer vision, cognitive systems and mobile robotics. We conclude with a discussion on the limitations and open questions in the field

Complexity Aided Design: the FuturICT Technological Innovation Paradigm

"In the next century, planet earth will don an electronic skin. It will use the Internet as a scaffold to support and transmit its sensations. This skin is already being stitched together. It consists of millions of embedded electronic measuring devices: thermostats, pressure gauges, pollution detectors, cameras, microphones, glucose sensors, EKGs, electroencephalographs. These will probe and monitor cities and endangered species, the atmosphere, our ships, highways and fleets of trucks, our conversations, our bodies--even our dreams ....What will the earth's new skin permit us to feel? How will we use its surges of sensation? For several years--maybe for a decade--there will be no central nervous system to manage this vast signaling network. Certainly there will be no central intelligence...some qualities of self-awareness will emerge once the Net is sensually enhanced. Sensuality is only one force pushing the Net toward intelligence". These statements are quoted by an interview by Cherry Murray, Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor of Physics. It is interesting to outline the timeliness and highly predicting power of these statements. In particular, we would like to point to the relevance of the question "What will the earth's new skin permit us to feel?" to the work we are going to discuss in this paper. There are many additional compelling questions, as for example: "How can the electronic earth's skin be made more resilient?"; "How can the earth's electronic skin be improved to better satisfy the need of our society?";"What can the science of complex systems contribute to this endeavour?

Implementierungen Abstrakter Datentypen in terminaler Algebrasemantik

In this paper we add a concept of implementation of abstract data types (adts) by adts in terminal algebra semantics to the notions of terminal algebra semantics of adts, which are introduced in [HR 79]. Our concept corresponds to that of initial implementations of adts described in [EKP 79a]. We give also a correctness proof of a T-implementation of stack (nat) by array (nat‚nat) as an application example for the methods developed in [HR 79]. As in [EKP 79a], the implementing data type is extended in two steps, called SORT-IMPLEMENTATION and OPERATIONS-IMPLEMENTATION, to take over the tasks of the implemented type. These two steps are syntactical constructions. The semantics of the T-implementation concept is layed down in the EXTENSION- and RESTRICTION-step. A third step of the initial case, called IDENTIFICATION, is not necessary here for reasons which result from the use of the terminal algebra semantics and which are explained in this paper. As in [EKP 79a], the concept of T-implementation distinguishes syntax, semantics and correctness

Simulating Perceptual Clustering by Gestalt Principles

In this paper we propose a method for the detection of salient non-local structures in vector graphics. Non-local structures may consist of similar graphical objects—the constituents of a vector graphics—or of objects which are orderly arranged. They may be perceived immediately, but they are not explicitly represented in the internal description of a graphics. Information on such cognitive relevant structures may serve as additional indices to the graphics data base of a graphics retrieval system or may guide higher scene interpretation routines. Nonlocal structures emerge as a result of grouping processes of visual perception. The method used to detect non-local structures is the simulation of models of organizing phenomena of human visual perception. In particular, we use Treisman’s feature map model and Palmer’s transformational approach to human visual perception.

Modellierung, Simulation und Analyse für den Schutz kritischer Infrastrukturen

Die europaweit wachsende Abhängigkeit von kritischen Infrastrukturen wie Energieversorgung, Telekommunikation, Transportwesen oder Wasserstraßen birgt Risiken von internationalem Ausmaß. Durch Naturkatastrophen, terroristische Anschläge, menschliches Versagen oder technische Störungen der Informationstechnik und Telekommunikation können große Regionen von lebenswichtigen Infrastrukturen abgeschnitten werden. Die Kenntnis der wechselseitigen Abhängigkeiten von kritischen Infrastrukturen und der Konsequenzen von Ausfällen kann im Krisenfall in erheblichem Maße dazu beitragen, Leben zu retten und Schäden an Infrastrukturen und Wirtschaft zu verringern. Anhand von Beispielen aktueller Forschungsprojekte wird in diesem Artikel gezeigt, wie Forschungs-und Entwicklungsergebnisse zum besseren Verständnis der zusammenhängenden Kritischen Infrastrukturen genutzt werden können und wie diese Ergebnisse in die praktische Anwendung transferiert werden können. Insbesondere wird beschrieben, wie die Methoden der computergestützten Modellierung, Simulation und Analyse (MS&A) von Kritischen Infrastrukturen für Informationsgewinn, Notfallplanung, Ausbildung und Übung eingesetzt werden können, etwa im Bevölkerungsschutz. Entsprechende Fähigkeiten bietet in den USA das Nationale Infrastruktur-Simulations- und Analyse-Zentrum (NISAC) bereits seit zwölf Jahren. Obwohl der Stand der Technik in Europa dank jahrelanger Forschungsförderung gleichwertig ist, fehlen hier entsprechende Kapazitäten und Fähigkeiten, wie sie das NISAC bietet. Seit 2008 gibt es jedoch in Europa vereinzelte Anstrengungen aus der Forschung (DIESIS, ERNCIP, CIPRNet), diese Situation zu verbessern

Simulating Visual Attention for Object Recognition

We present a new recognition system motivated by human vision for the detection and recognition of objects in real-world images. A computational attention module finds regions of interest in an image and a classifier searches for objects only in these regions. This enables a significantly faster classification. We show how name plates in an office environment are detected by the visual attention module and reliably recognized by the classifier.