A proposal for a global task planning architecture using the RoboEarth cloud based framework

As robotic systems become more and more capable of assisting in human domains, methods are sought to compose robot executable plans from abstract human instructions. To cope with the semantically rich and highly expressive nature of human instructions, Hierarchical Task Network planning is often being employed along with domain knowledge to solve planning problems in a pragmatic way. Commonly, the domain knowledge is specific to the planning problem at hand, impeding re-use. Therefore this paper conceptualizes a global planning architecture, based on the worldwide accessible RoboEarth cloud framework. This architecture allows environmental state inference and plan monitoring on a global level. To enable plan re-use for future requests, the RoboEarth action language has been adapted to allow semantic matching of robot capabilities with previously composed plans

Two short mass-loss events that unveil the binary heart of Minkowski's Butterfly Nebula

Studying the appearance and properties of bipolar winds is critical to understand the stellar evolution from the AGB to the planetary nebula (PN) phase. Many uncertainties exist regarding the presence and role of binary stellar systems, mainly due to the deficit of conclusive observational evidences. We investigate the extended equatorial distribution around the early bipolar planetary nebula M 2-9 ("Minkowski's Butterfly Nebula") to gather new information on the mechanism of the axial ejections. Interferometric millimeter observations of molecular emission provide the most comprehensive view of the equatorial mass distribution and kinematics in early PNe. Here we present subarcsecond angular-resolution observations of the 12CO J=2-1 line and continuum emission with the Plateau de Bure interferometer. The data reveal two ring-shaped and eccentric structures at the equatorial basis of the two coaxial optical lobes. The two rings were formed during short mass-loss episodes (~ 40 yr), separated by ~ 500 yr. Their positional and dynamical imprints provide evidence of the presence of a binary stellar system at the center, which yields critical information on its orbital characteristics, including a mass estimate for the secondary of ~< 0.2 \ms. The presence of a stellar system with a modest-mass companion at the center of such an elongated bipolar PN strongly supports the binary-based models, because these are more easily able to explain the frequent axisymmetric ejections in PNe.Comment: 8 page

Therapeutic Neonatal Hepatic Gene Therapy in Mucopolysaccharidosis VII Dogs

Dogs with mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPS VII) were injected intravenously at 2–3 days of age with a retroviral vector (RV) expressing canine β-glucuronidase (cGUSB). Five animals received RV alone, and two dogs received hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) before RV in an attempt to increase transduction efficiency. Transduced hepatocytes expanded clonally during normal liver growth and secreted enzyme with mannose 6-phosphate. Serum GUSB activity was stable for up to 14 months at normal levels for the RV-treated dogs, and for 17 months at 67-fold normal for the HGF/RV-treated dog. GUSB activity in other organs was 1.5–60% of normal at 6 months for two RV-treated dogs, which was likely because of uptake of enzyme from blood by the mannose 6-phosphate receptor. The body weights of untreated MPS VII dogs are 50% of normal at 6 months. MPS VII dogs cannot walk or stand after 6 months, and progressively develop eye and heart disease. RV- and HGF/RV-treated MPS VII dogs achieved 87% and 84% of normal body weight, respectively. Treated animals could run at all times of evaluation for 6–17 months because of improvements in bone and joint abnormalities, and had little or no corneal clouding and no mitral valve thickening. Despite higher GUSB expression, the clinical improvements in the HGF/RV-treated dog were similar to those in the RV-treated animals. This is the first successful application of gene therapy in preventing the clinical manifestations of a lysosomal storage disease in a large animal

RoboEarth: connecting robots worldwide

In this paper, we present the core concept and the benefits of an approach called RoboEarth which will be highly beneficial for future robotic applications in science and industry. RoboEarth is a world-wide platform which robots can use to exchange position and map information as well as task-related, hardwareindependent action recipes. This will enable manufacturers worldwide to break down their costs and efforts for reproducing software algorithms for robot behavior over and over again. The RoboEarth framework can store all relevant data from algorithms to complex behavior descriptions what allows robots to act autonomously in an unknown, unspecified environment. Especially in the field of interaction with humans RoboEarth can bring forward the behavior of robots and simplify the software design for developers in that field

A proposal for a global task planning architecture using the RoboEarth cloud based framework

As robotic systems become more and more capable of assisting in human domains, methods are sought to compose robot executable plans from abstract human instructions. To cope with the semantically rich and highly expressive nature of human instructions, Hierarchical Task Network planning is often being employed along with domain knowledge to solve planning problems in a pragmatic way. Commonly, the domain knowledge is specific to the planning problem at hand, impeding re-use. Therefore this paper conceptualizes a global planning architecture, based on the worldwide accessible RoboEarth cloud framework. This architecture allows environmental state inference and plan monitoring on a global level. To enable plan re-use for future requests, the RoboEarth action language has been adapted to allow semantic matching of robot capabilities with previously composed plans

A proposal for a global task planning architecture using the RoboEarth cloud based framework

As robotic systems become more and more capable of assisting in human domains, methods are sought to compose robot executable plans from abstract human instructions. To cope with the semantically rich and highly expressive nature of human instructions, Hierarchical Task Network planning is often being employed along with domain knowledge to solve planning problems in a pragmatic way. Commonly, the domain knowledge is specific to the planning problem at hand, impeding re-use. Therefore this paper conceptualizes a global planning architecture, based on the worldwide accessible RoboEarth cloud framework. This architecture allows environmental state inference and plan monitoring on a global level. To enable plan re-use for future requests, the RoboEarth action language has been adapted to allow semantic matching of robot capabilities with previously composed plans

Web Mining to Create Semantic Content: A Case Study for the Environment

Part 7: First Mining Humanistic Data Workshop (MHDW 2012)International audienceIn this study, the goal is multifold. At first we present a summarized review of terms and facts regarding the branch of ecoinformatics, web mining and the semantic web. In Section 2 we provide some related work derived from the current literature upon the web mining and the production of semantic content. The main part of our work follows presenting a notional model for building semantic content through 2-level web mining. This is achieved in web sites containing environmental data. We conclude mentioning the importance of this contribution from different points of view