This paper presents a system composed by a set of tools that facilitate the work of disabled people in their work environment. The PANGEA platform was used to build the base architecture of the system, where each tool is designed as a collection of intelligent agents that offer the services as Web-services. Moreover, all the system is implemented as an Open MAS. In this paper two tools are presented in detail, the proximity detection tool and the translator tool for people with hearing impairments

Bajo Pérez, Javier

Morales Sánchez, Alejandro

Paz Santana, Juan Francisco de

Villarrubia González, Gabriel

Zato Domínguez, Davinia Carolina

De Paz, Juan F.

Gestion del Repositorio Documental de la Universidad de Salamanca

 S. Omatu et al. (Eds.): Distrib. Computing & Artificial Intelligence, AISC 217, pp. 369–376. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00551-5_45 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013 An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents for Improving the Labour Inclusion of Disabled People Alejandro Sánchez, Carolina Zato, Gabriel Villarrubia-González, Javier Bajo,  and Juan Francisco De Paz Departamento Informática y Automática, Universidad de Salamanca Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008, Salamanca, Spain  {sanchezyu,carol_zato,gvg,jbajope,fcofds}@usal.es  Abstract. This paper presents a system composed by a set of tools that facilitate the work of disabled people in their work environment. The PANGEA platform was used to build the base architecture of the system, where each tool is designed as a collection of intelligent agents that offer the services as Web-services. More-over, all the system is implemented as an Open MAS. In this paper two tools are presented in detail, the proximity detection tool and the translator tool for people with hearing impairments.   Keywords: personalization workplace, disabled people, open MAS, agent plat-form, Zigbee, proximity detection, localization. 1 Introduction Modern societies are characterized by two trends. The first is the rapid develop-ment of technologies, which has influenced our lives in many different ways. The second is the effort among governments, companies and associations toward enabling people with disabilities to have an independent life, which includes the possibility for remunerative employment. The effective integration of people with disabilities in the workplace is a huge challenge to society, and it presents an op-portunity to make use of new technologies. This paper presents a collection of tools that are being developed to formed an integral intelligent system. The different tools for the disabled people have been modelled with intelligent agents that use Web services. These agents are imple-mented and deployed within the PANGEA platform so they form an integral sys-tem that can be used regardless of their physical location or implementation. This project aims to develop new technologies that contribute to the employment of groups of people with visual, hearing or motor disabilities in office environments.  Some of these tools are a head mouse to control the mouse with the eyes, a vibra-tor bracelet to send Morse messages, an avatar for the hearing impaired, a location system, etc. But due to space limitation, in this paper just an avatar and a proximi-ty detection tool are presented. 370 A. Sánchez et al.  The rest of the paper is structured as follows: The next section introduces the basis of open MAS and the PANGEA platform. Section 3 presents the proximity prototype tool. Section 4 explains the translator tool. Next, section 5 presents a case study. Finally, in section 6 some conclusions are presented. 2 Open MAS  Open MAS can be understood as the following step in multi-agent systems. These are systems in which the structure is able to change dynamically. Its components are not known a priori, change over time and may be heterogeneous. The open MAS must allow the participation of heterogeneous agents with different architec-tures and even languages [18]. This makes it difficult to rely on the agents' beha-vior, and necessitates controls based on societal norms or rules. The proposed system has been designed as an open MAS.  Nowadays, there are many multi-agent systems which help and facilitate the work with the agents [1,8,5]. The only inconvenience of these systems is that they are for general purpose. The architecture that will be used in this paper must be able to assume the tasks for the integration of the persons with disabilities to the workplace. In this line, the most known works are: • The European project CommonWell [2] proposes an architecture to support European citizens with limited mobility, or a hearing or visual impairment. However, it focuses on the elderly and does not incorporate either advanced adaptive interfaces or identification and localization elements.  • The European project DTV4A11 [3] proposes the use of digital television to integrate persons with disabilities, but it relies on the television as the only me-chanisms to provide services.  • The European project MonAMI [15] proposes a global framework to offer ser-vices to the elderly and handicapped, but it focuses on providing these individ-uals with a more independent lifestyle.  At a Spanish national level we can find: • The DISCATEL project [4] aims to incorporate persons with disabilities to Contact Centers or allow them to telecommute from their home or residence.  • The INREDIS project (Interfaces for the Relationship between people with Disabilities) [11] is a CENIT project headed by Technosite, which is investigat-ing the concept of using personal devices with interoperability and ubiquitous characteristics to strengthen accessibility of persons with disabilities..  • The eVia platform has the INCLUTEC [10] study group, which is oriented toward analysis, and promotes the use and development of mobility mechan-isms, such as assisted wheelchairs and specialized vehicle, alternative and en-hanced communication, manipulation, and cognition.  None of this multiagent platforms shown previously, adapt to our requirements because most of them focus on the elderly or on the social integration of people with disabilities, instead of our goal, which is the labor inclusion of this kind of An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents  371  people. PANGEA architecture whose novelty is a dynamic and adaptable architec-ture capable of integrating new services for incorporating persons with visual, hearing, or mobile impairments into the workforce. 2.1 Description of PANGEA PANGEA [20] is a service oriented platform that allows the implemented open MAS to take maximum advantage of the distribution of resources. To this end, all services are implemented as Web Services. Due to its service orientation, different tools modeled with agents that consume Web services can be integrated and oper-ated from the platform, regardless of their physical location or implementation. This makes it possible for the platform to include both a service provider agent and a consumer agent, thus emulating a client-server architecture. The provider agent (a general agent that provides a service) knows how to contact the web ser-vice, while the remaining agents know how to contact with the provider agent due to their communication with the ServiceAgent, which contains information about services.  Once the client agent’s request has been received, the provider agent extracts the required parameters and establishes contact. Once received, the results are sent to the client agent. Using Web Services also allows the platform to introduce the SOA (Service-oriented Architecture) [12] into MAS systems. SOA is an architec-tural style for building applications that use services available in a network such as the web. It promotes loose coupling between software components so that they can be reused. Applications in SOA are built based on services. 3 Proximity Detection Tool The proximity detection system is based on the detection of presence using the ZigBee Technology [19]. Every computer in the room must have a Zigbee router assigned, and the system have to know their exact positions at every moment. Furthermore, all the users have to carry a Zigbee tag (Figure 1), which is responsi-ble for the identifying each of them. Once the Zigbee tag carried by the person has been detected and identified, its location is delimited within the proximity of the sensor that identified it.   Fig. 1 Zigbee tags 372   The agents that compotion inside PANGEA, eacservice) modeled as WebJava, while the agents ofnesC.  Every user in the propZigBeeReaderAgent locatnication with the ClientCoto a specific terminal (wsignal), the ZigBeeReademessage to the ClientCommeasuring the receiving snegative values. If valuesmoves away the workplacomputers, the Wake-on-infrastructure [16] [13].  Next, this agent commwhich consults the databComputerAgent. The Clieto invoke the Web Servicuser’s profile. In Figure 2 the interfactroller has options to maninformation about the idethe communication proces Fig. 2 Interface of the systemA. Sánchez et ased the tool are deployed in a specialized suborganizh one of these agents offer services (like a localizatio Services. The platform agents are implemented wit the detection prototype are implemented in .NET anosed system carries a Zigbee tag, which is detected by ed in each system terminal and continuously in commumputerAgent. Thus, when a user tag is sufficiently closithin a range defined according to the strength of thrAgent can detect the user tag and immediately send puterAgent. The parameter RSSI is the responsible oignal strength. The values fluctuate from an initial 0 t are close 0, the user tag is near a computer. If the usece, values begin to be negatives. For switching on thLAN protocol is used due to the system uses a LAunicates the tag identification to the UsersProfileAgenase to create the xml file that is returned to the ClienntComputerAgent then interacts with the ServiceAgenes needed to personalize the computer according to the of the tool is shown. In the upper part, the main conage computers, events, sensors and users. And below, thntification once the ClientComputerAgent has finishes with the UsersProfileAgent.   l.a-n h d a -e e  a f o r e N t, t-t e -e d  An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents  373  4 Translator Tool This tool emerged as a result of the difficulty encountered by employers in com-municating to their hearing impaired employees the actions that they have to do in their jobs. Given the ineffectiveness of avatar translators, the solution chosen was to study the main communication needs and provide some recorded videos with commands and explanations specifically related to the performance of a particular job.  Once the computer has been switched on and personalized thanks to the prox-imity detection tool, the worker with a hearing impairment will see automatically the avatar on his screen. As can be seen in the figure 3, the avatar appears on the screen to indicate to the user the tasks that must be performed on this workday. The boss can send the tasks through email or text message, and the worker will receive them on the computer screen.   Fig. 3 Avatar of the translator tool The issuing agents, deployed on both Smartphones (Android or iPhone) or computers, will be responsible for playing the video required at each moment. Receptor agents, also available for Smartphones or computers, will be responsible for capturing by text or by voice, the command or instruction that the employer wishes to transmit to the disabled employee. In PANGEA, the translator agent is called VideoTranslatorAgent and it is dep-loyed within the suborganization TranslatorOrganization. VideoTranslatorAgent is responsible for receiving the instruction and mapping the specific video used by the emitter agent who is requesting the transfer. The figure 4 shows all the agents involved in the functioning of the tool. 374 A. Sánchez et al.   Fig. 4 Agents of the translator tool deployed in PANGEA 5 Case Study All the tests have been centered on the final user. Tests have been carried out with individuals with different disabilities and a user profile exists for each person. User profiles stored data related to applications that are useful to users. These data can be classified according to the application, as shown in the following table. Table 1 Data stored to personalize the computer ScreenParameter Value Descriptionusage Preferred/unpreferred Field to describe if this tool is used. invertColourChoice 1/0 Field to describe if the colors are inverted. magnification 1-200 Field to describe the level of magnification the user want on the screen. AvatarParameter Value Descriptionusage Preferred/unpreferred Field to describe if this tool is used. velocity 1-10 Field to describe the speed of the signs. suze 1-10 Field to indicate the size of the avatar localization  1-10 Field to where the avatar is displayed on the screen An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents  375  Table 1 (continued) LanguageParameter Value Descriptionlenguage ISO 3166-1 alfa-3 Field to describe the user's language Virtual KeyboardParameter Value Descriptionusage Preferred/unpreferred Field to describe if this tool is used. Head MouseParameter Value Descriptionusage Preferred/unpreferred Field to describe if this tool is used. cursorAcceleration 1-10 Field to describe the  accelerating the cursor. cursorSpeed 1-10 Field to describe the speed of the cursor The tests have helped us to fix the correct values and to refine the functioning of these tools.  6 Conclusions This system is specifically oriented to facilitate the integration of people with disabilities into the workplace. Thanks of the PANGEA platform, the system can be easily designed and deployed since the platform itself provides agents and tools for the control and management of any kind of open MAS or VO. Moreover, the platform makes it possible to deploy different agents, even those included in the mobile devices, and communicates with the agents embedded in the Zigbee sen-sors. On the other hand, due to the based-on-services PANGEA implementation, the system has a high scalability and more tools can be added easily. The presented system offers a multiagent system which is able to communicate with a proximity detection system and to personalize the workspace to improve the adaptation to the company flow. This individual adaptation allows that, what-ever the disability the person has, the workplace will be adapted automatically, facilitating his productivity and removing the existing barriers, as the case of turn-ing on the computer with the proximity detection system. Moreover, the translator tool will facilitate the communication in case the worker has hearing impairments. Acknowledgements. This research has been supported by the project OVAMAH (TIN2009-13839-C03-03) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. References 1. Agent Oriented Software Pty Ltd., JACKTM Intelligent Agents Teams Manual. Agent Oriented Software Pty Ltd. (2005) 2. CommonWell Project (2010), http://commonwell.eu/index.php 376 A. Sánchez et al.  3. Digital Television for All project (2010), http://www.psp-dtv4all.org/ 4. DISCATEL (2010),  http://www.imsersounifor.org/proyectodiscatel/ 5. Galland, S.: JANUS: Another Yet General-Purpose Multiagent Platform. Seventh AOSE Technical Forum, Paris (2010) 6. Giunchiglia, F., Mylopoulos, J., Perini, A.: The tropos software development metho-dology: Processes, models and diagrams. In: Giunchiglia, F., Odell, J.J., Weiss, G. (eds.) AOSE 2002. LNCS, vol. 2585, pp. 162–173. Springer, Heidelberg (2003) 7. Huang, Y., Pang, A.: A Comprehensive Study of Low-power Operation in IEEE 802.15.4. In: Proceeding of the 10th ACM Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Si-mulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems, Chaina, Crete Island, Greece (2007) 8. Hübner, J.F.: J -Moise+ Programming organisational agents with Moise+ & Jason. Technical Fora Group at EUMAS 2007 (2007) 9. Ilyas, M., Dorf, R.C.: The handbook of ad hoc wireless networks. CRC Press Inc.,  Boca Raton (2003) 10. INCLUTEC (2011), http://www.idi.aetic.es/evia/es/inicio/  contenidos/documentacion/documentacion_grupos_de_trabajo/  contenido.aspx  11. INREDIS (2011), http://www.inredis.es/ 12. Josuttis, N.M.: SOA in Practice. O´Reilly Media, Inc. (2007) 13. Lieberman, P.: Wake on LAN Technology, White paper (2011),  http://www.liebsoft.com/pdfs/Wake_On_LAN.pdf 14. Martin, D., et al.: OWL-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services, W3C Member Sub-mission (2004), http://www.w3.org/Submission/OWL-S/ 15. Monami project (2010), http://www.monami.info/ 16. Nedevschi, S., Chandrashekar, J., Liu, J., Nordman, B., Ratnasamy, S., Taft, N.: Skilled in the art of being idle: reducing energy waste in networked systems. In: Pro-ceedings of the 6th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Imple-mentation, Boston, Massachusetts, pp. 381–394 (2009) 17. Razavi, R., Perrot, J.-F., Guelfi, N.: Adaptive modeling: An approach and a method for implementing adaptive agents. In: Ishida, T., Gasser, L., Nakashima, H. (eds.) MMAS 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3446, pp. 136–148. Springer, Heidelberg (2005) 18. Zambonelli, F., Jennings, N.R., Wooldridge, M.: Developing multiagent systems: The Gaia methodology. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodolo-gy 12(3), 317–370 (2003) 19. ZigBee Standards Organization: ZigBee Specification Document 053474r13. ZigBee Alliance (2006) 20. Zato, C., et al.: PANGEA – platform for automatic coNstruction of orGanizations of intElligent agents. In: Omatu, S., Paz Santana, J.F., González, S.R., Molina, J.M., Ber-nardos, A.M., Rodríguez, J.M.C. (eds.) Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelli-gence. AISC, vol. 151, pp. 229–240. Springer, Heidelberg (2012) 

An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents for Improving the Labour Inclusion of Disabled People

https://gredos.usal.es/bitstream/10366/135167/1/10.1007_978-3-319-00551-5_45.pdf

An Integral System Based on Open Organization of Agents for Improving the Labour Inclusion of Disabled People

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Gestion del Repositorio Documental de la Universidad de Salamanca