DART: Diversity-enhanced Autonomy in Robot Teams

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (12-13) ◽  
pp. 1329-1337
Author(s):  
Nora Ayanian
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Robot Teams ◽  
Military Applications ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Controlled Environments ◽  
Multi Robot

This paper defines the research area of Diversity-enhanced Autonomy in Robot Teams (DART), a novel paradigm for the creation and design of policies for multi-robot coordination. Although current approaches to multi-robot coordination have been successful in structured, well-understood environments, they have not been successful in unstructured, uncertain environments, such as disaster response. Although robot hardware has advanced significantly in the past decade, the way we solve multi-robot problems has not. Even with significant advances in the field of multi-robot systems, the same problem-solving paradigm has remained: assumptions are made to simplify the problem, and a solution is optimized for those assumptions and deployed to the entire team. This results in brittle solutions that prove incapable if the original assumptions are invalidated. This paper introduces a new multi-robot problem-solving paradigm which uses a diverse set of control policies that work together synergistically within the same team of robots. Such an approach will make multi-robot systems more robust in unstructured and uncertain environments, such as in disaster response, environmental monitoring, and military applications, and allow multi-robot systems to extend beyond the highly structured and highly controlled environments where they are successful today.

Issues in the scaling of multi-robot systems for general problem solving

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Gustafson ◽  
David A. Gustafson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Multi Robot

scholarly journals Applications of DEC-MDPs in Multi-Robot Systems

Robotics ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 143-165
Author(s):  
Aurélie Beynier ◽  
Abdel-Illah Mouaddib
Keyword(s):  
Decentralized Control ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Decision Problems ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Markov Decision ◽  
Partially Observable ◽  
Multi Robot

Optimizing the operation of cooperative multi-robot systems that can cooperatively act in large and complex environments has become an important focal area of research. This issue is motivated by many applications involving a set of cooperative robots that have to decide in a decentralized way how to execute a large set of tasks in partially observable and uncertain environments. Such decision problems are encountered while developing exploration rovers, teams of patrolling robots, rescue-robot colonies, mine-clearance robots, et cetera. In this chapter, we introduce problematics related to the decentralized control of multi-robot systems. We first describe some applicative domains and review the main characteristics of the decision problems the robots must deal with. Then, we review some existing approaches to solve problems of multiagent decentralized control in stochastic environments. We present the Decentralized Markov Decision Processes and discuss their applicability to real-world multi-robot applications. Then, we introduce OC-DEC-MDPs and 2V-DEC-MDPs which have been developed to increase the applicability of DEC-MDPs.

scholarly journals Towards adaptive multi-robot systems: self-organization and self-adaptation

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher-Eyk Hrabia ◽  
Marco Lützenberger ◽  
Sahin Albayrak
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Real World Application ◽  
Emergent Systems ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Self Adaptation ◽  
And Robotics ◽  
Multi Robot

AbstractThe development of complex systems ensembles that operate in uncertain environments is a major challenge. The reason for this is that system designers are not able to fully specify the system during specification and development and before it is being deployed. Natural swarm systems enjoy similar characteristics, yet, being self-adaptive and being able to self-organize, these systems show beneficial emergent behaviour. Similar concepts can be extremely helpful for artificial systems, especially when it comes to multi-robot scenarios, which require such solution in order to be applicable to highly uncertain real world application. In this article, we present a comprehensive overview over state-of-the-art solutions in emergent systems, self-organization, self-adaptation, and robotics. We discuss these approaches in the light of a framework for multi-robot systems and identify similarities, differences missing links and open gaps that have to be addressed in order to make this framework possible.

Distributed Task Allocation in Multi-Robot Systems Using Argumentation-Based Negotiation

2012 ◽  
Vol 463-464 ◽  
pp. 1238-1241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Lolu ◽  
Aurelian Stanescu ◽  
Mihnea Moisescu ◽  
Ioan Stefan Sacala
Keyword(s):  
Task Allocation ◽  
Automated Negotiation ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Contract Net Protocol ◽  
Contract Net ◽  
Weakly Coupled ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Distributed Task Allocation ◽  
Coupled Tasks ◽  
Multi Robot

The continuous growing of application’s complexity and increased interest in automated negotiation brought recently researcher’s attention to persuasive negotiation (PN) and argumentation-based negotiation (ABN). The Market-based approach has gained popularity in the last decade due to its flexibility, speed and robustness. Contract Net protocol inspired algorithms have been proved suitable for allocating weakly coupled tasks in robot teams, but there are still some challenges when addressing complex application in uncertain environments. In this context the purpose of the paper is to present a method to allocate tasks in multi-robot systems through the use of augmentation- based negotiation.

Decentralized decision making in adaptive multi-robot teams

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Geihs ◽  
Andreas Witsch
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Coherent Integration ◽  
Robot Teams ◽  
Decentralized Decision Making ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Application Requirements ◽  
Multi Robot

Abstract We present our decision support middleware PROViDE that facilitates decentralized decision making in multi-robot teams operating in highly dynamic environments with potentially unreliable communication channels and noisy sensors. Achieving an adaptive team behavior in such an environment is a challenge because the specific conditions require a fully decentralized decision process. The design of PROViDE borrows inspiration from human decision making processes. PROViDE supports replication of proposals, conflict resolution, and final team-decision making. For each of these steps a choice of methods is offered to the developer to provide flexibility for different application requirements and characteristics of execution environments. PROViDE is integrated into a comprehensive modeling framework for multi-robot systems. The main contributions of this paper are twofold: For the development of adaptive multi-robot teams we discuss requirements for a middleware that supports decentralized decision making in dynamic and adverse environments, and we demonstrate the effective and coherent integration of a set of domain-dependent decision support protocols into a middleware framework.

A Review on Fast Dissolving Tablet

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagar T. Malsane ◽  
Smita S. Aher ◽  
R. B. Saudagar
Keyword(s):  
Drug Delivery ◽  
Patient Compliance ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Oral Route ◽  
Dosage Forms ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
Orally Disintegrating Tablets ◽  
Novel Drug ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Oral route is presently the gold standard in the pharmaceutical industry where it is regarded as the safest, most economical and most convenient method of drug delivery resulting in highest patient compliance. Over the past three decades, orally disintegrating tablets (FDTs) have gained considerable attention due to patient compliance. Usually, elderly people experience difficulty in swallowing the conventional dosage forms like tablets, capsules, solutions and suspensions because of tremors of extremities and dysphagia. In some cases such as motion sickness, sudden episodes of allergic attack or coughing, and an unavailability of water, swallowing conventional tablets may be difficult. One such problem can be solved in the novel drug delivery system by formulating “Fast dissolving tablets” (FDTs) which disintegrates or dissolves rapidly without water within few seconds in the mouth due to the action of superdisintegrant or maximizing pore structure in the formulation. The review describes the various formulation aspects, superdisintegrants employed and technologies developed for FDTs, along with various excipients, evaluation tests, marketed formulation and drugs used in this research area.

Truth Matters: Cognitive Integrity as an Intervention for Self-Deception

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Isabel Gorlin ◽  
Michael W. Otto
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Empirical Validation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adaptive Problem

To live well in the present, we take direction from the past. Yet, individuals may engage in a variety of behaviors that distort their past and current circumstances, reducing the likelihood of adaptive problem solving and decision making. In this article, we attend to self-deception as one such class of behaviors. Drawing upon research showing both the maladaptive consequences and self-perpetuating nature of self-deception, we propose that self-deception is an understudied risk and maintaining factor for psychopathology, and we introduce a “cognitive-integrity”-based approach that may hold promise for increasing the reach and effectiveness of our existing therapeutic interventions. Pending empirical validation of this theoretically-informed approach, we posit that patients may become more informed and autonomous agents in their own therapeutic growth by becoming more honest with themselves.

An exploration of target L2 morphemes in the oral production of young EFL learners in Croatia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena O'Reilly ◽  
Eva Jakupčević
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Simple Construction ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
The Past ◽  
Base Form ◽  
Production Study ◽  
Efl Students

Although the second language (L2) acquisition of morphology by late L2 learners has been a popular research area over the past decades, comparatively little is known about the acquisition and development of morphology in children who learn English as a foreign language (EFL). Therefore, the current study presents the findings from a longitudinal oral production study with 9/10-year-old L1 Croatian EFL students who were followed up at the age of 11/12. Our results are largely in line with the limited research so far in this area: young EFL learners have few issues using the be copula and, eventually, the irregular past simple forms, but had considerable problems with accurately supplying the 3rd person singular -s at both data collection points. We also observed a be + base form structure, especially at the earlier stage, which appears to be an emergent past simple construction.

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