Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
for different functionalities (teaching, advice, supporting domestic activities, assisting
of elderly persons, etc.).
Advanced intelligence.
The assistance of persons, the interaction with them and with
environment, the co-working in every day tasks are complex activities that require from
robots advanced cognitive capabilities.
To comply their role, service-robots should be able to perceive, to recognize and to
integrate in real time a wide range of information coming from different agents
(persons, objects, environment, other robots), to associate these data to events, tasks
and contexts previously memorized and modelled and to carry out actions suited for the
specific situation.
Moreover, in case the robot is in unknown contexts, it should memorize the new
condition, act adopting strategies conceived to avoid the onset of dangerous events and
learn the consequences and feedback of this novel condition. Elaborating these data it
will model and plan the most suited intervention strategies for this specific context.
This kind of advanced intelligence required capabilities of:
processing and integration of information coming from different sensors;
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categorization and recognition of objects, persons, environmental context,
events and tasks;
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assessment of situations;
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planning and modelling of conditions;
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learning;
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decision making;
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acting (movements, manipulation, advices, tasks, provision of feedback).
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Autonomy.
A very important feature needed for service-robots is the capacity to
manage themselves autonomously. All robot aspects concerning to its maintenance
should not be dependant on users. Service-robots should be able to self-calibrate
themselves, to optimize their running and power consuming, to recognize if any of its
components is not working properly, to self-evaluate the error and the possible causes,
to analyze failures, to repair some of possible malfunctions.
According to these ideas, the next scientific challenge is the development of zero-
maintenance service-robots.
Mobility and navigation in multi (and rough) terrains and in cluttered dynamic
environments.
Because of their role, service-robots should work together with persons
in every context. Considering that in most of cases terrains do not maintain the same
appearance for long and that position of objects and persons in the space change
dynamically, service-robots should be designed and programmed to move on different
kinds of grounds, to recognize obstacles present along the path and to change their way
in order to avoid them.
To carry out navigation, it is fundamental that robot is conscious about its position
both in open spaces and also in indoor environments. For this reason GPS components
for indoor and outdoor navigation should be designed and installed on the robots and,
in addition, the information exchange between robot and smart environments is
fundamental. So scientific challenges related to navigation are:
