Precise coordinated planning enables safe and highly efficient motion when many robots must work together in tight spaces, but this would normally require centralised control of all devices which is difficult to scale. We demonstrate a new purely distributed technique based on Gaussian Belief Propagation on multi-robot planning problems formulated by a generic factor graph defining dynamics and collision constraints. We show that our method allows extremely high performance collaborative planning in a simulated road traffic scenario, where vehicles are able to cross each other at a busy multi-lane junction while maintaining much higher average speeds than alternative distributed planning techniques. We encourage the reader to view the accompanying video demonstration to this work at https://youtu.be/5d4LXbxgxaY.

Periodic time series (PTS) forecasting plays a crucial role in a variety of industries to foster critical tasks, such as early warning, pre-planning, resource scheduling, etc. However, the complicated dependencies of the PTS signal on its inherent periodicity as well as the sophisticated composition of various periods hinder the performance of PTS forecasting. In this paper, we introduce a deep expansion learning framework, DEPTS, for PTS forecasting. DEPTS starts with a decoupled formulation by introducing the periodic state as a hidden variable, which stimulates us to make two dedicated modules to tackle the aforementioned two challenges. First, we develop an expansion module on top of residual learning to perform a layer-by-layer expansion of those complicated dependencies. Second, we introduce a periodicity module with a parameterized periodic function that holds sufficient capacity to capture diversified periods. Moreover, our two customized modules also have certain interpretable capabilities, such as attributing the forecasts to either local momenta or global periodicity and characterizing certain core periodic properties, e.g., amplitudes and frequencies. Extensive experiments on both synthetic data and real-world data demonstrate the effectiveness of DEPTS on handling PTS. In most cases, DEPTS achieves significant improvements over the best baseline. Specifically, the error reduction can even reach up to 20% for a few cases. Finally, all codes are publicly available.

In this paper, an online task scheduling and mapping method based on a fuzzy neural network (FNN) learned by an evolutionary multi-objective algorithm (NSGA-II) to jointly optimize the main design challenges of heterogeneous MPSoCs is proposed. In this approach, first, the FNN parameters are trained using an NSGA-II-based optimization engine by considering the main design challenges of MPSoCs including temperature, power consumption, failure rate, and execution time on a training dataset consisting of different application graphs of various sizes. Next, the trained FNN is employed as an online task scheduler to jointly optimize the main design challenges in heterogeneous MPSoCs. Due to the uncertainty in sensor measurements and the difference between computational models and reality, applying the fuzzy neural network is advantageous in online scheduling procedures. The performance of the method is compared with some previous heuristic, meta-heuristic, and rule-based approaches in several experiments. Based on these experiments our proposed method outperforms the related studies in optimizing all design criteria. Its improvement over related heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches are estimated 10.58% in temperature, 9.22% in power consumption, 39.14% in failure rate, and 12.06% in execution time, averagely. Moreover, considering the interpretable nature of the FNN, the frequently fired extracted fuzzy rules of the proposed approach are demonstrated.

I was already familiar with the mechanics of goal setting when I began using Noom, a weight loss app, to prep for my daughter's wedding. My graduate work in psychology focused on goal setting, so I knew goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based). "Trying to lose weight" isn't a SMART goal because it isn't specific or time-based, but "losing 1 pound a week for five weeks" is. But I'd stopped setting specific, attainable goals during the decades-long crush of parenting and career. I didn't expect to be moved by a weekly text from a virtual coach and was surprised to feel compelled to respond to her goal request.

Autonomous robotic surgery requires deliberation, i.e. the ability to plan and execute a task adapting to uncertain and dynamic environments. Uncertainty in the surgical domain is mainly related to the partial pre-operative knowledge about patient-specific anatomical properties. In this paper, we introduce a logic-based framework for surgical tasks with deliberative functions of monitoring and learning. The DEliberative Framework for Robot-Assisted Surgery (DEFRAS) estimates a pre-operative patient-specific plan, and executes it while continuously measuring the applied force obtained from a biomechanical pre-operative model. Monitoring module compares this model with the actual situation reconstructed from sensors. In case of significant mismatch, the learning module is invoked to update the model, thus improving the estimate of the exerted force. DEFRAS is validated both in simulated and real environment with da Vinci Research Kit executing soft tissue retraction. Compared with state-of-the art related works, the success rate of the task is improved while minimizing the interaction with the tissue to prevent unintentional damage.

Robotic assembly planning enables architects to explicitly account for the assembly process during the design phase, and enables efficient building methods that profit from the robots' different capabilities. Previous work has addressed planning of robot assembly sequences and identifying the feasibility of architectural designs. This paper extends previous work by enabling planning with large, heterogeneous teams of robots. We present a planning system which enables parallelization of complex task and motion planning problems by iteratively solving smaller subproblems. Combining optimization methods to solve for manipulation constraints with a sampling-based bi-directional space-time path planner enables us to plan cooperative multi-robot manipulation with unknown arrival-times. Thus, our solver allows for completing subproblems and tasks with differing timescales and synchronizes them effectively. We demonstrate the approach on multiple case-studies to show the robustness over long planning horizons and scalability to many objects and agents of our algorithm. Finally, we also demonstrate the execution of the computed plans on two robot arms to showcase the feasibility in the real world.

We present a planning framework for minimising the deterministic worst-case error in sparse Gaussian process (GP) regression. We first derive a universal worst-case error bound for sparse GP regression with bounded noise using interpolation theory on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs). By exploiting the conditional independence (CI) assumption central to sparse GP regression, we show that the worst-case error minimisation can be achieved by solving a posterior entropy minimisation problem. In turn, the posterior entropy minimisation problem is solved using a Gaussian belief space planning algorithm. We corroborate the proposed worst-case error bound in a simple 1D example, and test the planning framework in simulation for a 2D vehicle in a complex flow field. Our results demonstrate that the proposed posterior entropy minimisation approach is effective in minimising deterministic error, and outperforms the conventional measurement entropy maximisation formulation when the inducing points are fixed.

Large efforts have focused on ensuring that the controllers for mobile service robots follow proxemics and other social rules to ensure both safe and socially acceptable distance to pedestrians. Nonetheless, involuntary contact may be unavoidable when the robot travels in crowded areas or when encountering adversarial pedestrians. Freezing the robot in response to contact might be detrimental to bystanders' safety and prevents it from achieving its task. Unavoidable contacts must hence be controlled to ensure the safe and smooth travelling of robots in pedestrian alleys. We present a force-limited and obstacle avoidance controller integrated into a time-invariant dynamical system (DS) in a closed-loop force controller that let the robot react instantaneously to contact or to the sudden appearance of pedestrians. Mitigating the risk of collision is done by modulating the velocity commands upon detecting a contact and by absorbing part of the contact force through active compliant control when the robot bumps inadvertently against a pedestrian. We evaluated our method with a personal mobility robot -- Qolo -- showing contact mitigation with passive and active compliance. We showed the robot able to overcome an adversarial pedestrian within 9 N of the set limit contact force for speeds under 1 m/s. Moreover, we evaluated integrated obstacle avoidance proving the ability to advance without incurring any other collision.

Operations in the telecommunications industry is often said to be one of the most complex aspects of the business to run, and the most successful telcos tend to be those that outperform at this task. It requires a simultaneous, coordinated, and dynamic approach across business units, each of which alone would be a giant business to run. In recent years, artificial intelligence has had the potential to simplify the task by optimizing various functions that make up operations. Telcos are only just beginning to utilize that promise, with operators finding success with AI solutions that help optimize service operations journeys, such as the in-store customer experience, call center use, and deployment of employees in stores, call centers, and the field. The intensely challenging economic landscape that telcos have had to navigate in recent years makes the prospect of investment in new solutions daunting.

Many large enterprises use one form or another of a supply chain application to help manage their supply chains. Supply chain vendors have been touting their investments in artificial intelligence (AI) for the last several years. Alex Pradhan, Product Strategy Leader John Galt Solutions, told me that "all planning vendors have bold marketing around AI." But the trick is to find suppliers with "field-proven AI/ML algorithms" that "have been delivered at scale." Further, while artificial intelligence helps solve certain types of problems, Jay Muelhoefer - the chief marketing officer at Kinaxis pointed out - optimization and heuristics work better for other types of planning problems. This article, which is focused on the different types of artificial intelligence used and the types of problems they are solving, is aimed at helping practitioners cut through the hype.