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Di Rocco, Maurizio
Publications (10 of 19) Show all publications
Dragone, M., Amato, G., Bacciu, D., Chessa, S., Coleman, S., Di Rocco, M., . . . Vance, P. (2015). A cognitive robotic ecology approach to self-configuring and evolving AAL systems. Engineering applications of artificial intelligence, 45, 269-280
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A cognitive robotic ecology approach to self-configuring and evolving AAL systems
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2015 (English)In: Engineering applications of artificial intelligence, ISSN 0952-1976, E-ISSN 1873-6769, Vol. 45, p. 269-280Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Robotic ecologies are systems made out of several robotic devices, including mobile robots, wireless sensors and effectors embedded in everyday environments, where they cooperate to achieve complex tasks. This paper demonstrates how endowing robotic ecologies with information processing algorithms such as perception, learning, planning, and novelty detection can make these systems able to deliver modular, flexible, manageable and dependable Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions. Specifically, we show how the integrated and self-organising cognitive solutions implemented within the EU project RUBICON (Robotic UBIquitous Cognitive Network) can reduce the need of costly pre-programming and maintenance of robotic ecologies. We illustrate how these solutions can be harnessed to (i) deliver a range of assistive services by coordinating the sensing & acting capabilities of heterogeneous devices, (ii) adapt and tune the overall behaviour of the ecology to the preferences and behaviour of its inhabitants, and also (iii) deal with novel events, due to the occurrence of new user's activities and changing user's habits.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Pergamon-Elsevier Science, 2015
Keywords
Robotic ecology, Ambient assisted living, Cognitive robotics, Machine learning, Planning
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-46286 (URN)10.1016/j.engappai.2015.07.004 (DOI)000362130500021 ()2-s2.0-84941034110 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding Agency:

European project RUBICON (Robotic UBIquitous COgnitive Network) 269914

Note: The "Alessandro Faedo" Institute of Information Science and Technology (ISTI) is an institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR)

Available from: 2015-10-23 Created: 2015-10-23 Last updated: 2018-07-02Bibliographically approved
Amato, G., Bacciu, D., Broxvall, M., Chessa, S., Coleman, S., Di Rocco, M., . . . Vance, P. (2015). Robotic Ubiquitous Cognitive Ecology for Smart Homes. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 80, S57-S81
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Robotic Ubiquitous Cognitive Ecology for Smart Homes
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2015 (English)In: Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, ISSN 0921-0296, E-ISSN 1573-0409, Vol. 80, p. S57-S81Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Robotic ecologies are networks of heterogeneous robotic devices pervasively embedded in everyday environments, where they cooperate to perform complex tasks. While their potential makes them increasingly popular, one fundamental problem is how to make them both autonomous and adaptive, so as to reduce the amount of preparation, pre-programming and human supervision that they require in real world applications. The project RUBICON develops learning solutions which yield cheaper, adaptive and efficient coordination of robotic ecologies. The approach we pursue builds upon a unique combination of methods from cognitive robotics, machine learning, planning and agent-based control, and wireless sensor networks. This paper illustrates the innovations advanced by RUBICON in each of these fronts before describing how the resulting techniques have been integrated and applied to a proof of concept smart home scenario. The resulting system is able to provide useful services and pro-actively assist the users in their activities. RUBICON learns through an incremental and progressive approach driven by the feedback received from its own activities and from the user, while also self-organizing the manner in which it uses available sensors, actuators and other functional components in the process. This paper summarises some of the lessons learned by adopting such an approach and outlines promising directions for future work.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2015
Keywords
Robotic ecology, Networked robotics, Ambient assisted living, Cognitive robotics, Wireless sensor and actuator networks, Home automation, Activity recognition, Activity discovery
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-47986 (URN)10.1007/s10846-015-0178-2 (DOI)000368189000005 ()2-s2.0-84953359131 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding Agency:

EU FP7 RUBICON project 269914

Available from: 2016-02-05 Created: 2016-02-05 Last updated: 2018-07-03Bibliographically approved
Di Rocco, M., Sathyakeerthy, S., Grosinger, J., Pecora, F., Saffiotti, A., Bonaccorsi, M., . . . Dario, P. (2014). A Planner for Ambient Assisted Living: From High-Level Reasoning to Low-Level Robot Execution and Back. In: Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium: . Paper presented at AAAI Spring Symposium on Qualitative Representations for Robots, Palo Alto, USA, March 23-25, 2014. AAAI Press
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A Planner for Ambient Assisted Living: From High-Level Reasoning to Low-Level Robot Execution and Back
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2014 (English)In: Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium, AAAI Press, 2014Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Robot ecologies are a growing paradigm in which oneor several robotic systems are integrated into a smartenvironment. Robotic ecologies hold great promises forelderly assistance. Planning the activities of these systems,however, is not trivial, and requires considerationof issues like temporal and information dependenciesamong different parts of the ecology, exogenous actions,and multiple, dynamic goals. We describe a plannerable to cope with the above challenges. We showin particular how this planner has been incorporatedin closed-loop into a full robotic system that performsdaily tasks in support of elderly people. The full robotecology is deployed in a test apartment inside a real residentialbuilding, and it is currently undergoing an extensiveuser evaluation.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
AAAI Press, 2014
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-41649 (URN)
Conference
AAAI Spring Symposium on Qualitative Representations for Robots, Palo Alto, USA, March 23-25, 2014
Projects
Robot-Era
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme, 288899
Available from: 2015-01-15 Created: 2015-01-15 Last updated: 2023-05-17Bibliographically approved
Cavallo, F., Limosani, R., Manzi, A., Bonaccorsi, M., Esposito, R., Di Rocco, M., . . . Dario, P. (2014). Development of a socially believable multi-robot solution from town to home. Cognitive Computation, 6(4), 954-967
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Development of a socially believable multi-robot solution from town to home
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2014 (English)In: Cognitive Computation, ISSN 1866-9956, E-ISSN 1866-9964, Vol. 6, no 4, p. 954-967Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Technological advances in the robotic and ICT fields represent an effective solution to address specific societal problems to support ageing and independent life. One of the key factors for these technologies is that they have to be socially acceptable and believable to the end-users. This paper aimed to present some technological aspects that have been faced to develop the Robot-Era system, a multi-robotic system that is able to act in a socially believable way in the environments daily inhabited by humans, such as urban areas, buildings and homes. In particular, this paper focuses on two services-shopping delivery and garbage collection-showing preliminary results on experiments conducted with 35 elderly people. The analysis adopts an end-user-oriented perspective, considering some of the main attributes of acceptability: usability, attitude, anxiety, trust and quality of life.

Keywords
Service robotics, Social robotics, Multi-robot cooperation, Smart environments, Ambient-assisted living
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-41121 (URN)10.1007/s12559-014-9290-z (DOI)000345994900025 ()2-s2.0-84916206718 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme, 288899
Available from: 2015-01-13 Created: 2015-01-13 Last updated: 2018-01-11Bibliographically approved
Khaliq, A. A., Di Rocco, M. & Saffiotti, A. (2014). Stigmergic algorithms for multiple minimalistic robots on an RFID floor. Swarm Intelligence, 8(3), 199-225
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Stigmergic algorithms for multiple minimalistic robots on an RFID floor
2014 (English)In: Swarm Intelligence, ISSN 1935-3820, Vol. 8, no 3, p. 199-225Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Stigmergy is a powerful principle in nature, which has been shown to have interesting applications to robotic systems. By leveraging the ability to store information in the environment, robots with minimal sensing, memory, and computational capabilities can solve complex problems like global path planning. In this paper, we discuss the use of stigmergy in minimalist multi-robot systems, in which robots do not need to use any internal model, long-range sensing, or position awareness. We illustrate our discussion with three case studies: building a globally optimal navigation map, building a gradient map of a sensed feature, and updating the above maps dynamically. All case studies have been implemented in a real environment with multiple ePuck robots, using a floor with 1,500 embedded radio frequency identification tags as the stigmergic medium. Results collected from tens of hours of real experiments and thousands of simulated runs demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Keywords
Stigmergy, RFID tags, Multi-robot systems, Minimalistic robots, Robot navigation, Path planning, Robotic olfaction
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-37870 (URN)10.1007/s11721-014-0096-0 (DOI)000342123500002 ()2-s2.0-84904521380 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2014-10-22 Created: 2014-10-20 Last updated: 2018-01-11Bibliographically approved
Di Rocco, M., Pecora, F., Sivakumar, P. K. & Saffiotti, A. (2013). Configuration Planning with Multiple Dynamic Goals. In: Designing intelligent robots: Reintegrating AI II. Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium. Paper presented at AAAI Spring Symposium on Designing Intelligent Robots, March 25-27, 2013 (pp. 12-17). AAAI Press
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Configuration Planning with Multiple Dynamic Goals
2013 (English)In: Designing intelligent robots: Reintegrating AI II. Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium, AAAI Press, 2013, p. 12-17Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

We propose an approach to configuration planning for robotic systems in which plans are represented as constraint networks and planning is defined as search in the space of such networks. The approach supports reasoning about time, resources, and information dependencies between actions. In addition, the system can leverage the flexibility of such networks at execution time to support dynamic goal posting and re-planning.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
AAAI Press, 2013
National Category
Computer Sciences Robotics
Research subject
Computer Science; Computer and Systems Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-31169 (URN)9781577356011 (ISBN)
Conference
AAAI Spring Symposium on Designing Intelligent Robots, March 25-27, 2013
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme
Available from: 2013-10-09 Created: 2013-10-09 Last updated: 2023-05-11Bibliographically approved
Sathyakeerthy, S., Di Rocco, M., Pecora, F. & Saffiotti, A. (2013). Scaling up ubiquitous robotic systems from home to town (and beyond). In: UbiComp '13 Adjunct Proceedings of the 2013 ACM conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing adjunct publication: . Paper presented at ACM conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing (pp. 107-110). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Scaling up ubiquitous robotic systems from home to town (and beyond)
2013 (English)In: UbiComp '13 Adjunct Proceedings of the 2013 ACM conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing adjunct publication, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2013, p. 107-110Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2013
National Category
Robotics
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-31167 (URN)10.1145/2494091.2494121 (DOI)978-1-4503-2215-7 (ISBN)
Conference
ACM conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme
Available from: 2013-10-09 Created: 2013-10-09 Last updated: 2018-03-05Bibliographically approved
Khaliq, A. A., Di Rocco, M. & Saffiotti, A. (2013). Stigmergic Algorithms for Simple Robotic Devices (Extended abstract). In: Workshop on Unconventional Approaches to Robotics, Automation and Control Inspired by Nature (ICRA 2013): . Paper presented at Workshop on Unconventional Approaches to Robotics, Automation and Control Inspired by Nature (ICRA 2013), 6-10 May, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Stigmergic Algorithms for Simple Robotic Devices (Extended abstract)
2013 (English)In: Workshop on Unconventional Approaches to Robotics, Automation and Control Inspired by Nature (ICRA 2013), 2013Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

This position paper is meant to discuss the use of stigmergy in minimalist robotic systems, and to argue for a methodological approach based on the combination of formal analysis and empirical evaluation. In the full paper we will illustrate this approach in three case studies: building a globally optimal navigation map, building a gas concentration gradient map, and updating the above maps dynamically. All case studies have been implemented in a real environment with inexpensive robots, using an RFID floor as the stigmergic medium.

Keywords
Stigmergic algorithms, robotics, multi-robots
National Category
Computer Sciences Engineering and Technology
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-40712 (URN)
Conference
Workshop on Unconventional Approaches to Robotics, Automation and Control Inspired by Nature (ICRA 2013), 6-10 May, Karlsruhe, Germany
Available from: 2015-06-22 Created: 2015-01-10 Last updated: 2018-01-11Bibliographically approved
Di Rocco, M., La Gala, F. & Ulivi, G. (2013). Testing Multirobot Algorithms SAETTA: A Small and Cheap Mobile Unit. IEEE robotics & automation magazine, 20(2), 52-62
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Testing Multirobot Algorithms SAETTA: A Small and Cheap Mobile Unit
2013 (English)In: IEEE robotics & automation magazine, ISSN 1070-9932, E-ISSN 1558-223X, Vol. 20, no 2, p. 52-62Article in journal (Other academic) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Piscataway, USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2013
National Category
Robotics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-24064 (URN)10.1109/MRA.2012.2185991 (DOI)000320198700010 ()
Available from: 2012-07-10 Created: 2012-07-10 Last updated: 2018-05-15Bibliographically approved
Di Rocco, M., Pecora, F. & Saffiotti, A. (2013). When Robots are Late: Configuration Planning for Multiple Robots with Dynamic Goals. In: 2013 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS): . Paper presented at IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Tokyo, Japan, 3-7 November, 2013 (pp. 5915-5922). IEEE
Open this publication in new window or tab >>When Robots are Late: Configuration Planning for Multiple Robots with Dynamic Goals
2013 (English)In: 2013 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS), IEEE, 2013, p. 5915-5922Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Unexpected contingencies in robot execution may induce a cascade of effects, especially when multiple robots are involved. In order to effectively adapt to this, robots need the ability to reason along multiple dimensions at execution time. We propose an approach to closed-loop planning capable of generating configuration plans, i.e., action plans for multirobot systems which specify the causal, temporal, resource and information dependencies between individual sensing, computation, and actuation components. The key feature which enables closed loop performance is that configuration plans are represented as constraint networks, which are shared between the planner and the executor and are continuously updated during execution.We report experiments run both in simulation and on real robots, in which a fault in one robot is compensated through different types of planmodifications at run time.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
IEEE, 2013
Series
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, ISSN 2153-0858
National Category
Computer Sciences
Research subject
Computer Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-30534 (URN)10.1109/IROS.2013.6697214 (DOI)000331367405145 ()2-s2.0-84893719559 (Scopus ID)978-1-4673-6358-7 (ISBN)
Conference
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Tokyo, Japan, 3-7 November, 2013
Projects
EU-FP7 Project RobotERA
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme
Note

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, November 3-8, 2013 at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan

Available from: 2013-08-30 Created: 2013-08-30 Last updated: 2019-10-02Bibliographically approved
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