erich rome robot control architectures department
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EU Project MACS Multi-sensory Autonomous Cognitive Systems Interacting with Dynamic Environments for Perceiving and Using Affordances. Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting, Bled, Oct 28–30, 2004. Erich Rome Robot Control Architectures Department. MACS Project Overview. Sections MACS Facts - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
EU Project MACSMulti-sensory Autonomous Cognitive Systems Interacting with Dynamic Environments for Perceiving and Using Affordances
Erich RomeRobot Control Architectures Department
Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting, Bled, Oct 28–30, 2004
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
MACS Project Overview
Sections
a. MACS Facts
b. Affordance-based Robot Control
c. The Vision & the Key Objectives
d. Steps to Achieve the Objectives
e. The Key Milestones
f. Next Steps: Some Details
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
a. MACS: Facts
Project type: STReP
Grant no.: FP6-004381
Project start: September 1, 2004
Duration: 3 years
Kick-off meeting: Sankt Augustin, September 9–10, 2004
Web site: www.macs-eu.org
Consortium: 5 participants
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
a. MACS: Facts
Participants and Competences
1 FhG/AIS (Coord.) Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems, Sankt Augustin, D Erich Rome Robot control architectures, robot & sensors & autonomous systems design, biologically inspired robot vision
2 JR_DIB JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Graz, A Lucas Paletta Computer vision, ANN-based sensorimotor learning, mobile mapping
3 LiU-IDA Linköpings Universitet, AI & Integrated Computer Systems Division, S Patrick Doherty Autonomous systems, knowledge representation, AI planning
4 METU-KOVAN Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TR Erol Sahin Evolutionary & swarm robotics, physics-based modelling & simulation, distributed computing environments
5 OFAI Österreichische Studiengesellschaft für Kybernetik, Vienna, A Georg Dorffner Cognitive modelling & neuroscience, symbol grounding, AI learning
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Some Objectives of the Cognitive Systems Call:
• To construct embodied systems that can perceive,
understand, and interact with their environment
while performing goal-directed tasks.
• Methodologies for the construction of robust and
adaptive cognitive systems integrating perception,
reasoning, representation and learning.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
The MACS Claim:
The use of affordances in control architectures may linkperception, action, learning and reasoning in a new way.
Perceiving the world in terms of affordances will provide a paradigmatic change in the architecture of embedded cognitive systems by helping to structure perception and reasoning in both an action-oriented and goal-directed way.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Affordances:
Notion created by cognitive psychologist J. J. Gibson (1979):
„An affordance is a resource or support that the environment offers an agent for action.
The agent must possess the capabilities to perceive and act upon it.“
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Examples of Affordances:
throw
use as tool
hide,climb
Place to look for prey
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Affordances (1):
• Affordances can be put in terms of abstract properties:throwable -> fist-sized dense object of certain weight rangesittable upon -> knee-high flat stable horizontal surface of certain minimum size
• Affordances depend particularly on the agent’s properties like body size, weight, form, and its perception and action capabilities
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Affordances (2):
• Object identity is just another property, not necessarily the most important one – Its importance is goal dependent
• The abilities to perceive and act upon affordances may be acquired by learning – by experimentation and observation
• Acting upon affordances may require episodic knowledge:The sequence of actions required to act upon the affordance of a cup of coffee to drink from
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Affordances (3):
• Selection of affordances depends on high-level goals
• Goals influence perception of affordances
• We do not get flooded by thousands of affordances
• Affordances comprise a functional view of environment
• Affordances are suited to structure the perceptual input for action and reasoning
• Link for perception, action, reasoning and learning
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
b. MACS: Affordance-based Robot Control
Some implications for adaptivity:
• Affordances would allow greater flexibility in manipulation tasks: If a searched object for a manipulation is not available, therobot may look for another one with the same affordancesand act upon the substitute instead.
• Such an ability would be especially helpful in complex environments with significant dynamics.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Vision
The Vision:
Affordance-based control as a new
paradigm
to better link perception, action, reasoning
and learning, suited to advance the further
development of embodied cognitive
systems.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Main objective of MACS:
Explore and exploit the concept of affordances for the
design and implementation of autonomous mobile
robots
• Develop affordance-based control as a method for robotics
• Provide a new way for reasoning and learning to connect with reactive robot control
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
5 scientific & technological objectivesplus
1 dissemination objective
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Scientific and technological objectives:
1. A radically new robot control architecture,
implementing affordance-based control
• Affordance-based control changes deeply the flow of information
as well as the required processes
• Use of affordances in control architectures is no emergent phenomenon,
• cannot be added on top of an existing control architecture,
• needs to be considered in the basic design.
• An affordance-based architecture will be proposed, tested and evaluated.
• Affordances will be integrated into perception, action and learning.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Scientific and technological objectives:
2. Grounded and goal-directed perception of affordances
• Affordances spring off perception on a low level, associating salient
perceptual features to the representation of what an object affords.
• What can or should be perceived and used as an affordance depends
on the sensors and actuators that the robot has.
• Filtering mechanism to prevent the robot from drowning in affordances
needs to be in effect deep down in the process of affordance perception.
• It has to be influenced from high-level goal-orientation or attention modes
preventing currently irrelevant affordances from distracting the controller.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Scientific and technological objectives:
3. Explicit affordance representations for different granularity levels
• Using affordances for reasoning and symbolic learning
requires an explicit representation
• Representation includes perception and action side of an affordance
plus
• episodic knowledge and
• expectations about feed-back from the environment when acting upon
an affordance.
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Scientific and technological objectives:
4. Learning affordances by experimentation or by observation
• Affordances are individual on sensoric, physical, and experience
level
• A natural way of getting at affordances is learning
• Learning by individual experimentation or by imitation.
• Suitable learning methods will be developed
• Extreme option of teaching: programming
• Will be used for higher-level, complex or abstract affordances
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Scientific and technological objectives:
5. Integrated demonstrator on an autonomous mobile robot
• Results will be demonstrated in integrated form
• Mobile robot: able to navigate and do simple manipulation tasks
• Wide range of perceptions through multi-modal sensor
configuration including vision and a 3D Laser scanner
• Robot control: plan-based to provide goal-directed behaviour
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
c. MACS: The Key Objectives
Dissemination objective:
Make the different involved scientific
communities,
possible appliers of the results, and the
interested
general public aware of the respective MACS
achievements
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
d. MACS: Steps to Achieve the Objectives
Workpackages:
• WP0 – Management (13+6 PM)
• WP1 – Infrastructure (39+4 PM)
• WP2 – Affordance-based Control Architecture (57+6 PM)
• WP3 – Perception of Affordances (76+2 PM)
• WP4 – Representation of Affordances (42+4 PM)
• WP5 – Learning of Affordances (47+4 PM)
• WP6 – Proof of Concept & Dissemination (38+4 PM)
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
e. MACS: The Key Milestones
month
Surv
eys
4M1
Spec
ifica
tions
7M2
Refer
ence
Impl
emen
tatio
ns
12M3
Mod
ule
Prot
otyp
es
18M4
Inte
grat
ion
&
Sim
ulat
ion
24M5
Afforda
nce-
base
d
Robot
Con
trol
30M6
Demon
stra
tor
33M7
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
f. MACS: Next Steps
Physical demonstrator
KURT2 (with 3D Laser scanner)
Commercial platform for research & education
Developed initially at FhG/AIS,Produced & distributed by KTO
3D Scanner developed and assembledat FhG/AIS,
Simple gripper under construction
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
f. MACS: Next Steps
Next steps:
• Publish evaluation of state of the art in affordance-related research
• Specify a demonstrator scenario
• Design missions and tasks that the affordance-based robot should accomplish in the demonstrator scenario
• Specify requirements for perception, representation and learning of affordances as well as for reasoning about and acting upon affordances
• Later:Publish benchmark problems suited to demonstrate the power and limitations of the approach
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
f. MACS: Next Steps
Next step towards dissemination:
• Application for a Dagstuhl seminar “Towards Affordance-based Robot Control”
• International conference and research center for computer science
• Schloss Dagstuhl in Wadern (close to Saarbrücken, Germany)
• Dagstuhl-Seminars: gatherings of 35–45 scientists working for a week on a specific computer science related topic with interdisciplinary aspects
• International participants: established researchers and promising young scientists
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Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
f. MACS: Next Steps
Dagstuhl seminar details:
• Organizers: Erich Rome, Patrick Doherty, Georg Dorffner, Joachim HertzbergDeadline: Nov 15, 2004Seminar: 5 days in 1st half of 2006
• Preliminary list of potential participants; may be updated and extended when application succeeds
• Participation interests can be expressed via email ([email protected])(preferably non-German female young researchers)
• Participation fee (150 €) also covers accommodation and foodTravel expenses are not covered
• Young researchers may apply for grants covering travel expensesInformation available at: http://www.dagstuhl.de/HLSC/
Erich Rome Cognitive Systems Kick-Off Meeting Oct 28–30, 2004Bled, Slovenia
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