2008 25 September1

Managing robot Development using Agent

based Technologies

Dr. Reuven GranotFormer Scientific Deputy

Research & Technology UnitDirectorate of Defense, Research & Development,

Israel MoDrgranot@smile.net.il

2008 25 September2

Two non related problems

More than a decade ago, we were already facing:1. RT software maintenance

The way is done will soon require more work hours than we can support.

2. International terror and Low Intensity Combat Armor less helpful Better use remote operation

3. During a sabbatical stay at UBC I realized how both problems may have the same solution: The Agent based Technology

2008 25 September3

Software Development and Maintenance

• The need to reuse software.• Need to change functionality.• The need to interconnect systems purchased from

– Different sources

– Developed and manufactured at different times• Using in many cases old/ obsolete hardware (like computers

purchased years ago)

– Legacy Systems, we could not afford to replace

– Non compatible and intentionally developed with the idea to lock customers to some manufacturers market.

2008 25 September4

The need to reuse software

• Control and integration software must be less expensive as compared with the other parts of the integrated System.

• Improve Software Quality– Small software units can be better managed– As much as possible follow consumer products

• are manufactured by assembling standard available parts.

• Some intelligence is required to anticipate the avarege (less professional) human operator needs and expectations.– Human intervention very different than control of SW

2008 25 September5

The need to interconnect• System of Systems• Appearance of less expensive and feature rich sensors,

actuators and controllers, and possible use of commercial off the shelf products– Intelligent interconnection

• There is an increasing requirement /trend to network system together, and combine their controls and key functions.

• Interconnected systems save time and reduce errors• Enable understanding a larger picture.

– To be used by operators of all types• Experts• Reserve and less trained units

2008 25 September6

Remote Operation in combat environment

It is still preferred by designers because of its simplicity, but not suitable for combat environment since the human operator:

needs long readjustment time to switch between the controlled and the local environment.is very much dependent upon the controlled process: traditional teleoperation model: “human as controller”

2008 25 September7

Remote Vehicle Operation ProblemsOperator• loss of spatial awareness:

– disorientation, loss of context

• cognitive errors: – “mental model” vs. what’s really

out there

• perceptual errors: – distance judgment, display

interpretation

• poor performance: – imprecise control, obstacle

detection

• other: – simulator sickness, fatigue

Communications:Reduced efficiency &

performance: – latency, bandwidth,

reliability

System- inflexibility: static data &

control flow, task specific automation

- lack of robustness: operator variation, human resources, etc.

These problems are due to the traditional teleoperation model: “human as controller”

2008 25 September8

The Technology Challenge

The needed control metaphor: Human Supervised Autonomous

• The state of the art of the current technology has not yet solved the problem of controlling complex tasks autonomously in unexpected contingent environments.

Consequence: A human operator should be able to interfere in the supervisory loop.

in Unstructured Environments.

2008 25 September10

The Agent

• An agent is a computer system capable of autonomous action in some environments.

• A general way in which the term agent is used is to denote a hardware or software-based computer system that enjoys the following properties: – autonomy: agents operate without the direct intervention of

humans or others, and have some kind of control over their actions and internal state;

– social ability: agents interact with other agents (and possibly humans) via some kind of agent-communication language;

– reactivity: agents perceive their environment, (which may be the physical world, a user via a graphical user interface, or a collection of other agents), and respond in a timely fashion to changes that occur in it.

2008 25 September11

Why Software Control Agents?

• Networked subsystems are naturally distributed.• The Controller, being responsible for achieving the

system goals, should be a subassembly of the integrated product.– Itself assembled from smaller, primitive parts.

• Situated in its environment– Using sensory information and actuators

• Reactive to changes in the environment• To maintain independence between the assembled sub-

systems, information (not data) should be exchanged.

2008 25 September12

The Distributed Control

• The agent is a control subassembly.

• It may be built upon a primitive task or composed of an assembly of subordinate agents. – The agent hierarchy for a specific task is pre-

planned or defined by the human operator as part of the preparation for execution of the task.

– The final sequence of operation is deducted from the hierarchy or negotiated between agents in the hierarchy.

2008 25 September13

Interface Agent

• A software entity, which is capable to represent the human in the computer SW environment.

• It acts on behalf of the human• Follows rules and has a well defined expected

attitude/ action.• May be instructed on the fly and may receive

during mission updated commands from the human operator.

We need to build agents in order to carry out the tasks, without the need to tell the agents how to perform these tasks.