Verifiable Autonomy
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Computer Science
Abstract
Autonomy is surely a core theme of technology in the 21st century. Within 20 years, we expect to see fully autonomous vehicles, aircraft, robots, devices, swarms, and software, all of which will (and must) be able to make their own decisions without direct human intervention. The economic implications are enormous: for example, the global civil unmanned air- vehicle (UAV) market has been estimated to be £6B over the next 10 years, while the world-wide market for robotic systems is expected to exceed $50B by 2025.
This potential is both exciting and frightening. Exciting, in that this technology can allow us to develop systems and tackle tasks well beyond current possibilities. Frightening in that the control of these systems is now taken away from us. How do we know that they will work? How do we know that they are safe? And how can we trust them? All of these are impossible questions for current technology. We cannot say that such systems are safe, will not deliberately try to injure humans, and will always try their best to keep humans safe. Without such guarantees, these new technologies will neither be allowed by regulators nor accepted by the public.
Imagine that we have a generic architecture for autonomous systems such that the choices the system makes can be guaranteed? And these guarantees are backed by strong mathematical proof? If we have such an architecture, upon which our autonomous systems (be they robots, vehicles, or software) can be based, then we can indeed guarantee that our systems never intentionally act dangerously, will endeavour to be safe, and will - as far as possible - act in an ethical and trustworthy way. It is important to note that this is separate from the problem of how accurately the system understands its environment. Due to inaccuracy in modelling the real world, we cannot say that a system will be absolutely safe or will definitely achieve something; instead we can say that it tries to be safe and decides to carry out a task to its best ability. This distinction is crucial: we can only prove that the system never decides to do the wrong thing, we cannot guarantee that accidents will never happen. Consequently, we also need to make an autonomous system judge the quality of its understanding and require it to act taking this into account. We should also verify, by our methods, that the system's choices do not exacerbate any potential safety problems.
Our hypothesis is that by identifying and separating out the high-level decision-making component within autonomous systems, and providing comprehensive formal verification techniques for this, we can indeed directly tackle questions of safety, ethics, legality and reliability. In this project, we build on internationally leading work on agent verification (Fisher), control and learning (Veres), safety and ethics (Winfield), and practical autonomous systems (Veres, Winfield) to advance the underlying verification techniques and so develop a framework allowing us to tackle questions such as the above. In developing autonomous systems for complex and unknown environments, being able to answer such questions is crucial.
This potential is both exciting and frightening. Exciting, in that this technology can allow us to develop systems and tackle tasks well beyond current possibilities. Frightening in that the control of these systems is now taken away from us. How do we know that they will work? How do we know that they are safe? And how can we trust them? All of these are impossible questions for current technology. We cannot say that such systems are safe, will not deliberately try to injure humans, and will always try their best to keep humans safe. Without such guarantees, these new technologies will neither be allowed by regulators nor accepted by the public.
Imagine that we have a generic architecture for autonomous systems such that the choices the system makes can be guaranteed? And these guarantees are backed by strong mathematical proof? If we have such an architecture, upon which our autonomous systems (be they robots, vehicles, or software) can be based, then we can indeed guarantee that our systems never intentionally act dangerously, will endeavour to be safe, and will - as far as possible - act in an ethical and trustworthy way. It is important to note that this is separate from the problem of how accurately the system understands its environment. Due to inaccuracy in modelling the real world, we cannot say that a system will be absolutely safe or will definitely achieve something; instead we can say that it tries to be safe and decides to carry out a task to its best ability. This distinction is crucial: we can only prove that the system never decides to do the wrong thing, we cannot guarantee that accidents will never happen. Consequently, we also need to make an autonomous system judge the quality of its understanding and require it to act taking this into account. We should also verify, by our methods, that the system's choices do not exacerbate any potential safety problems.
Our hypothesis is that by identifying and separating out the high-level decision-making component within autonomous systems, and providing comprehensive formal verification techniques for this, we can indeed directly tackle questions of safety, ethics, legality and reliability. In this project, we build on internationally leading work on agent verification (Fisher), control and learning (Veres), safety and ethics (Winfield), and practical autonomous systems (Veres, Winfield) to advance the underlying verification techniques and so develop a framework allowing us to tackle questions such as the above. In developing autonomous systems for complex and unknown environments, being able to answer such questions is crucial.
Planned Impact
Within 20 years, we expect to see fully autonomous vehicles, aircraft, robots, devices, swarms, and software, all of which will (and must) be able to make their own decisions without direct human intervention. This project will be relevant across many of these applications, from autonomous vehicles, such as driver-less cars and unmanned air vehicles, through to robotics, both in the home and in wider society. Since the control of autonomous systems is increasingly taken away from humans: how can we be sure that they will work; how can we be confident that they are safe; and how can we trust them? All of these are impossible questions for current technology. We cannot say that such systems are safe, will not deliberately try to injure humans, and will always try their best to keep humans safe. Without such guarantees, these new technologies will neither be allowed by regulators nor accepted by the public.
Consequently, the core problem with this technology is being able to effectively verify the inherent autonomy. This is the focus of our project and its potential impact reaches across all those in academia, industry, and government involved in the development, social acceptance, and legality of truly autonomous systems.
Specifically in WP6 and WP7 we have outlined our initial network of collaborating companies, covering Robotic Assistants (Elumotion) and Automotive (MIRA), later with (if sufficient progress) Nuclear Robotics (NNL), and potentially in Underwater (Thales), and Space Exploration (European Space Agency). However, we intend to broaden the industrial aspect and promote and expand the companies aware of, and developing, "verifiable autonomous systems". This promotion will build on our existing networks, for example the industrial members of the Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Partnership; industrial members of the Autonomous Systems National Technical Committee; industrial members of the British Automation and Robot Association; and industrial participants with the Virtual Engineering Centre.
We aim to engage closely with governmental agencies, professional societies, European and international institutions to contribute to the public debate on issues influenced by autonomous systems, leveraging and deepening our existing memberships and influence in such bodies. We aim to develop a suitable activity within one of the relevant learned societies to increase engagement with the scientific and policy communities.
We have already seen, particularly through Winfield's work on public engagement, how autonomous systems (typically, Robotics) can spark the public's imagination. We will build on this, expand to other forms of autonomous systems (UAVs and driver-less cars are natural possibilities), and target public engagement events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and the British Science Festival (Winfield has already been involved with the former) later in the project.
In summary, through deeper engagement later in the project we aim to impact upon broader industry, and both knowledge transfer and business development branches of government. The team, together with their respective universities, have effective mechanisms for dealing with the media, with access to press offices who regularly publicise work nationally and internationally to non-academic audiences.
Consequently, the core problem with this technology is being able to effectively verify the inherent autonomy. This is the focus of our project and its potential impact reaches across all those in academia, industry, and government involved in the development, social acceptance, and legality of truly autonomous systems.
Specifically in WP6 and WP7 we have outlined our initial network of collaborating companies, covering Robotic Assistants (Elumotion) and Automotive (MIRA), later with (if sufficient progress) Nuclear Robotics (NNL), and potentially in Underwater (Thales), and Space Exploration (European Space Agency). However, we intend to broaden the industrial aspect and promote and expand the companies aware of, and developing, "verifiable autonomous systems". This promotion will build on our existing networks, for example the industrial members of the Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Partnership; industrial members of the Autonomous Systems National Technical Committee; industrial members of the British Automation and Robot Association; and industrial participants with the Virtual Engineering Centre.
We aim to engage closely with governmental agencies, professional societies, European and international institutions to contribute to the public debate on issues influenced by autonomous systems, leveraging and deepening our existing memberships and influence in such bodies. We aim to develop a suitable activity within one of the relevant learned societies to increase engagement with the scientific and policy communities.
We have already seen, particularly through Winfield's work on public engagement, how autonomous systems (typically, Robotics) can spark the public's imagination. We will build on this, expand to other forms of autonomous systems (UAVs and driver-less cars are natural possibilities), and target public engagement events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and the British Science Festival (Winfield has already been involved with the former) later in the project.
In summary, through deeper engagement later in the project we aim to impact upon broader industry, and both knowledge transfer and business development branches of government. The team, together with their respective universities, have effective mechanisms for dealing with the media, with access to press offices who regularly publicise work nationally and internationally to non-academic audiences.
Publications

A. Dennis L
(2018)
The MCAPL Framework including the Agent Infrastructure Layer an Agent Java Pathfinder
in Journal of Open Source Software



Bjørgen E
(2018)
Cake, Death, and Trolleys

Bremner P
(2019)
On Proactive, Transparent, and Verifiable Ethical Reasoning for Robots
in Proceedings of the IEEE

Chatila R
(2021)
Reflections on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity

Cole JC
(2022)
Social norms explain prioritization of climate policy.
in Climatic change

Dennis L
(2018)
Two-stage agent program verification
in Journal of Logic and Computation

Dennis L
(2016)
Formal verification of ethical choices in autonomous systems
in Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Description | Developed techniques for verifying key aspects of autonomous robotic systems, as exemplified through two distinct (and very different routes): robot ethics and autonomous vehicle convoys. |
Exploitation Route | Further research and use in future standards. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Healthcare Transport |
URL | http://wordpress.csc.liv.ac.uk/va/ |
Description | The work on this project, particularly concerning architectures for and verification of autonomous systems has led to many academic impacts and subsequent projects. However, the work has also developed and exposed trustworthiness, transparency, and verification across autonomous systems and AI leading to a range of non-academic impacts. These include Public engagement - the project work led to development in software for autonomous robots, for example the "Sprung a Leak" exhibit [ https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/cecile-b-evans] at Tate Liverpool (that attracted over 100,000 views) and the Lego Rovers [ https://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk ].activity for school-children Broader aspects of Trustworthiness - work on this project led directly to a stronger understanding of "trustworthiness" and then on to the "big idea" developed by the PI which, within EPSRC, eventually led to the inter-disciplinary Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme funded through the Strategic Priorities Fund. Standards - the work in the project on the verification of autonomous decisions, and on transparency and explainability, also led to leading roles within key international standards, both IEEE [ P7001 - Transparency of Autonomous Systems, and P7009: Fail-safe Design for Autonomous Systems ] and the British Standards Institution [ BS8611 Guide to the ethical design and application of robots and robotic systems ] Regulation - the work on the project on both Verification and Standards also led on to more detailed collaboration with regulators, especially those concerned with autonomous robotics and AI. As an example, this verification work led eventually to a joint policy report (with the Office for Nuclear Regulation) on "Principles for the Development and Assurance of Autonomous Systems for Safe Use in Hazardous Environments" in 2021 [ https://zenodo.org/record/5012322 ] |
Sector | Education,Energy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Britis Standards Institution: AMT/10 Committee on Robot Safety and Robot Ethics |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
Description | British Standards Institution: Artificial Intelligence standards committee [ART/1] |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/committees/50281655 |
Description | Co-Chair of IEEE Technical Committee on the Verificaiton of Autonomous Systems |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://www.ieee-ras.org/verification-of-autonomous-systems |
Description | Guidelines for Nuclear Robotics |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | https://zenodo.org/record/5012322 |
Description | Membership of IEEE P7009 Standards committee on "Failsafe Design of Autonomous Systems" |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://standards.ieee.org/project/7009.html |
Description | Membership of International Standards Committee (IEEE P7009 Standard for Fail-Safe Design of Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Systems) |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://standards.ieee.org/develop/project/7009.html |
Description | Membership of International Standards Committee (P7001 Standard for Transparency of Autonomous Systems) |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://standards.ieee.org/develop/project/7001.html |
Description | Secondment to DSIT |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Chair in Emerging Technologies |
Amount | £129,999 (GBP) |
Funding ID | CiET 1718/6 |
Organisation | Royal Academy of Engineering |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 02/2028 |
Description | Computational Agent Responsibility |
Amount | £642,184 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W01081X/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2022 |
End | 06/2024 |
Description | Network on the Verification and Validation of Autonomous Systems |
Amount | £107,725 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/M027309/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2015 |
End | 08/2018 |
Description | Software development support for Lego Rovers |
Amount | £15,816 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2016 |
End | 03/2017 |
Description | Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Verifiability Node |
Amount | £2,923,653 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V026801/1 |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 04/2024 |
Title | Model Checking Agent Programming Languages |
Description | An Open Source toolkit for prototyping BDI agent programming languages and formally verifying programs written in these languages via an interface to the JavaPathfinder model checker. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The tool has been used in other research projects and has had impact on external organisations looking at the verification of autonomous systems. |
URL | https://sourceforge.net/projects/mcapl/ |
Description | CRADLE Prosperity Partnership |
Organisation | Jacobs Engineering Group |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | CRADLE Prosperity Partnership, funded by UKRI, Jacobs and University of Manchester is providing a route for our research to have impact on real robotic systems. |
Collaborator Contribution | Jacobs is a strong partner, providing engineering expertise, problem sets, and routes to impact. |
Impact | No outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Title | The MCAPL Framework 2017 |
Description | The MCAPL framework is a suite of tools for building interpreters for agent programming languages and model checking programs executing in those interpreters. It consists of the AIL toolkit for building interpreters for rational agent programming languages (BDI languages) and the AJPF model checker. AJPF extends the JavaPathfinder model checker to prove LTL properties of BDI agents. This distribution also contains a number of programming languages implemented in the AIL. Chief among these are Gwendolen, the EASS variant of Gwendolen that can be used to program hybrid autonomous systems and GOAL. This is the 2017 release of the framework. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | The Framework underpins a number of publications and results relating to the work on Verifiable Autonomy. |
URL | https://sourceforge.net/projects/mcapl/ |
Description | "Towards Greater Autonomy in Space" workshop, London, January 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | "Towards Greater Autonomy in Space" workshop, London, January 2020 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://sa.catapult.org.uk/events/towards-greater-autonomy-in-space/ |
Description | Agent Verification workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The aim of the workshop is to provide an overview of the field of Agent Verification and associated topics primarily within the UK. We hope this will be of particular value to PhD students in the area but expect it will also provide a useful networking opportunity for more established people. The format of the workshop will be a series of invited talks with the aim of providing good coverage of the research area followed by a panel session and discussion on current research challenges. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/~maryam/AVWorkshop15.html |
Description | Collaboration with National Institute for Standards and Testing (NIST), USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Collaboration with National Institute for Standards and Testing (NIST), USA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | Dangerous Science Summer School (Ethics and Autonomous Systems) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | A debate-style event presenting issues surrounding ethics and artificial intelligence/autonomous systems. This was presented at the University of Lliverpool's Dangerous Science Summer School to groups of teenagers selected as part of the university's widening participation agenda. The teenagers engaged in a lively debate about various ethical issues associated with AI/Autonomous Systems. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | ESA/CNES Software Product Assurrance and Engineering workshop, Toulouse, October 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | ESA/CNES Software Product Assurrance and Engineering workshop, Toulouse, October 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Formal Methods for Autonomous Systems workshop, Porto |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Formal Methods for Autonomous Systems workshop, Porto |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | Invited talk at Verification of Autonomous Systems Working Group, Washigton DC, USA [Nov 2018] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at Verification of Autonomous Systems Working Group, Washigton DC, USA [Nov 2018] |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.robotistry.org/vaswg/nist2018/nist2018.html |
Description | Lego Rovers a Great Hollingworth Academy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to a 5 classes as part of a Year 9 enrichment day. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at Aintree Davenhill |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Four robot programming workshops delivered to primary school children |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Great Ashton STEM Academy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to a STEM Club. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Green Park School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Five robot programming workshops delivered to primary school children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Holy Rosary Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two Lego Rovers workshops delivered to Year 5 children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Hudson Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to three classes of Primary School children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at LIPA Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to two classes of Primary School children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Lydiate Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Three Lego Rovers workshops delivered to primary children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Melland High School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Lego Rover workshop delivered to a mixed group of SEN children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Melling Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Four workshops run for primary children in Key Stage 2. Sparking questions and discussion afterwards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Speke Hall |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 9 lego robot programming workshops were run for families over three days. This was to tie in with the National Trusts Women and Power theme, and Speke Hall's Vigorous Victorians theme which featured Ada Lovelace. The workshops were well received with most families reporting that it got them to discuss issues around robots and artificial intelligence with their family and friends. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Andrew's |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two Lego Rover workshops delivered to year 3 classes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Anne's Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Three Lego Robot programming workshops run at a primary school |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. George's Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A programming workshop using Lego Robots was delivered to four classes in Key Stage 2. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Gregory's |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two workshops run for primary children in Key Stage 2. Sparking questions and discussion afterwards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Hilda's Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to a class of Primary School children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. John Bosco |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two workshops run for primary children in Key Stage 2. Sparking questions and discussion afterwards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Mary's Crosby |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to two classes of Primary School children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Oswald's |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Two Lego programming workshops delivered to a primary school audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at St. Thomas' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A Lego Robot Programming workshop was delivered to 4 classes of primary children |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Rovers at Summerhill Primary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Four robot programming workshops delivered to primary school children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lego Rovers at Writing on the Wall |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A workshop ranging over robots in science fiction, robots in the future with a practical programming component using lego robots. The event was a collaboration between the English and Computer Science and allowed a group of adults to explore current technology and future ideas about robotics and autonomous systems. There was a great deal of interested discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Lego Rovers at the AISB Convention |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Lego Rovers workshop for families run as part of the AISB Convention |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Lego Space Rovers at Manchester Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A series of 20 workshops on programming autonomous systems delivered to families as part of Manchester Science Festival. Children were highly engaged and there were questions on future directions from parents. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Liverpool Light Night |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of Liverpool Light Night, the University of Liverpool organised an event showcasing university research which included a stand showing ideas about Autonomous Systems involving Lego Robots. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Meeting with Liverpool City Region Transport Policy unit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Liverpool City Region Transport Policy unit |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Meeting with Thales Alenia Space, Bristol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Meeting at Thales Alenia Space, Bristol |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Platform for Investigation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participation in a Platform for Investigation event at the Museum of Science and Industry to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Manchester Baby Computer |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Reasoning Machines talk for the University of the Third Age |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A talk covering the implementation of reasoning in machines and philosophical issues associated with computers and thought. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Robot pilot that can grab the flight controls gets its plane licence |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interviewed by the New Scientist in relation to a news story from the US. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.newscientist.com/article/2214731-robot-pilot-that-can-grab-the-flight-controls-gets-its-... |
Description | Robots at Tate Liverpool |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | From Summer 2016 to Spring 2017 we worked with the artist Cecile B. Evans to produce an exhibit comprising robotic performances. This was hosted by the Tate Gallery at Liverpool and currently has had over 130,000 visitors. In addition to the exhibit, involving 2 humanoid robots, a robot dog, and many videos, we held a talk/workshop at which the artist and Prof. Fisher engaged with members of the public about both the exhibit and about future developments. See: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/talk-and-lecture/cecile-b-evans/conversation-michael-fisher-and-karl-tuyls |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exhibition/cecile-b-evans |
Description | Royal Academy of `Engineering workshop on - Safety and ethics of autonomous systems |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Royal Academy of `Engineering, National Engineering Policy Centre workshop "Safety and ethics of autonomous systems" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Sellafield "Gamechangers" Event, Workington |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Sellafield "Gamechangers" Event, Workington, September 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | Space:Late at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A stand demonstrating lego Mars Rovers featuring as part of an evening "Space:Late" event at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Many enthusiastic and interested discussions with members of the public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.msimanchester.org.uk/what-was-on/space-late |
Description | Stargazing at the World Museum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A stand demonstrating lego Mars Rovers featuring as part of an evening "stargazing" event at the World Museum in Liverpool. Many enthusiastic and interested discussions with members of the public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://legorovers.csc.liv.ac.uk |
Description | Talk at Widnes Scibar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presented a talk on Automated Reasoning and Artificial Intelligence "Reasoning Machines: Could a Machine Think?" to Widnes Scibar. There were many questions and lively discussion after the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talks at Kirkby Scibar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A general talk on Artificial Intelligence and Philosophical issues at Kirkby Scibar resulted in a lively discussion and was followed up with an invitation to return and talk more specifically about the Verification of Autonomous Systems. This was again followed by a lively discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Tomorrow's World Live: Me and My Robot |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr. Dennis participated in a panel interview on the future of robotics run by the BBC at Manchester Science Festival in front of a live audience. It was live-streamed on various social media channels and subsequently made available on iPlayer. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05lph23 |
Description | U3A talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk to the Cheadle "University of the Third Age" group around AI and Robotics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Verification & Validation of Autonomous Systems Workshop, Offshore Europe - Aberdeen |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Verification & Validation of Autonomous Systems Workshop, Offshore Europe - Aberdeen |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Verification and Validation of Autonomous Systems: Ethical, Social and Trustworthy behaviour |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | This workshop, held on 23-24 November 2017, brought together researchers who are developing ethical, social and trustworthy behaviour in autonomous robotics, with researchers across the range of verification and validation techniques, in an informal setting to discuss these issues, to share understanding, and to stimulate collaboration. The workshop was funded by EPSRC, through both the Network on the Verification & Validation of Autonomous Systems, and the Verifiable Autonomy research project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://vavas.org/pastevents/workshop-verification-and-validation-of-autonomous-systems-ethical-soci... |
Description | Verifying Autonomous Systems, Invited talk at ORCA/SOLITUDE Workshop on Safety Assurance for Deep Learning in Underwater Robotics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Verifying Autonomous Systems, Invited talk at ORCA/SOLITUDE Workshop on Safety Assurance for Deep Learning in Underwater Robotics |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Workshop organisation/chairing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Co-organised a Dagstuhl Seminar aiming to develop a "Roadmap for Responsible Robotics" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.dagstuhl.de/23371 |
Description | Workshop organisation/chairing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Co-ord=ganised this first international symposium on the Verificaiton of Autonomous Mobile Systems in 2023. The aim was to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experience between academia, regulators, and industry concerning the Verification of Autonomous Mobile Systems operating over large outdoor spaces, and to work towards a report aimed at the diverse organisations involved in the use of Autonomous Systems across air, land, and sea applications, particularly those that are safety-critical. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.irt-systemx.fr/evenements/vams-is-23 |
Description | Workshop organisation/chairing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Co-organised the Second Workshop on "Quality and Reliability Assessment of Robotic Software Architectures and Components" as part of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in June 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://sites.google.com/view/qrarsac2023 |
Description | Workshop organisation/chairing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Co-organised the IROS 2023 workshop " `It Works Really Well!': Verification in Theory and Practice" showcasing verificaiton issues and techniques at one of the world's leading robotics conferences. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://robotistry.org/vaswg/IROS23_Workshop/ |
Description | Workshop organisation/chairing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Co-organised the first internaitonal workshop on "Neuro-symbolic AI for Agent and Multi-Agent systems" [NeSyMAS] in May 2023. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://albertmeronyo.github.io/nesymas23/ |