Trustworthy Robotic Assistants
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Faculty of Environment and Technology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Amirabdollahian, F.
(2013)
Can You Trust Your Robotic Assistant?
Araiza-Illan Dejanira
(2016)
Intelligent Agent-Based Stimulation for Testing Robotic Software in Human-Robot Interactions
in arXiv e-prints
Araiza-Illan, D.
(2015)
CDV - An approach to verify code for robots that directly interact with humans
Grigore E
(2013)
Joint action understanding improves robot-to-human object handover
Webster M
(2019)
A corroborative approach to verification and validation of human-robot teams
in The International Journal of Robotics Research
| Description | Reliability and Safety. We conducted formal verification of an autonomous personal care robot, Care-o-bot, deployed within the University of Hertfordshire's Robot House test facility. We modelled the Care-o-bot's behaviour formally using Brahms, a high-level agent programming language. Using a software tool developed in-house, they were able to translate Brahms into Promela, the input language to the model checker Spin. Safety- and mission-critical requirements were translated into formal properties expressed in LTL and were then formally verified using Spin. This provided a higher level of confidence in the abiity of Care-o-bot to take care of a person in the Robot House. In subsequent work an expanded set of properties was used to formalise a wider range of requirements, further increasing the confidence in Care-o-bot and further demonstrating the effectiveness of formal verification for human-robot interaction scenarios. We demonstrated the benefits of using coverage-driven verification to automate a large part of simulation-based testing of code used to control robots that directly interact with humans on the example of a human-robot collaborative manufacturing task. We then focused on the problem of efficiently generating effective tests. We developed a very effective model-based approach that made use of the models developed for formal verification and model checking in the test generation process. This approach is capable of directing test generation to hard to reach and critical interaction scenarios. To further increase the level of automation, we then introduced agency into the verification environment by modeling the human and the environment the robot interacts with as agents. Our most recent results show that using multi-agent systems as models for test generation is as effective as the more traditional method of model checking automata, with the extra benefits of multi-agent models being small, in the number of lines of code when compared to the automata, and model traversal time being low and constant. Ethics and Trust. We explored the viability of verifying formally whether an autonomous system is capable of behaving ethically. There are many different ethical systems across different societies, and it may be useful for definitions of ethical behaviour to change. A high-level agent programming language, Ethan, was devised to allow autonomous agents to be programmed with additional ethical requirements. Then, an existing agent interpreter and model checker were extended to allow for the formal verification of ethical behaviour. Human-robot interaction studies into trust and trustworthiness gave important insights into how people perceive robots performing different types of tasks with different levels of robot performance and communication abilities. Verifying Robotic Systems. We have also made progress towards the holistic framework for the V&V of autonomous robotic assistants, as depicted in the earlier diagram. As part of the programme of populating the holistic framework, we have carried out testing of algorithms in and formal verification of autonomy. |
| Exploitation Route | Techniques for verification of human-robot interaction used in subsequent research proposals and beginning to have an impact on robotics industry and regulatory/standards context. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
| URL | http://robosafe.csc.liv.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Led on to subsequent EPSRC proposals and Innovate UK projects in the Connected Autonomous Vehicle sector Work in this project has helped inform BSI Robot Safety and Robot Ethics standards. Testing techniques developed are being taken up by industry. Findings led to several new PhD student projects that will further illuminate issues of safety, reliability, trust, and trustworthiness for robots operating in human-inhabited environments. New collaborations with industry through three CASE studentships have been initiated |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | CAPRI: Connected and Autonomous Vehicles 2 (CCAV) - Stream 2 |
| Amount | £356,198 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 103288 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2017 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | CAV Forth |
| Amount | £4,350,959 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 190423 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2019 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Description | ROBOPILOT |
| Amount | £6,820,883 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 103703 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | Project academic partner institutions |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project was a collaborative one with the Universities of Liverpoll, Bristol and Hertfordshire |
| Collaborator Contribution | We worked togethe rin close collbaoraiotn throughout the project |
| Impact | Several publications as listed |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Project academic partner institutions |
| Organisation | University of Hertfordshire |
| Department | Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project was a collaborative one with the Universities of Liverpoll, Bristol and Hertfordshire |
| Collaborator Contribution | We worked togethe rin close collbaoraiotn throughout the project |
| Impact | Several publications as listed |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Project academic partner institutions |
| Organisation | University of Liverpool |
| Department | Department of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project was a collaborative one with the Universities of Liverpoll, Bristol and Hertfordshire |
| Collaborator Contribution | We worked togethe rin close collbaoraiotn throughout the project |
| Impact | Several publications as listed |
| Start Year | 2013 |