Papers by Federico Pecora
Abstract In this paper we address the problem of realizing a service-providing reasoning infrastr... more Abstract In this paper we address the problem of realizing a service-providing reasoning infrastructure for proactive human assistance in intelligent environments. We propose SAM, an architecture which leverages temporal knowledge represented as relations in Allen's interval algebra and constraint-based temporal planning techniques. SAM seamlessly combines two key capabilities for contextualized service provision, namely human activity recognition and planning for controlling pervasive actuation devices.
Abstract. According to a recent trend, robotic technologies will be included into domestic enviro... more Abstract. According to a recent trend, robotic technologies will be included into domestic environments in the form of simple, networked robotic devices able to cooperate in the performance of tasks. These devices may take the form of smart appliances, distributed sensors, or robotic furniture. In this paper, we describe the design of an autonomous robotic table and its inclusion in a smart environment, the PEIS Ecology. The design takes into account the constraints posed by the domestic environment.
An on-going evaluation of domestic robots
ABSTRACT In this position paper we describe an on-going effort to provide an in-depth and cross-c... more ABSTRACT In this position paper we describe an on-going effort to provide an in-depth and cross-cultural evaluation of how elderly users perceive robotic systems for domestic cognitive support. Our work is grounded on two implemented smarthome prototypes, namely the RoboCare Smart Home developed in Italy, and the PEIS Home developed in Sweden. The former project has provided a testbed for an aposteriori evaluation of smart home technology with Italian user groups.
Abstract—Coordinating multiple autonomous ground vehicles is paramount to many industrial applica... more Abstract—Coordinating multiple autonomous ground vehicles is paramount to many industrial applications. Vehicle trajectories must take into account temporal and spatial requirements, eg, usage of floor space and deadlines on task execution. In this paper we present an approach to obtain sets of alternative execution patterns (called trajectory envelopes) which satisfy these requirements and are conflict-free.
Abstract Public demand for intelligent services in their home environments can be expected to gro... more Abstract Public demand for intelligent services in their home environments can be expected to grow in the near future once the required technology becomes more widely available and mature. Many intelligent home services cannot be provided in a purely reactive fashion though since they require contextual knowledge about the environment and most importantly the activities the residents are engaged in at any given time.
Abstract Deploying AI, and specifically P&S, technology into the real world entails many stimulat... more Abstract Deploying AI, and specifically P&S, technology into the real world entails many stimulating problems for researchers and system designers. Various smart solutions have been produced both for specialized problems and, in fewer cases, for more general purpose domains. An important aspect which is fundamental for any successful application, and more specifically for those which address a broad audience, concerns the users' perception and acceptance of technology. This issue is often either neglected or underestimated.
Abstract. This article reports the state of advancement of the Robo-Care project, which was launc... more Abstract. This article reports the state of advancement of the Robo-Care project, which was launched in December last year to address the problem of providing assistance to elderly people using a combination of software, robots, intelligent sensors and humans. It addresses the creation of a multi-agent environment in which all these actors cooperate synergistically in order to provide user services.
Abstract This brief article describes the highlights of the first two years of activities of ROBO... more Abstract This brief article describes the highlights of the first two years of activities of ROBOCARE, an Italian research project aimed at developing intelligent software and robotic agents which can enhance the quality of life of elderly people at home or in a health-care institution. Rather than describing in detail the specific techniques we have developed, for which we point the interested reader to related work, our aim is to focus on some specific issues which our results have given rise to in the context of AI applications in elder care.
Abstract In this paper we describe an integrated planning and scheduling architecture which lever... more Abstract In this paper we describe an integrated planning and scheduling architecture which leverages causal reasoning (typically the domain of classical planning) and constraint-based temporal and resource-related reasoning (scheduling). The overall solver is obtained through the so-called meta-CSP approach to multi-solver integration. We provide a preliminary evaluation of its performance through a set of experiments in a temporallyand resource-rich variant of the well-known Blocks World domain.
Abstract This paper presents our recent work on OMPS, a new timeline-based software architecture ... more Abstract This paper presents our recent work on OMPS, a new timeline-based software architecture for planning and scheduling whose features support software development for space mission planning applications. The architecture is based on the notions of domain components and is deeply grounded on constraint-based reasoning. Components are entities whose properties may vary in time and which model one or more physical subsystems which are relevant to a given planning context.
Today, modern societies are tackling an important problem, namely the progressive aging of the po... more Today, modern societies are tackling an important problem, namely the progressive aging of the population. It is often necessary for elderly people to leave their homes to go live with their relatives or become guests of a health-care institution. This phenomenon has serious social and economic consequences. The long term goal of the research developed by the ROBOCARE project (see http://robocare. istc. cnr. it for details) is to contribute to raising the quality of life of elderly persons.
Abstract The ROBOCARE project is aimed at creating an instance of integrated environment with sof... more Abstract The ROBOCARE project is aimed at creating an instance of integrated environment with software and robotic agents to actively assist an elderly person at home. In particular the project has synthesized a proactive environment for continuous daily activity monitoring in which an autonomous robot acts as a main interactor with the person. This paper accounts for the combination of features that create interactive capabilities for personalized and mixed-initiative interaction with the assisted person.
Abstract This article describes an approach to solving distributed constraint optimization proble... more Abstract This article describes an approach to solving distributed constraint optimization problems (DCOP) with n-ary constraints. A key instance of this problem is distributed resource-constrained task scheduling, in which limited resource capacities implicitly imply n-ary relations among the start-times of the tasks. We describe ADOPT-N, an extension of ADOPT [16], a recent successful algorithm for DCOP.
Abstract The planning and scheduling framework which is the object of this paper consists in a lo... more Abstract The planning and scheduling framework which is the object of this paper consists in a loosely-coupled integration which is achieved by cascading a classical planner and a general purpose scheduler. The output of the planning phase yields a partially ordered plan which is then integrated with time and resource constraints to produce a scheduling problem.
Thanks to recent technological advances, there are now many potential applications for robotics i... more Thanks to recent technological advances, there are now many potential applications for robotics including multi-agent systems. The aim of the RoboCare Project1 is to study issues and challenges involved in the design of systems for the care of the elderly that adopt both fixed and mobile heterogeneous agents. These agents can be robots, intelligent sensors or possibly even humans.
Abstract. Intelligent environments are increasingly rich in ubiquitous sensing capabilities that ... more Abstract. Intelligent environments are increasingly rich in ubiquitous sensing capabilities that can be leveraged to know which actions a user is engaged in at any given moment in time. The ability of an intelligent environment to recognize a high-level plan of activities performed by the user in a smart home would allow to construct proactive services, such as reminding, forecasting and providing timely physical support. This article proposes an approach to human activity recognition based on temporal planning.
Abstract Since Planning and Scheduling address complementary aspects of Problem Solving, much att... more Abstract Since Planning and Scheduling address complementary aspects of Problem Solving, much attention is recently being paid to the possibility of mutually exchanging the information yielded during the planning and the scheduling search procedures. In this context, we investigate a loosely coupled approach, which consists of cascading a planner and a scheduler.
Abstract This paper describes results from the RoboCare project, whose aim is to create assistive... more Abstract This paper describes results from the RoboCare project, whose aim is to create assistive intelligent environments for older people. The specific goal of the project has been to synthesize a multi-agent system in which robotic, software and sensory services are integrated to offer cognitive support to the older user at home. The paper describes the technology that has been integrated to create an empowered robot that assists the user in day-to-day activities.
Abstract This paper gives a preliminary overview on an ongoing effort to build a planning system ... more Abstract This paper gives a preliminary overview on an ongoing effort to build a planning system to support ESA mission planners in Long Term Planning for Mars Express. The output of the tool is a pre-optimized skeleton plan of the communication windows and spacecraft maintenance slots, that is used as a support in the dialogue between science and operation team in early pre-planning of activities.
ABSTRACT The ROBOCARE Domestic Environment (RDE) is the result of a three-year project aimed at d... more ABSTRACT The ROBOCARE Domestic Environment (RDE) is the result of a three-year project aimed at developing cognitive support technology for elderly people. Specifically, the domestic environment is equipped with sensors, intelligent software components and devices which cooperate to provide cognitive support to the assisted person.
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Papers by Federico Pecora