These robots can move your couch
Researchers develop robots that can work independently but cooperatively


Date:
August 24, 2021
Source:
University of Cincinnati
Summary:
Engineers have developed robots that can work independently and
cooperatively to move unwieldy objects like a couch. In simulations,
the robots were successful even when tasked to move an object in
new, unfamiliar scenarios.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
To train robots how to work independently but cooperatively, researchers
at the University of Cincinnati gave them a relatable task: move a couch.


==========================================================================
If you've ever helped someone move furniture, you know it takes
coordination - - simultaneously pushing or pulling and reacting based
on what your helper is doing. That makes it an ideal problem to examine collaboration between robots, said Andrew Barth, a doctoral student in
UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

"It's a good metaphor for cooperation," Barth said.

In the Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab of UC aerospace engineering professor Ou Ma, student researchers developed artificial intelligence to train robots to work together to move a couch -- or in
this case a long rod that served as a stand-in -- around two obstacles
and through a narrow door in computer simulations.

"We made it a little more difficult on ourselves. We want to accomplish
the task with as little communication as possible among the robots,"
student Barth said.

He was lead author of a study on the project published in the journal Intelligent Service Robotics. Professor Ma, UC doctoral student Yufeng
Sun and UC senior research associate Lin Zhang were co-authors.



========================================================================== Neither robot directed the other. And the two robots didn't share their strategy in advance to complete the task. Instead, they turned to an
artificial intelligence called genetic fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is an intelligent control technique that mimics human reasoning by replacing
a simple binary classification (yes, no) with degrees of right or
wrong. Genetic algorithms modify individual solutions to "learn" from
past results to optimize performance over time.

"Ultimately, we want to expand this to 10 or more robots working
cooperatively on a project," Barth said. "If you want to build a gigantic habitat in space, say, you'll need a lot of robots working together. But
if you were relying on a communications network and it goes down, then
your whole project is done." If robots can work independently, losing
one won't make much difference. The others can compensate to complete
the mission, Barth said.

Robots were given the task of carrying the virtual couch around two
obstacles and through a narrow door. The robots successfully completed
the task 95% of the time in simulations.

More importantly, the robot work partners were 93% successful in a
completely new scenario -- with two new unfamiliar obstacles and a
target door in a different location. And the robots had nearly equal
success without re- training, even when researchers changed other
factors such as the size of the "couch." "If you can train robots to
work semi-independently with as little information as possible, then
you made your system more robust to that failure and made it easier for
large groups to collaborate," Barth said.



==========================================================================
"Our long-term goal is for multiple robots to be able to cooperate to
perform difficult tasks -- like moving furniture," Ma said.

Robotics have come a long way in the past 20 years, contributing to
industry, space exploration and commerce.

Researchers are working hard to improve human safety around robots, which
can boost productivity. Likewise, robots that can work cooperatively
would create huge opportunities, Ma said.

"There are a host of applications. Any place you have jobs that multiple
people are doing in the future, you could have multiple robots doing,"
Ma said.

"Currently, most robots work alone. But in the future we'll need multiple robots working together just like people do now." The control system
he and his students are developing is scalable, which means they can
add any number of robots to a task.

"And you don't need to retrain them if suddenly it's just four or six,"
he said. "If one or two fail, the rest can carry on. That's the key."
Plus, you don't need to reward your robot helpers with pizza.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cincinnati. Original
written by Michael Miller. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Andrew Barth, Yufeng Sun, Lin Zhang, Ou Ma. Genetic fuzzy-based
method
for training two independent robots to perform a cooperative task.

Intelligent Service Robotics, 2021; DOI: 10.1007/s11370-021-00379-2 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210824135325.htm

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