We consider the well known distributed setting of computational mobile entities, called robots, operating in the Euclidean plane in Look-Compute-Move (LCM) cycles. We investigate the computational impact of expanding the capabilities of the robots by endowing them with an externally visible memory register, called light, whose values, called colors, are persistent, that is they are not automati...

The paper presents an experiment of a collective pulling of one object by three Lego R ©robots. The robots use two parameters to orient their pulling force: 1. the direction to the nest 2. the local perception of the movement of the prey. Three behavior-based programs have been experimented to study the impact of each parameter. Although a solution can be found by using random trials in the dir...

Service robots could support elderly people’s activities of daily living and enable them to live in their own residences independently as long as possible. Current robot technology does not allow reliable fully autonomous operation of service robots with manipulation capabilities in the heterogeneous environments of private homes. We developed and evaluated a usage concept for semi-autonomous r...

Autonomous or semi-autonomous robots are nowadays used in a wide variety of scenarios, including marine and underwater environments [...]

This paper overviews our application of state-of-the-art automated planning algorithms to real mobile robots performing an autonomous construction task, a domain in which robots are prone to faults. We describe how embracing these faults leads to better representations and smarter planning, allowing robots with limited precision to avoid catastrophic failures and succeed in intricate constructi...

The paper presents diverse control system implementation techniques for autonomous robots. It takes into account that such control systems require programming means for communicating the tasks that have to be executed by the robots and that those devices must have both considerable sensor data gathering capability and technical means for communicating and cooperating with other devices, presuma...

Humanoid robots can serve as a direct approach to the acquisition of this type of competence, since a sufficiently sophisticated humanoid robot would be able to experience much of the world in the same way as humans. Currently, however, humanoid robots have very limited experience with the world due to obstacles ranging from mechanical design to social constraints on the use of autonomous robots.

Recent trends in autonomous mobile robots are presented, with an emphasis on machines capable of some degree of learning and adaptation. Following a historical review, the paper discusses developments in humanoids, entertainment robots, service robots, and group robotics. Some of the applications are illustrated with examples from the author’s laboratory.

The research discusses the meaning that communication robots have in the context of mental therapy. This theoretical discussion is undertaken from a psychological and sociological perspective. It investigates what happens when robots are introduced into current social situations. It focuses on applications of robots that substitute as autonomous artifacts behaving like humans for human therapists.