Development of flexible languages for scenario and team description in multirobot missions

The work described in this paper is part of the development of a framework to support the joint execution of cooperative missions by a group of vehicles, in a simulated, augmented, or real environment. Such a framework brings forward the need for formal languages in which to specify the vehicles tha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:AI EDAM 2017-02, Vol.31 (1), p.69-86
Main Authors: Castro Silva, Daniel, Henriques Abreu, Pedro, Reis, Luís Paulo, Oliveira, Eugénio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial intelligence
Extensible Markup Language
Regular Articles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The work described in this paper is part of the development of a framework to support the joint execution of cooperative missions by a group of vehicles, in a simulated, augmented, or real environment. Such a framework brings forward the need for formal languages in which to specify the vehicles that compose a team, the scenario in which they will operate, and the mission to be performed. This paper introduces the Scenario Description Language (SDL) and the Team Description Language (TDL), two Extensible Markup Language based dialects that compose the static components necessary for representing scenario and mission knowledge. SDL provides a specification of physical scenario and global operational constraints, while TDL defines the team of vehicles, as well as team-specific operational restrictions. The dialects were defined using Extensible Markup Language schemas, with all required information being integrated in the definitions. An interface was developed and incorporated into the framework, allowing for the creation and edition of SDL and TDL files. Once the information is specified, it can be used in the framework, thus facilitating environment and team specification and deployment. A survey answered by practitioners and researchers shows that the satisfaction with SDL+TDL is elevated (the overall evaluation of SDL+TDL achieved a score of 4 out of 5, with 81%/78.6% of the answers ≥4); in addition, the usability of the interface was evaluated, achieving a score of 86.7 in the System Usability Scale survey. These results imply that SDL+TDL is flexible enough to represent scenarios and teams, through a user-friendly interface.
ISSN:0890-0604
1469-1760
DOI:10.1017/S0890060416000184