Benchmarking the utility of maps of dynamics for human-aware motion planning.

Robots operating with humans in highly dynamic environments need not only react to moving persons and objects but also to anticipate and adhere to patterns of motion of dynamic agents in their environment. Currently, robotic systems use information about dynamics locally, through tracking and predicting motion within their direct perceptual range. This limits robots to reactive response to observed motion and to short-term predictions in their immediate vicinity. In this paper, we explore how maps of dynamics (MoDs) that provide information about motion patterns outside of the direct perceptual range of the robot can be used in motion planning to improve the behaviour of a robot in a dynamic environment. We formulate cost functions for four MoD representations to be used in any optimizing motion planning framework. Further, to evaluate the performance gain through using MoDs in motion planning, we design objective metrics, and we introduce a simulation framework for rapid benchmarking. We find that planners that utilize MoDs waste less time waiting for pedestrians, compared to planners that use geometric information alone. In particular, planners utilizing both intensity (proportion of observations at a grid cell where a dynamic entity was detected) and direction information have better task execution efficiency.

Are Smart Homes Adequate for Older Adults with Dementia?

Smart home technologies can enable older adults, including those with dementia, to live more independently in their homes for a longer time. Activity recognition, in combination with anomaly detection, has shown the potential to recognise users' daily activities and detect deviations. However, activity recognition and anomaly detection are not sufficient, as they lack the capacity to capture the progression of patients' habits across the different stages of dementia. To achieve this, smart homes should be enabled to recognise patients' habits and changes in habits, including the loss of some habits. In this study, we first present an overview of the stages that characterise dementia, alongside real-world personas that depict users' behaviours at each stage. Then, we survey the state of the art on activity recognition in smart homes for older adults with dementia, including the literature that combines activity recognition and anomaly detection. We categorise the literature based on goals, stages of dementia, and targeted users. Finally, we justify the necessity for habit recognition in smart homes for older adults with dementia, and we discuss the research challenges related to its implementation.

Combining Task and Motion Planning: Challenges and Guidelines.

Combined Task and Motion Planning (TAMP) is an area where no one-fits-all solution can exist. Many aspects of the domain, as well as operational requirements, have an effect on how algorithms and representations are designed. Frequently, trade-offs have to be made to build a system that is effective. We propose five research questions that we believe need to be answered to solve real-world problems that involve combined TAMP. We show which decisions and trade-offs should be made with respect to these research questions, and illustrate these on examples of existing application domains. By doing so, this article aims to provide a guideline for designing combined TAMP solutions that are adequate and effective in the target scenario.

Multi-sensor dataset of human activities in a smart home environment.

Time series data acquired from sensors deployed in smart homes present valuable information for intelligent systems to learn activity patterns of occupants. With the increasing need to enable people to age in place independently, the availability of such data is key to the development of home monitoring solutions. In this article we describe an unlabelled dataset of measurements collected from multiple environmental sensors placed in a smart home to capture human activities of daily living. Various sensors were used including passive infrared, force sensing resistors, reed switches, mini photocell light sensors, temperature and humidity, and smart plugs. The sensors record data from the user's interactions with the environment, such as indoor movements, pressure applied on the bed, or current consumption when using electrical appliances. Millions of raw sensor data samples were collected continuously at a frequency of 1 Hz over a period of six months between 26 February 2020 and 26 August 2020. The dataset can be useful in the analysis of different methods, including data-driven algorithms for activity or habit recognition. In particular, the research community might be interested in investigating the performance of algorithms when applied on unlabelled datasets and not necessarily on annotated datasets. Furthermore, by applying artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on such data collected over long periods, it is possible to extract patterns that reveal the user's habits as well as detect changes in the habits. This can benefit in detecting deviations in order to provide timely interventions for patients, e.g., people with dementia.