Before unmanned aircraft can fly safely in civil airspace, robust airborne collision avoidance systems must be developed. Instead of hand-crafting a collision avoidance algorithm for every combination of sensor and aircraft configuration, we investigate the automatic generation of collision avoidance algorithms given models of aircraft dynamics, sensor performance, and intruder behavior. By formulating the problem of collision avoidance as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) for sensors that provide precise localization of the intruder aircraft, or a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) for sensors that have positional uncertainty or limited field-of-view constraints, generic MDP/POMDP solvers can be used to generate avoidance strategies that optimize a cost function that balances flight-plan deviation with collision. Experimental results demonstrate the suitability of such an approach using four different sensor modalities and a parametric aircraft performance model.

Personalized exoskeleton assistance provides users with the largest improvements in walking speed1 and energy economy2–4 but requires lengthy tests under unnatural laboratory conditions. Here we show that exoskeleton optimization can be performed rapidly and under real-world conditions. We designed a portable ankle exoskeleton based on insights from tests with a versatile laboratory testbed. We developed a data-driven method for optimizing exoskeleton assistance outdoors using wearable sensors and found that it was equally effective as laboratory methods, but identified optimal parameters four times faster. We performed real-world optimization using data collected during many short bouts of walking at varying speeds. Assistance optimized during one hour of naturalistic walking in a public setting increased self-selected speed by 9 ± 4% and reduced the energy used to travel a given distance by 17 ± 5% compared with normal shoes. This assistance reduced metabolic energy consumption by 23 ± 8% when participants walked on a treadmill at a standard speed of 1.5 m s−1. Human movements encode information that can be used to personalize assistive devices and enhance performance.

Abstract-Markov decision processes (MDPs) are often used to model sequential decision problems involving uncertainty under the assumption of centralized control. However, many large, distributed systems do not permit centralized control due to communication limitations (such as cost, latency or corruption). This paper surveys recent work on decentralized control of MDPs in which control of each agent depends on a partial view of the world. We focus on a general framework where there may be uncertainty about the state of the environment, represented as a decentralized partially observable MDP (Dec-POMDP), but consider a number of subclasses with different assumptions about uncertainty and agent independence. In these models, a shared objective function is used, but plans of action must be based on a partial view of the environment. We describe the frameworks, along with the complexity of optimal control and important properties. We also provide an overview of exact and approximate solution methods as well as relevant applications. This survey provides an introduction to what has become an active area of research on these models and their solutions.

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Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of global mortality. Health organizations have requested a tool to objectively measure physical activity. Respirometry and doubly labeled water accurately estimate energy expenditure, but are infeasible for everyday use. Smartwatches are portable, but have significant errors. Existing wearable methods poorly estimate time-varying activity, which comprises 40% of daily steps. Here, we present a Wearable System that estimates metabolic energy expenditure in real-time during common steady-state and time-varying activities with substantially lower error than state-of-the-art methods. We perform experiments to select sensors, collect training data, and validate the Wearable System with new subjects and new conditions for walking, running, stair climbing, and biking. The Wearable System uses inertial measurement units worn on the shank and thigh as they distinguish lower-limb activity better than wrist or trunk kinematics and converge more quickly than physiological signals. When evaluated with a diverse group of new subjects, the Wearable System has a cumulative error of 13% across common activities, significantly less than 42% for a smartwatch and 44% for an activity-specific smartwatch. This approach enables accurate physical activity monitoring which could enable new energy balance systems for weight management or large-scale activity monitoring.