Verifying Brahms Human-Robot Teamwork Models

Stocker, Richard; Dennis, Louise A.; Dixon, Clare; Fisher, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33353-8_30

Cited by 18 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Stocker et al [6] describe the development of the BrahmsToPromela software tool, which is utilized in this study to automatically translate a model of the Care-O-bot written in Brahms into a PROMELA specification which can then be formally verified using the SPIN model checker. The authors examine an assisted living scenario similar to the Robot House system tackled in this case study.…”

Section: B Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Brahms software does not come with formal verification tools built-in; for formal verification, we used the BrahmsToPromela translator [6]. BrahmsToPromela allows models written using a subset of Brahms to be automatically translated into PROMELA, the process metalanguage used by the SPIN model checker.…”

Section: Formal Verification Of Brahms Models Usingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brahms can be used to develop detailed models of systems with multiple interacting agents and has been used to model human-robot teams [5] and complex workflows [4] for space exploration. We translate the Brahms models automatically into PROMELA using the BrahmsToPromela translator software [6] based on a formal semantics for Brahms [7]. The autonomous control systems used in the Robot House were written at a similar level of abstraction to constructs in the Brahms modeling language.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Toward Reliable Autonomous Robotic Assistants Through Formal Verification: A Case Study

Webster

Dixon

Fisher

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Human-Mach. Syst.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is essential for robots working in close proximity to people to be both safe and trustworthy. We present a case study on formal verification for a high-level planner/scheduler for the Care-O-bot, an autonomous personal robotic assistant. We describe how a model of the Care-O-bot and its environment was developed using Brahms, a multiagent workflow language. Formal verification was then carried out by automatically translating this model to the input language of an existing model checker. Four sample properties based on system requirements were verified. We then refined the environment model three times to increase its accuracy and the persuasiveness of the formal verification results. The first refinement uses a user activity log based on real-life experiments, but is deterministic. The second refinement uses the activities from the user activity log nondeterministically. The third refinement uses "conjoined activities" based on an observation that many user activities can overlap. The four samples properties were verified for each refinement of the environment model. Finally, we discuss the approach of environment model refinement with respect to this case study.

show abstract

Section: B Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Formal Verification Of Brahms Models Usingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Toward Reliable Autonomous Robotic Assistants Through Formal Verification: A Case Study

Webster

Dixon

Fisher

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Human-Mach. Syst.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In [15] verification of a domestic home care scenario involving a person, a human carer, a robotic assistant and a house agent is considered. The scenario is modelled in Brahms and an automated translation from Brahms models into the SPIN model-checker is provided.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brahms is a multi-agent modelling, simulation and development environment designed to model both human and robotic activity using rational agents and has been used at NASA for modelling astronaut-robot planetary exploration teams. As the Care-O-bot behaviours have similarities with Brahms constructs, and as a tool [15] has been developed to translate from Brahms models into the SPIN model-checker [5], this route was adopted as a preliminary, quick and systematic way to modelcheck Care-O-bot behaviours. Issues with the approach involve the necessity to first produce a Brahms model, the resulting models being unnecessarily large due to the need to translate aspects of Brahms unnecessary to the Care-O-bot rules, the length of time for verification of simple properties, and issues relating to the modelling of non-determinism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The Fridge Door is Open”–Temporal Verification of a Robotic Assistant’s Behaviours

Dixon

Webster

Saunders

et al. 2014

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Robotic assistants are being designed to help, or work with, humans in a variety of situations from assistance within domestic situations, through medical care, to industrial settings. Whilst robots have been used in industry for some time they are often limited in terms of their range of movement or range of tasks. A new generation of robotic assistants have more freedom to move, and are able to autonomously make decisions and decide between alternatives. For people to adopt such robots they will have to be shown to be both safe and trustworthy. In this paper we focus on formal verification of a set of rules that have been developed to control the Care-O-bot, a robotic assistant located in a typical domestic environment. In particular, we apply model-checking, an automated and exhaustive algorithmic technique, to check whether formal temporal properties are satisfied on all the possible behaviours of the system. We prove a number of properties relating to robot behaviours, their priority and interruptibility, helping to support both safety and trustworthiness of robot behaviours.

show abstract