Work Plan

A graphical sketch of the WP interaction is shown below. Apart the management WP1 and the dissemination WP10 that are transversal to all the activities, WP2, which fixes the main requirements and end-user expectation, is placed on top of the RTD work-packages.

One of the outcomes of WP2 is a set of functional primitives on which many research attempts will be focused on.  The outcome of this WP directly influences the activities of WP3, regarding the design and construction of the overall platform, and the block of 5 WPs (WP4-WP8) in which the Cognitive and Control research core is confined.

The main outcomes of the WP3 and of the block of C&C research WPs, namely the SHERPA technological platform equipped with the onboard cognitive and control intelligence, are then instrumental to the demonstration activities carried out in WP9. 

A special mention goes to the 5 C&C research WPs, namely WP4-WP8. In particular, the interlink between the four work-packages WP4-WP7 showed in figure, lend itself to a clockwise reading that leads to identify a “C&C high-level loop”: in WP4 the dynamic cognitive map is constructed by fusing all the information provided by the SHERPA actors appropriately controlled.

The dynamic cognitive map is then underlying the activities of WP5 in which the elementary AI tools for high-level processing and interpretation of the map are developed. These tools, in turn, are the building blocks on which the planning and team coordination strategies are elaborated in WP6 by taking advantage of the mixed-initiative interaction between human and robot.

The high-level strategies of WP6 are then processed by WP7 in which low-level and reactive control and monitoring strategies are implemented in order to make effective the high-level inputs. The accomplishment of the planned strategies, practically achieved within WP7, is, in turn, instrumental to the dynamic cognitive map reconstruction addressed in WP4, since the acquisition of cognitive capabilities relies upon appropriate control of the SHERPA actors.  

The “C&C high-level loop” thus shows up that is naturally matched with the activities in the four work-packages WP4-WP7. 

Not by chance, the four C&C WPs in question are mapped with the functional subsystems behind the SHERPA architecture namely cognition, reasoning, and reactive control. In particular the main functionalities of the cognition and cooperation subsystems are dealt with in WP4 and WP6 respectively, with WP5 providing the theoretical support on which abstract reasoning and cooperative strategies are done, while reactive control functionalities are confined in WP7.

Finally, as said, the four WPs are completed by the “central” WP8, focused on the functional and Sw SHERPA architecture, which guarantees functional coherence and integration of the activities of the “surrounding” WPs.