ROSETTA · RObot control for Skilled ExecuTion of Tasks in natural interaction with humans; based on Autonomy, cumulative knowledge and learning

The ROSETTA project develops a new generation of robot controller technology for human-like industrial robots working together with humans. The control system uses a variety of sensor-based skills, together with knowledge about how to adapt them on-line to the concrete situation. The controller executes complex tasks with a high degree of autonomy, because it has network access to a knowledge repository and management system. The knowledge repository receives feedback from a population of installed robot systems, that have received their programmes from the repository earlier, and that now share their individual improvements and experiences. The knowledge repository can thus improve and extend itself at an unprecedented fast rate.<br/>This will result in:<br/>- A new paradigm for engineering & instructing of robots, based on robot task and skill representations. Human programmers will be able to build a robot application using task-level instructions, embedding knowledge about the sensing, planning, control and decision making that is appropriate for the task. A breakthrough will be finding representations of all types of knowledge required in the envisaged production application. These results will be implemented on a controller and tested in an assembly application with human-like robots, with on-line error detection and error recovery, using adaptive hybrid control for self-improvement, and natural language interaction.<br/>- New sensing, control and decision making methods for safe physical human-robot interaction. This includes new functionalities that are human-centred": the controller has knowledge about how it could inflict injuries on humans, and how to avoid them, and it is equipped with sensors, sensor processing and reasoning capabilities to find the optimal trade-off between effective progress in its task and safe and psychologically acceptable physical interaction with the human co-worker(s), which will be subject to standardisation efforts.<br/>"