RoboCupRescue Simulation Project is an open resource of research results. Various people worldwide participate in this simulator for research, entertainment, training, or education via the Internet. A diverse spectrum of possibilities of this technology will contribute to the creation of the safer social system in the future.
Here at Southampton, we are developing new agent strategies and testbeds to allow intelligent agents to coordinate in a robust fashion in environments that are uncertain and dynamic. The RoboCup Rescue Project is mainly driven as a sub-project of the ALADDIN Project.
The essential problem posed by this competition is one that we all face in daily life. That is, how do we make good decisions in the face of uncertainty? Part of the answer to that question lies in making good assumptions. We are use to thinking of assumptions as bad things because we tend only to notice them when they are exposed in a negative light. However, that fact remains that, without taking risks on our assumptions, we would never achieve anything.
With artificial intelligence, there is no exception. Many of the real life problems that we target here at Southampton require computers to make decisions, despite not having all the relevant information available. The type of problem that inspired this competition is just one example of this, in which our agent had to identify which of its competitors provided reliable information, decide how best to use that information, and how best to spend its income to make a profit. With this in mind, our starting point had to be good assumptions about our competitors' strategies, based on careful consideration of the rules of the game. The rest of the work involved churning those assumptions though the mathematical machinery of statistics, and implementing the solutions we got out.
A metal catalyst free growth method of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been developed using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of CNTs on carbon implanted SiGe islands on Si substrates. From SEM and Raman measurements, the fabricated CNTs are identified as single wall CNTs (SWNTs) with diameter ranging from 1.2 to 1.6 nm. Essential parts of the substrate preparation after CVD SiGe growth and carbon implant are a chemical oxidization by hydrogen peroxide solution and a heat treatment at 1000ðC prior to CNT growth. We believe that these processes enhance surface decomposition and assist the formation of carbon clusters, which play a role in seeding CNT growth. The growth technique is a practical method of growing metal free CNTs, opening up the prospect of merging CNT devices into silicon very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) technology.
ReSIST is an NoE that addresses the strategic objective ââ¬ÅTowards a global dependability and security frameworkââ¬? of the Work Programme, and responds to the stated ââ¬Åneed for resilience, self-healing, dynamic content and volatile environmentsââ¬?.
It will integrate leading researchers active in the multidisciplinary domains of Dependability, Security, and Human Factors, in order that Europe will have a well-focused coherent set of research activities aimed at ensuring that future ââ¬Åubiquitous computing systemsââ¬?, the immense systems of ever-evolving networks of computers and mobile devices which are needed to support and provide Ambient Intelligence (AmI), have the necessary resilience and survivability, despite any residual development and physical faults, interaction mistakes, or malicious attacks and disruptions.
The objectives of the Network are:
This project aims to validate or improve existing cable ratings methods for high power cable transmission circuits used on the National Grid. FEA models are being developed to deal with a range of circuit configurations to solve for complex circuit designs and geometries. Having benchmarked existing methods for buried cable circuits, both with and without forced cooling, the project investigated the possible thermal constraints posed by cable joints. The next phase of work will involve thermal modelling of cable crossings.
In the recent JISC/CETIS conference it was recommended that the community needed to ââ¬Ëkick startââ¬â¢ the use of the IMS Question and Test Interoperability version 2.0 specifications. At this meeting it was felt that in order to achieve this there needed to be a robust set of tools and services that conformed to the QTIv2 specification. The R2Q2 project will concentrate on refactoring the QTI Specification to provide a service that moves towards a reliable and definitive QTI v2 render & response processing engine.
FingArtPrint is a European project to build a system to take "fingerprints" of works of art so that they can identified. A combination of 3D surface scanning and multispectral imaging combines to make a unique data record of the object which can be compared to check its authenticity.
This project aims to develop techniques, methods and architectures for modelling, designing and building decentralised systems that can bring together information from a variety of heterogeneous sources in order to take informed actions. To do this, the project needs to take a total systems view on information and knowledge fusion and to consider the feedback that exists between sensing, decision making and acting in such systems. Moreover, it must be able to achieve these objectives in environments in which: control is distributed; uncertainty, ambiguity, imprecision and bias are endemic; multiple stakeholders with different aims and objectives are present; and resources are limited and continually vary during the systemââ¬â¢s operation.
More specifically, the main aims of the project are:
To ensure the specific methods and techniques developed in the research fit together to give a coherent whole, the project will develop a number of software demonstrations. These will be in the broad area of disaster management.
mSpace Mobile is a combined interaction and systems design project to integrate multiple streams of information into one interface to support exploratory search while on the move.
A fundamental shift is occurring in many industries away from the selling of products (e.g. cars) to the provision of services (e.g. transport, car leasing). Essential to the long-term success of businesses in this emerging global environment is the creation of new Integrated Products And Services (IPAS). These require knowledge transfer between three very different worlds: new service design, new product design, and the operation of existing products and services in the field. IPAS will integrate and apply a number of disparate generic technologies that are currently in the research phase and span the disciplines of computer science, engineering design, knowledge management, manufacturing and work psychology. IPAS will significantly improve these generic technologies, which are critical to the effective exploitation of intra and inter-enterprise computing, and validate them by application to a complex real world challenge. IPAS deliverables include: a Designer Knowledge Desktop, defined work social issues and solutions, process simulations and optimisation, and a life cycle cost modelling toolkit.