The Active Objects Model (AOM) as a model-based user interface development environment is presented. The paper highlights the convenience of the trajectory notion in the description of the structure and functionality of graphical user interfaces. The AOM model consists of a set of active agents with private rule based behaviours. Model entities involve topological information which define, thro...

Graphical Direct Manipulation (GrDM) query languages are characterized and positioned with respect to traditional textual query languages. After a brief survey of the current state of the art, the Pasta-3 GrDM query language is presented, with emphasis on three features that make significant new contributions to this field: (1) its GrDM basis (query editing through clicking and dragging of an i...

In this paper, we address the cooperative towing of payloads by multiple mobile robots in the plane. Robots are attached to a planar object or a pallet carrying a payload by cables. Coordinated motion by the robots allow the payload to be manipulated through a planar, warehouse-like environment. We formulate a quasi-static model for manipulation and derive equations of motion that yield the mot...

The aim of the paper is to propose an application of the automata theory in modeling and analyzing Cooperative Augmented Reality Systems (CARSs). We motivate it by two examples, one of them applying Augmented Reality (AR) paradigms to medical training, and the other one to telerobotic manipulation. The model is based on automata theory and objectives are formulated as reachability-like decision...

We wish to organize furniture in a room with a team of robots that can push objects. We show how coordinated pushing by robots can change the pose (position and orientation) of objects and then we ask whether planning, global control, and explicit communication are necessary for cooperatively changing the pose of objects. We answer in the negative and present, as witnesses, four cooperative man...

abstract EEective dialogue management is a key issue in speech-based interfaces to information systems since it can ensure a cooperative interaction with the user. Cooperativeness requires techniques which allow the user to eeeciently access information and also techniques which compensate for limitations in system knowledge and speech technology. The paper describes management techniques devel...

The Cooperative Manipulation Testbed (CMT) in the Dexterous Robotics Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) is a facility for developing and testing control systems for space robotics and a general robotics testbed for system development. The CMT consists of three seven degree-of-freedom commercial manipulators with flexible tooling arranged in a configuration inspired by other dexte...

Robots capable of providing physical assistance to a human partner face a wide area of application scenarios ranging from manufacturing assistance, physical rehabilitation to mobility aids for the elderly. Yet, the physical nature of the coupling present in cooperative manipulation tasks and the uncertain contribution of the human partner make physical robotic assistance a challenging topic of ...

In this study, we investigate the role of payoff information and conformity in improving network performance in a traffic dilemma known as the Braess paradox. Our goal is to understand when decisions are guided by selfish motivations or otherwise by social ones. For this purpose, we consider the manipulation of others' choice, public and private monitoring and information on distribution of cho...