Professor Alan Winfield's Outputs (82)

Anticipation in robotics (2018)
Book Chapter

In this chapter, we introduce anticipatory robotic systems. We show how intelligent robots can anticipate the future, by outlining two broad approaches: the first shows how robots can use anticipation to learn how to control their own bodies and the... Read More about Anticipation in robotics.

The case for an ethical black box (2017)
Book Chapter

This paper proposes that robots and autonomous systems should be equipped with the equivalent of a Flight Data Recorder to continuously record sensor and relevant internal status data. We call this an ethical black box. We argue that an ethical black... Read More about The case for an ethical black box.

An architecture for ethical robots inspired by the simulation theory of cognition (2017)
Journal Article

The expanding ability of robots to take unsupervised decisions renders it imperative that mechanisms are in place to guarantee the safety of their behaviour. Moreover, intelligent autonomous robots should be more than safe; arguably they should also... Read More about An architecture for ethical robots inspired by the simulation theory of cognition.

Standardizing Ethical Design for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems (2017)
Journal Article

© 1970-2012 IEEE. AI is here now, available to anyone with access to digital technology and the Internet. But its consequences for our social order aren't well understood. How can we guide the way technology impacts society?

Rational imitation for robots: the cost difference model (2017)
Journal Article

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Infants imitate behaviour flexibly. Depending on the circumstances, they copy both actions and their effects or only reproduce the demonstrator’s intended goals. In view of this selective imitation, infants have been cal... Read More about Rational imitation for robots: the cost difference model.

When robots tell each other stories: The emergence of artificial fiction (2017)
Book Chapter

This essay outlines a proposal for an embodied computational model of storytelling, using robots. If it could be built, the model would open the possibility for experimental demonstration and investigation of how simple narrative might emerge from in... Read More about When robots tell each other stories: The emergence of artificial fiction.

The euRathlon 2015 grand challenge: The first outdoor multi-domain search and rescue robotics competition— A Marine perspective (2016)
Journal Article

© 2016, Marine Technology Society Journal. All rights reserved. The euRathlon project was an FP7-funded Coordination and Support Action (2013–2015). Itsmain aim was to organize outdoor robotics competitions in realistic search and rescue response sce... Read More about The euRathlon 2015 grand challenge: The first outdoor multi-domain search and rescue robotics competition— A Marine perspective.

An immune-inspired swarm aggregation algorithm for self-healing swarm robotic systems (2016)
Journal Article

© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd Swarm robotics is concerned with the decentralised coordination of multiple robots having only limited communication and interaction abilities. Although fault tolerance and robustness to individual robot failures have ofte... Read More about An immune-inspired swarm aggregation algorithm for self-healing swarm robotic systems.

A Novel Design for a Robot Grappling Hook for use in a Nuclear Cave Environment (2016)
Journal Article

© 2016 Within the field of robotics there exist few designs for detachable grappling hooks. This paper focusses on the novel design of a detachable grappling hook for use within a nuclear cave environment. The design seeks to exploit the complex netw... Read More about A Novel Design for a Robot Grappling Hook for use in a Nuclear Cave Environment.

euRathlon 2015: A multi-domain multi-robot grand challenge for search and rescue robots (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Staged at Piombino, Italy in September 2015, euRathlon 2015 was the world’s first multi-domain (air, land and sea) multi-robot search and rescue competition. In a mock-disaster scenario inspired b... Read More about euRathlon 2015: A multi-domain multi-robot grand challenge for search and rescue robots.

Rational imitation for robots (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Infants imitate behaviour flexibly. Depending on the circumstances, they copy both actions and their effects or only reproduce the demonstrator’s intended goals. In view of this selective imitatio... Read More about Rational imitation for robots.

Evolvable robot hardware (2015)
Book Chapter

While the theory and practice of evolutionary robotics is well established, most work to date has been concerned with evolving a robot’s control system – it’s software. This chapter is concerned instead with the more difficult problem of how to evolv... Read More about Evolvable robot hardware.

Towards verifiably ethical robot behaviour (2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Ensuring that autonomous systems work ethically is both complex and difficult. However, the idea of having an additional ‘governor’ that assesses options the system has, and prunes them to select the most ethical choices is well understood. Recent wo... Read More about Towards verifiably ethical robot behaviour.

An artificial immune system for self-healing in swarm robotic systems (2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. Swarm robotics is concerned with the decentralised coordination of multiple robots having only limited communication and interaction abilities. Although fault tolerance and robustness to individua... Read More about An artificial immune system for self-healing in swarm robotic systems.

Estimating the energy cost of (artificial) evolution (2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This short discussion paper sets out to explore the question: what is the energy cost of evolving complex artificial life? The paper takes an unconventional approach by first estimating the energy cost of natural evolution and, in particular, the spe... Read More about Estimating the energy cost of (artificial) evolution.

The next big thing(s) in robotics (2014)
Book Chapter

euRathlon Outdoor Robotics Challenge: Year 1 Report (2014)
Book Chapter

Towards an ethical robot: Internal models, consequences and ethical action selection (2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

If robots are to be trusted, especially when interacting with humans, then they will need to be more than just safe. This paper explores the potential of robots capable of modelling and therefore predicting the consequences of both their own actions,... Read More about Towards an ethical robot: Internal models, consequences and ethical action selection.

The distributed co-evolution of an on-board simulator and controller for swarm robot behaviours (2014)
Journal Article

We investigate the reality gap, specifically the environmental correspondence of an on-board simulator. We describe a novel distributed co-evolutionary approach to improve the transference of controllers that co-evolve with an on-board simulator. A n... Read More about The distributed co-evolution of an on-board simulator and controller for swarm robot behaviours.

Collective foraging: Cleaning, energy harvesting and trophallaxis (2013)
Book Chapter