[ros-users] Robot Task Description Format - Potential REP

Mon Apr 15 16:02:11 UTC 2013

Moritz,

Thank you for your reply.  I am familiar with OWL and interested in your work.  I think the work that you are doing is more abstract and high-level than what I propose, but I can see the overlap.  For example, in the simplest use cases we would just need a list of defined waypoints.  We would write an explicit program that knew how to interpret the data.  Could your representation  be used for such a simple case?  Do you have any software built up that supports parsing of the OWL and translation into programming constructs (classes)?

Shaun Edwards
Senior Research Engineer
Manufacturing System Department

http://robotics.swri.org
http://rosindustrial.swri.org/
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From: ros-users-bounces at code.ros.org [mailto:ros-users-bounces at code.ros.org] On Behalf Of Moritz Tenorth
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 4:33 AM
To: ros-users at code.ros.org
Subject: Re: [ros-users] Robot Task Description Format - Potential REP

Hi,

part of this seems indeed similar to what we are working on in the RoboEarth project. The project aims at establishing a web-based knowledge base through which robots can exchange information about actions, objects and environments (diff. kinds of maps) among each other, similar to  Wikipedia for humans.

As part of this effort, we have worked on formal semantic representations for this kind of information [1]. The "action recipes" are encoded in OWL, an XML-based formal language used in the Semantic Web. They can describe actions, their properties (e.g. objectActedOn, fromLocation,...), their arrangement in a task (sequences, partial orderings, FSM-like structures), as well as relations to objects or spatial concepts (points, trajectories).

Since the recipes are described in the same language as object models and environment maps, it is possible to link these kinds of information, for example to parameterize an action with the spatial layout described in a semantic environment map.

So if there will be an effort to define such a format, we'd be happy to share our experiences and contribute to its definition.

best,
Moritz

[1] Moritz Tenorth, Alexander Clifford Perzylo, Reinhard Lafrenz, Michael Beetz, "The RoboEarth language: Representing and Exchanging Knowledge about Actions, Objects, and Environments", In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), St. Paul, MN, USA, 2012.
On 04/12/2013 10:28 PM, rdean at gdrs.com<mailto:rdean at gdrs.com> wrote:
You may want to check out what RoboEarth has already done, I remember from an ICRA presentation that they were sharing task descriptions between different robots.  This may or may not cover your area of interest, or may have a core lexicon you could extend.

From: ros-users-bounces at code.ros.org<mailto:ros-users-bounces at code.ros.org> [mailto:ros-users-bounces at code.ros.org] On Behalf Of Edwards, Shaun M.
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 10:40 AM
To: ros-users at code.ros.org<mailto:ros-users at code.ros.org>
Subject: [ros-users] Robot Task Description Format - Potential REP

All,

Recently we have had several projects that have required us to follow a predetermined path (i.e. a set of waypoints that are determined offline)  To achieve this we have used csv or yaml files (with joint points and Cartesian positions) or in some cases just hardcoded the path in the source file.  I have searched through ROS and asked questions on ROS answers, but there doesn't seem to be anything built into ROS to support this functionality in a generic way.  To illustrate the need, here are several use cases:

·         3D model/data to robot path - Several applications require a robot path be defined using a 3D model.  For these applications, we often use a CAD system (or 3D models in general) to define the Cartesian robot path.  Example applications include, robotic painting, grinding, deburring, mold trimming, inspection, etc...  The Cartesian path is then turned into a robot joint path at runtime.

·         Robot path teaching - Not all applications require intelligent path planning.  There are some applications that can be solved (at least partially) by teaching a robot a desired path (i.e. a set of waypoints to execute repeatedly).  New robots, such as Baxter, illustrate this capability by allowing a human operator to move an arm and record waypoints.  Note, this is not as easy as simply recording joint positions.  For some applications, you may want to record Cartesian positions or specify that a path segment between waypoints be executed using a linear trajectory.  Because of these requirements, the recorded path/trajectory is more than a joint trajectory.

·         High level scripting - Several robot tasks, such as static pick and place, include lots of scripted motion and process data.  Move to A, open gripper, Move to B, close gripper.  In a typical ROS approach, positions are stored in yaml files and motion order and process data is captured in code.  Any change in the logic or order of operations requires a code change and rebuild.  A task description format could capture this information generically in a single place and allow on the fly configuration of nodes that execute the motion.  Note, that in this use case, IO operations (i.e. open gripper) are also required.

These use cases lead me to believe that a Robot Task Description Format (RTDF), similar to a URDF would be useful.  I have put together a minimal example here [1], but would like to expand upon it to meet all the requirements of the use cases above and others.

I would like to gage the community interest in the need for such a file format.  If the interest is great enough then I will move forward with creating an official REP.

Thanks for your consideration,

Shaun Edwards
Senior Research Engineer
Manufacturing System Department

http://robotics.swri.org
http://rosindustrial.swri.org/
http://ros.swri.org<http://ros.swri.org/>
Join the ROS-Industrial Developers List<https://groups.google.com/group/swri-ros-pkg-dev/boxsubscribe>
Southwest Research Institute
210-522-3277

[1] https://github.com/mtconnect/ros_bridge/blob/master/mtconnect_example/mtconnect_cnc_robot_example/config/m16ib20/task_description.xml

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Dr. Moritz Tenorth     | tenorth at cs.uni-bremen.de<mailto:tenorth at cs.uni-bremen.de>

Universität Bremen     | Am Fallturm 1

29359 Bremen           | Germany

Tel: +49 421 218-64016 | ai.uni-bremen.de/team/moritz_tenorth
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