CPS: Frontier: Collaborative Research: VeHICaL: Verified Human Interfaces, Control, and Learning for Semi-Autonomous Systems

CPS：前沿：协作研究：VeHCaL：半自主系统的经过验证的人机界面、控制和学习

• 批准号: 1544924
• 负责人: Cynthia Sturton
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1544924&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CPS; Frontier; Collaborative; Research; VeHICaL

This NSF Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Frontier project "Verified Human Interfaces, Control, and Learning for Semi-Autonomous Systems (VeHICaL)" is developing the foundations of verified co-design of interfaces and control for human cyber-physical systems (h-CPS) --- cyber-physical systems that operate in concert with human operators. VeHICaL aims to bring a formal approach to designing both interfaces and control for h-CPS, with provable guarantees.The VeHICaL project is grounded in a novel problem formulation that elucidates the unique requirements on h-CPS including not only traditional correctness properties on autonomous controllers but also quantitative requirements on the logic governing switching or sharing of control between human operator and autonomous controller, the user interface, privacy properties, etc. The project is making contributions along four thrusts: (1) formalisms for modeling h-CPS; (2) computational techniques for learning, verification, and control of h-CPS; (3) design and validation of sensor and human-machine interfaces, and (4) empirical evaluation in the domain of semi-autonomous vehicles. The VeHICaL approach is bringing a conceptual shift of focus away from separately addressing the design of control systems and human-machine interaction and towards the joint co-design of human interfaces and control using common modeling formalisms and requirements on the entire system. This co-design approach is making novel intellectual contributions to the areas of formal methods, control theory, sensing and perception, cognitive science, and human-machine interfaces. Cyber-physical systems deployed in societal-scale applications almost always interact with humans. The foundational work being pursued in the VeHICaL project is being validated in two application domains: semi-autonomous ground vehicles that interact with human drivers, and semi-autonomous aerial vehicles (drones) that interact with human operators. A principled approach to h-CPS design --- one that obtains provable guarantees on system behavior with humans in the loop --- can have an enormous positive impact on the emerging national ``smart'' infrastructure. In addition, this project is pursuing a substantial educational and outreach program including: (i) integrating research into undergraduate and graduate coursework, especially capstone projects; (ii) extensive online course content leveraging existing work by the PIs; (iii) a strong undergraduate research program, and (iv) outreach and summer programs for school children with a focus on reaching under-represented groups.

这个 NSF 网络物理系统 (CPS) 前沿项目“半自主系统的验证人机界面、控制和学习 (VeHICaL)”正在为人类网络物理系统的界面和控制的验证协同设计奠定基础 (h -CPS）——与人类操作员协同操作的网络物理系统。 VeHICaL 旨在提供一种正式的方法来设计 h-CPS 的接口和控制，并提供可证明的保证。VeHICaL 项目基于一种新颖的问题表述，阐明了 h-CPS 的独特要求，不仅包括自主控制器的传统正确性属性还包括对人类操作员和自主控制器之间控制切换或共享的逻辑、用户界面、隐私属性等的定量要求。该项目在四个方面做出了贡献：（1）建模的形式主义h-CPS； (2) 用于学习、验证和控制 h-CPS 的计算技术； （3）传感器和人机界面的设计和验证，以及（4）半自动车辆领域的实证评估。 VeHICaL 方法正在将重点从单独解决控制系统和人机交互的设计转向使用通用建模形式和整个系统的要求来联合协同设计人机界面和控制。 这种协同设计方法正在为形式方法、控制理论、传感和感知、认知科学和人机界面领域做出新颖的智力贡献。社会规模应用中部署的网络物理系统几乎总是与人类交互。 VeHCaL 项目正在进行的基础工作正在两个应用领域进行验证：与人类驾驶员交互的半自主地面车辆，以及与人类操作员交互的半自主飞行器（无人机）。 h-CPS 设计的原则性方法——在人类参与的情况下获得系统行为的可证明保证——可以对新兴的国家“智能”基础设施产生巨大的积极影响。此外，该项目正在开展一项实质性的教育和推广计划，包括：（i）将研究纳入本科生和研究生课程，特别是顶点项目； (ii) 利用 PI 现有工作的广泛在线课程内容； (iii) 强大的本科生研究计划，以及 (iv) 针对学童的外展和暑期计划，重点关注代表性不足的群体。