Thomas ChristallerBewegung & Lebenskunst
Thomas Christaller
Professor, Dr. rer. nat.
About
80
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Introduction
During the last years at high-school I read the autobiography of Norbert Wiener (Mathematik Mein Leben). I didn't understand very much of the mathematics but I was fascinated by his excitement about cybernetics. I decided to study mathematics an dnot computer science because at this time (1970) informatics was a brand new discipline in Germany. In 1974 I joined a project on linguistic data processing as a student. The looked for somebody capable to program in FORTRAN. But this never happened because I joined a small group of other students headed by Tim Krumnack as senior scientist. They had a different idea how to tackle the goal of this project (a natural language interface to a data base). The dissertation of Terry Winograd then at MIT was the blueprint. And because he used LISP as programming language we tried to get, install, and run a LISP system on the main computer IBM 360 at the University of Bonn. My first task was to implement the Trace&Break package into this LISP system (it came as a raw interpreter from the University of Uppsala having no compiler and no programming environment). In these days there was no way for me to get in contact with the researchers at BBN or Xerox who implemented InterLISP and a very powerful programming environment. But I had the Reference manual of it. So I did some reverse engineering so to say from the descriptions in the manual. The result was good enough to be usable and I learnt a lot about functional programming.
I was so involved into this project that I nearly failed to finish my mathematics studies to get my diploma. But finally I managed to write my thesis and pass the oral exams. Then I worked for several years in the Department of Linguistics and Literature Sciences at the University of Bielefeld still on natural language processing. Again I learned a lot because I was embraced by scientists working in the humanities with few exceptions. Here I have to mentioned Dieter Metzing then professor for computer linguistics a the department who gave me the opportunity just to play around, explore, and experiment with many topics not all of them related to natural language processing.
During this time I made my first experiences with the international scientific community of Artificial Intelligence. My major topic was to use so-called Augmented Transition Networks as means for analyzing written natural language. At the linguistics department were several scientists working on spoken language, task-oriented (sub) languages, and non-European languages. Of course, the Chomskian paradigm of a Universal Grammar was dominating but there was a strong faction working on the pragmatics and everyday usage of language.
Education
January 1984 - March 1987
University at Hamburg
Field of study
- Computer Science
March 1972 - March 1977
Publications
Publications (80)
This paper presents our VolksBot robotic system. VolksBot is a flexible and modular mobile robot construction kit based on high value components. The concept behind the VolksBot system is the Physical Rapid Prototyping of mobile service robots. The paper firstly presents the concept on the Volksbot kit and secondly the current versions and already...
After scoring second in RoboCup Rescue 2004 with Kurt3D and participating in 2005 with two robots, namely Kurt3D and RTS Crawler, we concentrated on the development of interaction between both vehicles. Kurt3D is able to autonomously explore and map the en- vironment in 3D and search for victims. The RTS Crawler is designed to access more demanding...
After the second place in RoboCup Rescue 2004, a new version of the mobile robot Kurt3D was developed,in our groupsduring the last year [1]. The key innovation of this system lies in the capab ility for autonomous,or op- erator-assisted 6D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) and 3D map generation of natural scenes. Hence, Kurt3D already me...
Exploration robotics allow robots to find their way into areas and spaces that are out of human reach in order to capture data that the sensory organs of human beings are not necessarily able to perceive directly. This helps mankind to get an access to these worlds and enables it to make better decisions on actions. The equipment of a mobile robot...
The autonomous robots taking part in the RoboCup matches not only delight enthusiastic domestic spectators but also benefit researchers worldwide
Autonome Roboter faszinieren nicht nur die Zuschauer, auch Grundlagenforscher profitieren von den Wettkämpfen um den „RoboCup”
![Fig. 4. The AIS 3D laser scanner, as based on a SICK LMS [1].](profile/Thomas-Christaller/publication/237279548/figure/fig4/AS:648963011129347@1531736247303/The-AIS-3D-laser-scanner-as-based-on-a-SICK-LMS-1_Q320.jpg)
A mobile robot named KURT3D was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems during the last three years. The key innovation of this system lies in the capability for autonomous or operator- assisted 6D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) and 3D map gen- eration of natural scenes. Hence, KURT3D already meets the...
This article reports on the RoboCup-2003 event. RoboCup is no longer just the Soccer World Cup for autonomous robots but has evolved to become a coordinated initiative encompassing four different robotics events: (1) Soccer, (2) Rescue, (3)Junior (focused on education), and (4) a Scientific Symposium. RoboCup-2003 took place from 2 to 11 July 2003...
In the team AIS/BIT many substantial changes took place since the participation in ROBOCUP 2003. The most important ones are: All robots are based on a new commercial platform called VolksBot. The general team structure composition changed from mostly scientists to mostly master students. We introduced extreme programming concepts as the low level...
RoboCup 2003, the seventh RoboCup Competition and Conference, took place between July the 2nd and July the 11th 2003 in Padua
(Italy). The teams had three full days to setup their robots. The competitions were held in the new pavilion no7 of the Fair of Padua (Fig. 1). Several scientific events in the field of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence w...
This article reports on the Sixth Robot World Cup Competition and Conference (RoboCup-2002) Fukuoka/Busan, which took place from 19 to 25 June in Fukuoka, Japan. It was the largest Robo-Cup since 1997 and held the first humanoid league competition in the world. Further, the first ROBOTREX (robot trade and exhibitions) was held with about 50 compani...
The priority program 1125 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft funds research on methods, components and tools in the domain
of cooperating teams of mobile robots operating in dynamic environments. An important goal of the six-year program is to foster
synergistic collaboration of research groups working especially in the context of RoboCup. The...
We present an approach to integrate into a coherent overall system: (1) robots of different kinds and greatly different functionalities, (2) existing software components, and (3) human users and operators. The key idea to the integration is to use modern agent technology in mediating layers between these mutually alien components. The FIPA Agent Pl...
This report describes the overall goals of the natural language system HAM-ANS (HAMburg Applicationoriented Natural Language System), which is currently being developed at the University of Hamburg. The project's more specific research topics are divided into application demands (e.g., optimization, portability) and basic research (e.g., explanatio...
We would like to trigger developments towards fully autonomous self-build humanoid robots. Therefore we took so-called performance
factors for the different dimensions with regard to autonomy (external power cord, computer outside robot, remote control).
Each were to be 1.2 and if more then one is applicable then they are multiplied (1.2, 1.44, 1.7...
The topics covered by the DFG priority program 1125 are methods, components, architectures and tools needed for the development of mobile robot teams acting in dynamic environments. The goal is to develop autonomous mobile robots which are constructed by using research results of the participating projects. The demonstrator application field is Rob...
The paper presents a new technique for extracting symbolic ground facts out of the sensor data stream in autonomous robots for use under hybrid control architectures. The sensor data are used in the form of time series curves of behavior activation values, yielding an image of the environment as perceived through the eyes of useful behaviors. Simil...
The overall research goal of GMD’s RoboCup team is to increase both, (1) the speed of mobile robots acting as team in a dynamic
environment and (2) the speed of design for behavior-based robot control. Therefore, we started in 1998 to develop a proprietary
fast robot platform and the integrated Dual Dynamics Design Environment.
The paper presents a new technique for extracting symbolic ground facts out of the sensor data stream in autonomous robots for use under hybrid control architectures, which comprise a behavior-based and a deliberative part. The sensor data are used in the form of time series curves of behavior activation values. Recurring patterns in individual beh...
Die Robotik ist als Teilgebiet der Automatisierung von Wirtschaft, Staat und Gesellschaftanzusehen. Das Recht kann sich bei der Beurteilung dieser Technologie — einer der möglicherweise einflussreichsten des 21. Jahrhunderts — nicht zurücklehnen und abwarten. Die auf Rationalisierung bedachte Gesellschaft wünscht ein „automationsgerechtes Recht“. D...
„Die ersten Roboter wurden von George Devol und Joe Engelberger in den späten fünfziger und frühen sechziger Jahren entwickelt.“ I Engelberger, Gründer der Firma „Unimation“, der als erster Roboter vermarktete, wird auch als der Vater der Robotik bezeichnet. Dort nahm der erste Aufschwung der neuen Technologie seinen Anfang, begründet durch die For...
Das Konzept der Rationalen Technikfolgenbeurteilung ist ein problemorientierter Ansatz. Im Folgenden soll daher aufgezeigt werden, inwiefern die jüngsten Entwicklungen der Robotik ein gesellschaftliches Problem darstellen und welche gesellschaftspolitischen Entscheidungen anstehen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde ein Vorprojekt (Decker 1997) durchgeführt, in...
Moderne Roboter verfügen über Sensorik, mobile Plattformen und aufwendige Lernalgorithmen. Sie sind in der Lage, sich in Umgebungen fortzubewegen, die nicht extra für einen Robotereinsatz vorbereitet wurden. Damit sind diese Robotersysterne technisch in der Lage, auch außerhalb von Fabrikationshallen Aufgaben zu übernehmen. Der Dienstleistungssekto...
In diesem Kapitel wird das Gebiet der Robotik einführend dargestellt. Zuerst erfolgt eine Diskussion verschiedener Definitionen des Begriffs; Roboter’ und einermöglichen Klassifikation verschiedener Robotertypen. Danach folgen die technologischen Trends, die zum einen den heutigen Stand der Technik charakterisieren, wobei auch auf die weiterhin vor...
Die Robotik ist für unser personales und kulturelles Selbstverständnis folgenreicher als andere Technologien. In der Robotik scheint der Mensch sich selbst zu begegnen. Variationen solcher Begegnungen finden sich in den Mythen und Fiktionen zum künstlichen Menschen. die sich bis in die griechische Antike zurückverfolgenlassen. Indem Robotik menschl...
This article sketches the scientific and engineering approach taken at the GMD RoboCup Team. We sketch (i) our "Dual Dynamics" model of behavior control, (ii) our actual robot hardware and (iii) the integrated Dual Dynamics design environment that we use for the specification, the documentation, the simulation, the programming, and the test of our...
We build a snake-like robot for the inspection of areas that are
difficult or dangerous to be accessed by human. Pictures from a camera
at the robot's head are sent to a remote screen and can be monitored by
a human operator. This human operator can also control the robot's
motion, but not every single body part. Thus the operator only gives
genera...
The overall research goal of our RoboCup middle-size league team is to increase both, the controlled speed of mobile robots acting as a team in dynamic environments and the speed of the development process for robot control systems. Therefore, we started in 1998 to develop a proprietary fast robot platform and in parallel the development of an inte...
This paper describes a research program about how to achieve artificial intelligence by building robots. It is part of the
behavior-oriented AI approach, but differs in some of its hypotheses and methodological approach.
Dual Dynamics (DD) is a mathematical model of a behavior control system for mobile autonomous robots. Behaviors are specified through differential equations, forming a global dynamical system made of behavior subsystems which interact in a number of ways. DD models can be directly compiled into executable code. The article (i) explains the model, (...
The article describes the structure of the GMD robots developed for the RoboCup ’98. The hardware of these robots consists
of an aluminum chassis with differential drives. They have low level sensors (odometry, distance sensors etc.) and a NewtonLab
vision system. The software is organized in a layered structure using a uniform design pattern on ea...
This report is based on the notes of trips through Japanese laboratories in February, September 1997, and January 1998 as well as on long term research relationships with Japanese institutes.
This report is based on the notes of a trip through Japanese laboratories in February 1997.
We expose current research and development in information technology that deals with building and controlling autonomous service robots for performing inspection tasks in sewerage systems that are inaccessible for humans. The problem is explained, the physical and legal boundary conditions for operating sewer robots are described, the state of curr...
Informationstechnik, wie sie sich heute darstellt, bietet effiziente und exakte Lösungen für viele spezielle oder abstrakt zu definierende Probleme. Weniger gut finden sich jedoch Lösungen für Bereiche, die „offene“ Umgebungen (so z. B. dem Menschen angepaßte Arbeitsplätze) voraussetzen oder das Hauptaugenmerk auf langfristige Robustheit und Adapti...
Neue Erkenntnisse aus dem Wissenstransfer zwischen Bio-/Humanwissenschaften und den technisch/physikalischen Wissenschaften, steigende Anforderungen an die Informationstechnik (IT) sowie zunehmend offensichtliche Defizite heutiger IT-Ansätze bereiten einen günstigen Nährboden für Innovationen.
Die Gestaltung zukünftiger IT wird voraussichtlich in hohem Maße von Erkenntnissen aus den Bio- und Humanwissenschaften profitieren. Biologische Systeme bieten ein großes Potential, um die bestehenden Defizite in der IT zu überwinden.
Neben einer Abschätzung der wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung biologisch inspirierter IT werden im folgenden zwei exemplarische Anwendungsbereiche dargestellt, die das Innovationspotential bioanaloger IT demonstrieren können.
Die Aktualität des Themas biologisch inspirierter IT bzw. der Bioinformation im speziellen und die Entwicklungsdynamik diesbezüglicher Forschung war in allen Ländern wahrzunehmen, in denen Expertengespräche geführt wurden. Neue Förderprogramme, z.T. mit massivem Einsatz finanzieller Mittel, werden angestoßen, und der Wissenstransfer zwischen den Bi...
Ziel der Studie „Bioinformation - Problemlösungen für die Wissensgesellschaft“ war es, ausgehend von Defiziten heutiger Methoden und Technologien, Themen in der Biologie zu identifizieren, die als Visionen die Entwicklung innovativer Informationstechnik (IT) leiten können sowie Forschungsansätze in der IT zu ermitteln, die in Richtung dieser Vision...
Um biologische Systeme im Hinblick auf die dort realisierten Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung und deren potentielle technische Anwendungen zu verstehen, kann man zwei zueinander komplementäre Vorgehensweisen anwenden. Zum einen kann man den klassischen Taxonomien der betreffenden wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen folgen, sich also eng am mater...
Nachdem im vorherigen Kapitel die vielfältigen Aspekte der belebten Natur, die mit dem technischen Begriff der „Informationsverarbeitung“ in Verbindung gebracht werden können, sowie die Beschränkungen und Problemfelder der heutigen technischen Systeme dargelegt wurden, zeigt dieses Kapitel mögliche Wege und Ansätze auf, diese Erkenntnisse in der Te...
This paper describes the #dual dynamics" #DD# formal scheme for robotic behavior control systems. Behaviors are designed as dynamical systems which are speci#ed in ordinary di#erential equations. A key idea for the DD scheme is that a robotic agent can work in di#erent #modes", which lead to qualitatively different behavioral patterns. Intuitively,...
The Animals to Animats Conference brings together researchers fromethology, psychology, ecology, artificial intelligence, artificiallife, robotics, engineering, and related fields to furtherunderstanding of the behaviors and underlying mechanisms that allownatural and synthetic agents (animats) to adapt and survive inuncertain environments
The Anim...
This paper reports our experiences in the development of a toolbox for experiments in behaviour oriented robotics. We describe how we set up a hardware and software environment which can be used both for didactic purposes and for scientific experimentation. We give an overview about the technical and conceptual problems which we had to solve when w...
In this paper, we describe the GMD-Robots. These robots will be presented at the RoboCup 1999. RoboCup is the robot world cup soccer games and conferences. It offers the opportunity to examine a wide range of technologies in different research ar- eas. RoboCup is a task for a team of multiple moving robots in a dynamic environment. In order for a r...
This paper is meant as a basis for discussion towards a framework for cognitive architectures integrating remembering, rehearsal, language and empathy. It describes the programmatic background of our concrete work on intelligent autonomous agents. The goal is to motivate a common framework which should inspire research on `artificial cognition' for...
This paper introduces a simulation environment which is supposed to facilitate the study of behavior-based concepts by providing the user with a look at the dynamics inside the agent. Additionally we argue for more advanced environments in which agents may be able to show more interesting behavior.
A five-step procedure for the planning, controlling and reporting on software evaluation is proposed. The activities are analysis of the evaluation requirements, specification, design and conduct of the evaluation, as well as reporting on the results achieved during the evaluation. For the definition of a state-of-the-art procedure the concepts of...
this document is to define the programming language EULISP. EULISP is a dialect of Lisp and as such owes much to the great body of work that has been done on language design in the name of Lisp over the last thirty years. EULISP is the outcome of efforts on the part of many people in countries of the European Community since 1986. The guiding princ...
Dieser Band enthält aufbereitete Darstellungen der Kurse, die auf der KI-Frühjahrsschule 1987 gehalten wurden. Die Künstliche-Intelligenz-Frühjahrsschule 1987, KIFS-87, ist die fünfte in der Reihe von Frühjahrsschulen über Künstliche Intelligenz, die seit 1982 vom Fachausschuß 1.2 der Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI) veranstaltet werden. Aufgabe de...
In the last few years, the expert systems research group of the Society for Mathematics and Data Processing studied the question of 'What is an expert system? It has been determined that, from a practical point of view, expert systems are programs which are based on expertise models of experts. In order to be able to program these models, it is nec...
Das Softwaresystem BABYLON unterstützt Wissensingenieure und Anwender, um Expertensysteme zu erstellen und zu betreiben. Die BABYLON zugrundeliegende Architektur ist flexibel bzgl. Erweiterungen und Anpassungen an die jeweiligen Bedürfnisse der Benutzer und Entwickler von BABYLON. Diese Architektur wurde mit Hilfe objektorientierter Programmiermitt...
The Augmented Transition Network Formalism [Woods 1970] is one of the standard tools in natural language processing. In recent years some text books about artificial intelligence present implementations of ATN interpreters and compilers [Winston 1978] [Charniak et. al. 1980]. Nevertheless these expositories can’t present working systems.
Dual Dynamics (DD) is a mathematical model of a behavior control system for mobile autonomous robots. Behaviors are specified through di#erential equations, forming a global dynamical system made of behavior subsystems which interact in a number of ways. DD models can be directly compiled into executable code. The article (i) explains the model, (i...
