Speech-Guided Sequential Planning for Autonomous Navigation using Large Language Model Meta AI 3 (Llama3)

In social robotics, a pivotal focus is enabling robots to engage with humans in a more natural and seamless manner. The emergence of advanced large language models (LLMs) such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) and autoregressive models like Large Language Model Meta AI (Llamas) has driven significant advancements in integrating natural language understanding capabilities into social robots. This paper presents a system for speech-guided sequential planning in autonomous navigation, utilizing Llama3 and the Robot Operating System~(ROS). The proposed system involves using Llama3 to interpret voice commands, extracting essential details through parsing, and decoding these commands into sequential actions for tasks. Such sequential planning is essential in various domains, particularly in the pickup and delivery of an object. Once a sequential navigation task is evaluated, we employ DRL-VO, a learning-based control policy that allows a robot to autonomously navigate through social spaces with static infrastructure and (crowds of) people. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system in simulation experiment using Turtlebot 2 in ROS1 and Turtlebot 3 in ROS2. We conduct hardware trials using a Clearpath Robotics Jackal UGV, highlighting its potential for real-world deployment in scenarios requiring flexible and interactive robotic behaviors.

Path-Based Sensors: Will the Knowledge of Correlation in Random Variables Accelerate Information Gathering?

Effective communication is crucial for deploying robots in mission-specific tasks, but inadequate or unreliable communication can greatly reduce mission efficacy, for example in search and rescue missions where communication-denied conditions may occur. In such missions, robots are deployed to locate targets, such as human survivors, but they might get trapped at hazardous locations, such as in a trapping pit or by debris. Thus, the information the robot collected is lost owing to the lack of communication. In our prior work, we developed the notion of a path-based sensor. A path-based sensor detects whether or not an event has occurred along a particular path, but it does not provide the exact location of the event. Such path-based sensor observations are well-suited to communication-denied environments, and various studies have explored methods to improve information gathering in such settings. In some missions it is typical for target elements to be in close proximity to hazardous factors that hinder the information-gathering process. In this study, we examine a similar scenario and conduct experiments to determine if additional knowledge about the correlation between hazards and targets improves the efficiency of information gathering. To incorporate this knowledge, we utilize a Bayesian network representation of domain knowledge and develop an algorithm based on this representation. Our empirical investigation reveals that such additional information on correlation is beneficial only in environments with moderate hazard lethality, suggesting that while knowledge of correlation helps, further research and development is necessary for optimal outcomes.