Metareasoning for Robots: Adapting in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments (Synthesis Lectures on Computer Science)

This Second Edition provides an essential resource that robotics researchers and engineers can use to make their robots smarter. This book includes design guidelines and helpful examples from state-of-the-art research. The author utilizes a systems engineering perspective in which metareasoning is an approach that can improve the overall robot or autonomous system, not just one component or subsystem. The book introduces key concepts, discusses design options for metareasoning approaches and policies, and describes the process of developing and testing metareasoning approaches. This new edition includes new research, new examples, and added discussion of adjustable autonomy and competence-aware systems.

Jeffrey W. Herrmann, Ph.D., is the St. Abbo of Fleury Chair in Engineering and an Ordinary Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Catholic University of America. He earned earned his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Florida, as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Dr. Herrmann was previously a faculty member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland. He is a member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, ASME, and IISE.