Service robot planning via solving constraint satisfaction problem

The problem of demographic shifts towards the elderly is deteriorating, as the relative number of caregivers is insufficient to provide the support required for their wellbeing, which is further aggravated by the increasingly hectic lifestyle. Service robot is getting more prominent as a possible solution. Robot manipulation and mobility is an important field, but they also require high level planning for these minute actions in order to provide ample support. Automatic service composition, contributed significantly by web services, offers the necessary technology for the task. Robot planning problem can be solved by representing it as constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) due to it being able to support loose binding of services and variables of wider domain. This paper further extends the structure of the CSP planner to enable intelligent decision-making. Besides, standardization is made on the properties and relationships of objects such that planning rules can be easily generated from knowledge base. Services and their corresponding terms are designed for efficient planning. Case studies show that the system is able to perform tasks bounded by complex logical rules. It also provides valuable insights into future enhancements and research.