RiskStructures:A Design Algebra for Risk-Aware Machines

Abstract

Machines, such as mobile robots and delivery drones, incorporate controllers responsible for a task while handling risk (e.g. anticipating and mitigating hazards; and preventing and alleviating accidents). We refer to machines with this capability as risk-aware machines. Risk awareness includes robustness and resilience, and complicates monitoring (i.e., introspection, sensing, prediction), decision making, and control. From an engineering perspective, risk awareness adds a range of dependability requirements to system assurance. Such assurance mandates a correct-by-construction approach to controller design, based on mathematical theory. We introduce RiskStructures, an algebraic framework for risk modelling intended to support the design of safety controllers for risk-aware machines. Using the concept of a risk factor as a modelling primitive, this framework provides facilities to construct, examine, and assure these controllers. We prove desirable algebraic properties of these facilities, and demonstrate their applicability by using them to specify key aspects of safety controllers for risk-aware automated driving and collaborative robots.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Gleirscher, Mario https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9445-6863 Calinescu, Radu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2678-9260 Woodcock, Jim https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7955-2702
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Funding Information: Mario Gleirscher was supported in part by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under the Fellowship Grant no. 381212925. Work by Radu Calinescu and Mario Gleirscher was partially supported by the Lloyd's Register Foundation under the Autonomy Assurance International Programme (AAIP) Grant CSI:Cobot. Radu Calinescu was additionally supported by the UKRI Project EP/V026747/1 "Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node in Resilience". We would like to thank Simon Foster for inspiring discussions on the use of relational specification; Ana Cavalcanti and Cliff Jones for insightful questions about the abstraction, composition, and methodology underlying RiskStructures; James Baxter, AlvaroMiyazawa, and Pedro Ribeiro for enlightening conversations about CSP. We are also thankful to Sam Clark for helpful feedback on an early version of the introductory and closing sections. Funding Information: Radu Calinescu was additionally supported by the UKRI Project EP/V026747/1 "Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node in Resilience". Acknowledgements Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords:	Correct construction,Formal development,Risk awareness,Run-time mitigation,Safety controllers,Robots and autonomous systems
Dates:	Accepted: 13 March 2021 Published (online): 26 May 2021 Published: August 2021
Institution:	The University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Computer Science (York)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/V026747/1
Depositing User:	Pure (York)
Date Deposited:	15 Mar 2021 10:30
Last Modified:	09 Apr 2025 23:30
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00165-021-00545-4
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1007/s00165-021-00545-4
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172137

Download

Published Version

Filename: Gleirscher2021_Article_RiskStructuresADesignAlgebraFo.pdf

Description: Gleirscher2021_Article_RiskStructuresADesignAlgebraFo

Licence: CC-BY 2.5

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of Gleirscher2021_Article_RiskStructuresADesignAlgebraFo]

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

RiskStructures:A Design Algebra for Risk-Aware Machines

Abstract

Metadata

Download

Published Version

Export

Statistics