| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 16, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | February 16, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1544332 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Radhakisan Baheti
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $999,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $999,999.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
926 DALNEY ST NW ATLANTA GA US 30318-6395 (404)894-4819 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
225 North Avenue, NW Atlanta GA US 30332-0002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This proposal addresses the safety and security issues that arise when giving users remote-access to a multi-robot research test-bed, where mobile robots can coordinate their behaviors in a collaborative manner. Through a public interface, users are able to schedule, and subsequently upload, their own code and run their experiments, while being provided with the scientific data produced through the experiment. Such an open-access framework has the potential to significantly lowering the barriers to entry in robotics research and education, yet is inherently vulnerable from a safety and security point-of-view. This proposal aims at the development and definition of appropriate cyber-physical security notions, formal verification algorithms, and safety-critical, real-time control code for teams of mobile robots that will ultimately make such a system both useful and safe. On top of the research developments, this proposal contains a Transition to Practice component that will allow the system to become a highly usable, shared test-bed; one that can serve as a model for other open, remote-access test-beds.
Safety is of central importance to the successful realization of any remote-access test-bed and failure to enforce safety could result in injury in local operators and damaged equipment. To guarantee safe operation, while allowing users to test algorithms remotely, new science is required in the domain of safety-critical control. To address this need, the proposed work follows a three-pronged approach, namely (1) development and use of novel types of barrier certificates in the context of minimally invasive, optimization-based controllers with provable safety properties, (2) formal methods for verification of safety-critical control code for networked cyber-physical systems, and (3) novel methods for protecting against machine-to-machine cyber attacks. By bringing together ideas from multi-agent robotics, safety-critical control, formal verification, and cyber-security, this project will result in a unified and coherent approach to security in networked cyber-physical systems.
The potential impact of the resulting open-access multi-robot test-bed is significant along the research, education, and general outreach dimensions in that a future generation of roboticists at institutions across the country will have open and remote access to a world-class research facility, and educators at all levels will be able to run experiments on actual robots.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Robotarium is an open, remotely accessible multi-robot test bed that allows researchers and educators from all over the world to run robotics experiments without having to incur the prohibitive costs associated with setting up and maintaining the actual research facility. But, there are a number of safety and security questions associated with giving remote users access to a physical research testbed, which is the primary focus of this project.
In particular, this project investigates the safety and security issues that arise when giving users remote-access to the Robotarium, where mobile robots can coordinate their behaviors in a collaborative manner. Through a public interface, users are able to schedule, and subsequently upload, their own code and run their experiments, while being provided with the scientific data produced through the experiment. This open-access instrumentation facility has lowered the barriers to entry in robotics research and education, yet it is inherently vulnerable from a safety and security point-of-view.
The key findings in this project include the development and definition of appropriate cyber-physical security notions, formal verification algorithms for ensuring that the uploaded code is not harmful to the physical infrastructure behind the Robotarium, and safety-critical, real-time control code for teams of mobile robots. Technically speaking, a three-pronged approach is purposed, namely (1) the development and use of novel types of safety certificates that adjust the uploaded control code as little as possible while, at the same time, ensure that no robot collisions can occur, (2) formal methods for upfront verification of safety-critical control code for networked cyber-physical systems, and (3) novel methods for protecting against machine-to-machine cyber attacks. By bringing together ideas from multi-agent robotics, safety-critical control, formal verification, and cyber-security, this project rdelivers a unified and coherent approach to security in networked cyber-physical systems.
Enabled by the work in this project, the Robotarium has, to-date, facilitated research and educational efforts not only in robotics, but also in control theory, the study of biological systems, such as social insects, and network theory.
Last Modified: 12/16/2019
Modified by: Magnus B Egerstedt
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