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Thesis: Robotic cites modelling methodologies for interdependent infrastructures and sociotechnical systems resilience.
Name:
Yosoph Sindi
Supervisors:
Dr. Michael Emes
Dr. Raúl Leal Ascencio
Abstract:
This research is based on various century’s challenges of mass migration towards urban cities.
Many governments are heading towards the concepts of smart cities, smart ports and smart
governments as one form of coping with these challenges. The research will first demonstrate that such cities, contain inherently socio‐technically wicked problems. This research presents how important it is to take these problems into consideration when modelling such complex systems (considering minimum level of complexity). Another factor is that the socio-technical elements and cities infrastructures are interdependent. Hard systems of smart city grids and soft-systems related to services are progressing towards more autonomy requiring a new kind of intelligence. This is in need of resilience planning and with a degree of global interconnectivity.
Due to the progress towards automation and autonomy Internet of things (IoT) is progressing towards Internet of Robotic things (IoRT). A Robotic city consists of the automated and interdependent smart-city infrastructure formed as a distributed robotic systems (mostly heterogeneous). This challenge differs from conventional robotics systems due to the involvement of socio‐technical systems, policy, complex circular lifecycle targets, IoT/IoRT, the mixed bottom-up and top-to-bottom cases. It also differs from smart city challenge due to the level of autonomy, IoRT, and socio‐technical agility.
The proposed study methodology is to analyse sample problems that satisfy minimum level of
system complexity in a limited sample geographic area (satisfying what is commonly known as Compact Urban Centre CUC). Systems construction will be co-created with groups of stakeholders selected by the research industrial partners. The research will also investigate the difficulties in relation to urban resilience and robotic cities networks as part of a global system.
The research modelling approach is to consider the smart city infrastructure as a heterogeneous distributed robotics system to be modelled as the individual agents in the system. The heterogeneous agents will be influenced by the inhabitants where the influence on each agent is a result or outcomes from a 4D Cellular Automata model that emulates the citizens behaviour.
The conclusion of this research presents the effectiveness, scalability and agility of a new way to approaching such critical and complex systems.
Biography:
Yosoph Sindi is a PhD research associate at Mullard Space Science Laboratory. He specialises in distributed robotics and complex “messy” systems design and modelling. He holds an MSc in Robotics, BEng in Mechanical Engineering Control systems engineering from the University of Plymouth. He has held various industrial positions such as Quality planning management for variation reduction and automation at Airbus (Bristol, UK) 2008/9, R&D management, Quality assurance manager and lead ISO 9001 Auditor at Patronics (Plymouth, UK), PMO director at Digitalized Map (Riyadh ,KSA), CEO AEProto (Riyadh & London). His current research is in Robotic Cities Modelling Methodology for Sociotechnical problems.
Academic degrees:
MSc Robotics University of the West of England, Bristol, UK (2006/2009)
Swarm and Distributed Robotics
BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK (2003/2005)
Control System Engineering
Publications:
Sindi, Y., Pipe, A., Winfield, A., Dogramadzi, S. and Melhuish, C. (2008) A feasibility study for energy autonomy n multi robot search and rescue operations, Coimbra, Portugal, 8‐10 Sept
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