Search Results (1,096)

Data is the starting point for generating information and knowledge in the decision-making process. Open data, which is information disclosed free of charge through open licenses and reusable formats, has great potential for value creation. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate Spanish autonomous communities’ open data initiatives in a category of information of vital importance: housing. The methodology employed was a population analysis of datasets labeled as housing, followed by a necessary data cleansing process due to the identification of various errors, which reduced the number of labeled datasets from 1000 to 599. Only 12 of the 17 autonomous communities provided this type of information. The analysis of the results reveals that autonomous communities’ approaches to open data initiatives are highly heterogeneous and that the supply is irregular, with the Basque Country accounting for 70% of the datasets considered in the research. The creation of an indicator that equally assesses the existence of information and file formats (breadth and reusability) continues to identify the Basque Country as the undisputed leader, with Catalonia and Cantabria in second and third place, the only autonomous communities to exceed 50 points out of a possible 100. The study concludes by highlighting that the lack of uniformity in the formulation and implementation of open data policies will limit the use of information and, consequently, its value. Therefore, a series of recommendations is issued in this regard. Full article

With the increasing prevalence of autonomous vehicles (AVs), drivers’ spatial cognition and takeover performance have become critical to traffic safety. This study investigates the effects of landmark salience—specifically visual and structural salience—on drivers’ spatial cognition and takeover behavior in autonomous driving scenarios. Two simulator-based experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 examined the impact of landmark salience on spatial cognition tasks, including route re-cruise, scene recognition, and sequence recognition. Experiment 2 assessed the effects of landmark salience on takeover performance. Results indicated that salient landmarks generally enhance spatial cognition; the effects of visual and structural salience differ in scope and function in autonomous driving scenarios. Landmarks with high visual salience not only improved drivers’ accuracy in making intersection decisions but also significantly reduced the time it took to react to a takeover. In contrast, structurally salient landmarks had a more pronounced effect on memory-based tasks, such as scene recognition and sequence recognition, but showed a limited influence on dynamic decision-making tasks like takeover response. These findings underscore the differentiated roles of visual and structural landmark features, highlighting the critical importance of visually salient landmarks in supporting both navigation and timely takeover during autonomous driving. The results provide practical insights for urban road design, advocating for the strategic placement of visually prominent landmarks at key decision points. This approach has the potential to enhance both navigational efficiency and traffic safety. Full article

Although artificial intelligence technologies have significantly enhanced autonomous robots’ capabilities in perception, decision-making, and planning, their autonomy may still fail when faced with complex, dynamic, or unpredictable environments. Therefore, it is critical to enable users to take over robot control in real-time and efficiently through teleoperation. The lightweight, wearable myoelectric armband, due to its portability and environmental robustness, provides a natural human–robot gesture interaction interface. However, current myoelectric teleoperation gesture control faces two major challenges: (1) poor intuitiveness due to visual-motor misalignment; and (2) low efficiency from discrete, single-degree-of-freedom control modes. To address these challenges, this study proposes an integrated myoelectric teleoperation interface. The interface integrates the following: (1) a novel hybrid reference frame aimed at effectively mitigating visual-motor misalignment; and (2) a finite state machine (FSM)-based control logic designed to enhance control efficiency and smoothness. Four experimental tasks were designed using different end-effectors (gripper/dexterous hand) and camera viewpoints (front/side view). Compared to benchmark methods, the proposed interface demonstrates significant advantages in task completion time, movement path efficiency, and subjective workload. This work demonstrates the potential of the proposed interface to significantly advance the practical application of wearable myoelectric sensors in human–robot interaction. Full article

Optical sensors have undergone significant evolution, transitioning from discrete optical microsystems toward sophisticated photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for enhanced functionality. This review systematically explores the integration of optical sensing technologies with AI, charting the advancement from conventional optical microsystems to AI-driven smart devices. First, we examine classical optical sensing methodologies, including refractive index sensing, surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), surface plasmon-enhanced chiral spectroscopy, and surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) spectroscopy, highlighting their principles, capabilities, and limitations. Subsequently, we analyze the architecture of PIC-based sensing platforms, emphasizing their miniaturization, scalability, and real-time detection performance. This review then introduces the emerging paradigm of in-sensor computing, where AI algorithms are integrated directly within photonic devices, enabling real-time data processing, decision making, and enhanced system autonomy. Finally, we offer a comprehensive outlook on current technological challenges and future research directions, addressing integration complexity, material compatibility, and data processing bottlenecks. This review provides timely insights into the transformative potential of AI-enhanced PIC sensors, setting the stage for future innovations in autonomous, intelligent sensing applications. Full article

The integration of shared autonomous vehicles into historic urban areas presents both opportunities and challenges. In heritage-rich environments like very old Asian (such as Suzhou old town, which serves as a use case example) or European (especially Mediterranean coastal cities) areas—characterized by narrow alleys, dense development, and sensitive cultural landscapes—shared autonomous vehicle adoption raises critical spatial and social questions. This study employs a qualitative, user-centered approach based on the ripple model to examine residents’ perceptions across four dimensions: residential patterns, parking land use, regional accessibility, and street-level infrastructure. Semi-structured interviews with 27 participants reveal five key findings: (1) public trust depends on transparent decision-making and safety guarantees; (2) shared autonomous vehicles may reshape generational residential clustering; (3) the short-term parking demand remains stable, but the long-term reuse of space is feasible; (4) shared autonomous vehicles could enhance accessibility in historic cores; (5) transport systems may evolve toward intelligent, human-centered designs. Based on these insights, the study proposes three strategies: (1) transparent risk assessment using explainable artificial intelligence and digital twins; (2) polycentric development to diversify land use; (3) hierarchical street retrofitting to balance mobility and preservation. While this study is limited by its qualitative scope and absence of simulation, it offers a framework for culturally sensitive, small-scale interventions supporting sustainable mobility transitions in historic urban contexts. Full article

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) within the decision-making processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) presents both significant opportunities and substantial ethical challenges. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical model depicting the interdependence of organisational decision-making levels and decision-making styles, with an emphasis on exploring the role of AI in organisations’ decision making, based on selected process dimension of the MER model of integral governance and management, particularly in relation to routine, analytical, and intuitive decision-making capabilities. The research methodology employs a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the scientific literature published between 2010 and 2024, focusing on AI implementation in SMEs, ethical decision making in integral management, and regulatory frameworks governing AI use in business contexts. The findings reveal that AI technologies influence decision making across business policy, strategic, tactical, and operative management levels, with distinct implications for intuitive, analytical, and routine decision-making approaches. The analysis demonstrates that while AI can enhance data processing capabilities and reduce human biases, it presents significant challenges for normative–ethical decision making, requiring human judgment and stakeholder consideration. We conclude that effective AI integration in SMEs requires a balanced approach where AI primarily serves as a tool for data collection and analysis rather than as an autonomous decision maker. These insights contribute to the discourse on responsible AI implementation in SMEs and provide practical guidance for leaders navigating the complex interplay between (non)technological capabilities, ethical considerations, and regulatory requirements in the evolving business landscape. Full article

Multi-agent reinforcement learning has demonstrated excellent performance in complex decision-making tasks such as electronic games, power grid management, and autonomous driving. However, its vulnerability to adversarial attacks may impede its widespread application. Currently, research on adversarial attacks in reinforcement learning primarily focuses on single-agent scenarios, while studies in multi-agent settings are relatively limited, especially regarding how to achieve optimized attacks with fewer steps. This paper aims to bridge the gap by proposing a heuristic exploration-based attack method named the Search for Key steps and Key agents Attack (SKKA). Unlike previous studies that train a reinforcement learning model to explore attack strategies, our approach relies on a constructed predictive model and a T-value function to search for the optimal attack strategy. The predictive model predicts the environment and agent states after executing the current attack for a certain period, based on simulated environment feedback. The T-value function is then used to evaluate the effectiveness of the current attack. We select the strategy with the highest attack effectiveness from all possible attacks and execute it in the real environment. Experimental results demonstrate that our attack method ensures maximum attack effectiveness while greatly reducing the number of attack steps, thereby improving attack efficiency. In the StarCraft Multi-Agent Challenge (SMAC) scenario, by attacking 5–15% of the time steps, we can reduce the win rate from 99% to nearly 0%. By attacking approximately 20% of the agents and 24% of the time steps, we can reduce the win rate to around 3%. Full article

Path planning and collision avoidance are essential components of an autonomous driving system (ADS), ensuring safe navigation in complex environments shared with other road users. High-quality planning and reliable obstacle avoidance strategies are essential for advancing the SAE autonomy level of autonomous vehicles, which can largely reduce the risk of traffic accidents. In daily driving scenarios, lane changing is a common maneuver used to avoid unexpected obstacles such as parked vehicles or suddenly appearing pedestrians. Notably, lane-changing behavior is also widely regarded as a key evaluation criterion in driver license examinations, highlighting its practical importance in real-world driving. Motivated by this observation, this paper aims to develop an autonomous lane-changing system capable of dynamically avoiding obstacles in multi-lane traffic environments. To achieve this objective, we propose a hierarchical decision-making and control framework in which a Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN) agent operates as the high-level planner to select lane-level maneuvers, while a High-Order Control Lyapunov Function–High-Order Control Barrier Function–based Quadratic Program (HOCLF-HOCBF-QP) serves as the low-level controller to ensure safe and stable trajectory tracking under dynamic constraints. Simulation studies are used to evaluate the planning efficiency and overall collision avoidance performance of the proposed hierarchical control framework. The results demonstrate that the system is capable of autonomously executing appropriate lane-changing maneuvers to avoid multiple obstacles in complex multi-lane traffic environments. In computational cost tests, the low-level controller operates at 100 Hz with an average solve time of 0.66 ms per step, and the high-level policy operates at 5 Hz with an average solve time of 0.60 ms per step. The results demonstrate real-time capability in autonomous driving systems. Full article

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly prevalent in both governmental and civilian applications, offering significant reductions in operational costs by minimizing human involvement. There is a growing demand for autonomous, scalable, and intelligent coordination strategies in complex aerial missions involving multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Traditional control techniques often fall short in dynamic, uncertain, or large-scale environments where decentralized decision-making and inter-agent cooperation are crucial. A potentially effective technique used for UAV fleet operation is Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL). MARL offers a powerful framework for addressing these challenges by enabling UAVs to learn optimal behaviors through interaction with the environment and each other. Despite significant progress, the field remains fragmented, with a wide variety of algorithms, architectures, and evaluation metrics spread across domains. This survey aims to systematically review and categorize state-of-the-art MARL approaches applied to UAV control, identify prevailing trends and research gaps, and provide a structured foundation for future advancements in cooperative aerial robotics. The advantages and limitations of these techniques are discussed along with suggestions for further research to improve the effectiveness of MARL application to UAV fleet management. Full article

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in construction project management is revolutionising the industry; offering innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve decision making. This structured literature review explored the current applications, benefits, challenges, and future trends of AI in construction project management. This study synthesised findings from 135 peer-reviewed articles published between 1985 and 2024; representing Industry 3.0 (3IR), Industry 4.0 (4IR), and Industry 4.0 Post COVID-19 (4IR PC). Analysis showed that the Planning and Monitoring and Control phases of the project have the greatest application of AI, while decision making, prediction, optimisation, and performance improvement are the most common purposes of AI use in the construction industry. The drivers of AI adoption within the construction industry include technology availability, project outcome and performance improvement, a competitive advantage, and a focus on sustainability. Despite these advancements, the review revealed several barriers to AI adoption, including data integration issues, the high cost of AI implementation, resistance to change among stakeholders, and ethical concerns surrounding data privacy, amongst others. This review also identified future ongoing applications of AI in the construction industry, such as sustainability and energy efficiency, digital twins, advanced robotics and autonomous construction, and optimisation. By providing a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of practices and the future direction of AI application, this study serves as a resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to understand the evolving landscape of AI in construction project management. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming smart healthcare by enhancing diagnostic precision, automating clinical workflows, and enabling personalized treatment strategies. This review explores the current landscape of AI in healthcare from two key perspectives: capability types (e.g., Narrow AI and AGI) and functional architectures (e.g., Limited Memory and Theory of Mind). Based on capabilities, most AI systems today are categorized as Narrow AI, performing specific tasks such as medical image analysis and risk prediction with high accuracy. More advanced forms like General Artificial Intelligence (AGI) and Superintelligent AI remain theoretical but hold transformative potential. From a functional standpoint, Limited Memory AI dominates clinical applications by learning from historical patient data to inform decision-making. Reactive systems are used in rule-based alerts, while Theory of Mind (ToM) and Self-Aware AI remain conceptual stages for future development. This dual perspective provides a comprehensive framework to assess the maturity, impact, and future direction of AI in healthcare. It also highlights the need for ethical design, transparency, and regulation as AI systems grow more complex and autonomous, by incorporating cross-domain AI insights. Moreover, we evaluate the viability of developing AGI in regionally specific legal and regulatory frameworks, using South Korea as a case study to emphasize the limitations imposed by infrastructural preparedness and medical data governance regulations. Full article

The worldwide drive towards low-carbon transportation has made Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) a crucial component of sustainable mobility, particularly in areas with limited charging infrastructure. The core of HEV efficiency lies in the Energy Management Strategy (EMS), which regulates the energy distribution between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor. While rule-based and optimization methods have formed the foundation of EMS, their performance constraints under dynamic conditions have prompted researchers to explore artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions. This paper systematically reviews four main AI-based EMS approaches—the knowledge-driven, data-driven, reinforcement learning, and hybrid methods—highlighting their theoretical foundations, core technologies, and key applications. The integration of AI has led to notable benefits, such as improved fuel efficiency, enhanced emission control, and greater system adaptability. However, several challenges remain, including generalization to diverse driving conditions, constraints in real-time implementation, and concerns related to data-driven interpretability. The review identifies emerging trends in hybrid methods, which combine AI and conventional optimization approaches to create more adaptive and effective HEV energy management systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of future research directions, focusing on safety, system resilience, and the role of AI in autonomous decision-making. Full article

Intelligent mining technology, as the core driving force for the digital transformation of the mining industry, integrates cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet technologies to establish a “cloud–edge–end” collaborative system. In this paper, the development trajectory of intelligent mining technology has been systematically reviewed, which has gone through four stages: stand-alone automation, integrated automation and informatization, digital and intelligent initial, and comprehensive intelligence. And the current development status of “cloud–edge–end” technologies has been reviewed: (i) The end layer achieves environmental state monitoring and precise control through a multi-source sensing network and intelligent equipment. (ii) The edge layer leverages 5G and edge computing to accomplish real-time data processing, 3D dynamic modeling, and safety early warning. (iii) The cloud layer realizes digital planning and intelligent decision-making, based on the industrial Internet platform. The three-layer collaboration forms a “perception–analysis–decision–execution” closed loop. Currently, there are still many challenges in the development of the technology, including the lack of a standardization system, the bottleneck of multi-source heterogeneous data fusion, the lack of a cross-process coordination of the equipment, and the shortage of interdisciplinary talents. Accordingly, this paper focuses on future development trends from four aspects, providing systematic solutions for a safe, efficient, and sustainable mining operation. Technological evolution will accelerate the formation of an intelligent ecosystem characterized by “standard-driven, data-empowered, equipment-autonomous, and human–machine collaboration”. Full article

Accurate environmental sensing is pivotal for advancing automation in construction, particularly in autonomous excavation. Precise 3D representations of complex and dynamic site geometries is essential for obstacle detection, progress monitoring, and safe operation. However, existing sensing techniques often struggle with capturing irregular surfaces and incomplete data in real-time, leading to significant challenges in practical deployment. To address these gaps, we present a novel framework integrating curve approximation, surface reconstruction, and marching cubes algorithm to transform raw sensor data into a detailed and computationally efficient soil surface representation. Our approach improves site modeling accuracy, paving the way for reliable and efficient construction automation. This paper enhances sensory data quality using surface reconstruction techniques, followed by the marching cubes algorithm to generate an accurate and flexible 3D soil model. This model facilitates rapid estimation of soil volume, weight, and shape, offering an efficient approach for environmental analysis and decision-making in automated systems. Experimental validation demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method, achieving relative errors of 4.92% and 1.42% across two excavation cycles. Additionally, the marching cubes algorithm completed volume estimation in just 0.05 s, confirming the approach’s accuracy and suitability for real-time applications in dynamic construction environments. Full article

Cultural heritage preservation increasingly relies on data-driven technologies, yet most existing systems lack the cognitive and temporal depth required to support meaningful, transparent, and policy-informed decision-making. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for memory-enabled, semantically grounded AI agents in the cultural domain, showing how the integration of the ICCROM/CCI ABC method for risk assessment into the Panoptes ontology enables the structured encoding of risk cognition over time. This structured risk memory becomes the foundation for agentic reasoning, supporting prioritization, justification, and long-term preservation planning. It is argued that this approach constitutes a principled step toward the development of Cultural Agentic AI: autonomous systems that remember, reason, and act in alignment with cultural values. Proof-of-concept simulations illustrate how memory-enabled agents can trace evolving risk patterns, trigger policy responses, and evaluate mitigation outcomes through structured, explainable reasoning. Full article