Abstract-Safety is an important consideration in humanrobot interactions (HRI). Robots can perform powerful movements that can cause hazards to humans surrounding them. To prevent accidents, it is important to identify sources of potential harm, to determine which of the persons in the robot's vicinity may be in greatest peril and to assess the type of injuries the robot may cause to this person. This survey starts with a review of the safety issues in industrial settings, where robots manipulate dangerous tools and move with extreme rapidity and force. We then move to covering issues related to the growing numbers of autonomous mobile robots that operate in crowded (human-inhabited) environments. We discuss the potential benefits of fully autonomous cars on safety on roads and for pedestrians. Lastly, we cover safety issues related to assistive robots.

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Abstract-This paper presents an approach for formation control of multi-lane vehicular convoys in highways. We extend a Laplacian graph-based, distributed control law such that networked intelligent vehicles can join or leave the formation dynamically without jeopardizing the ensemble's stability. Additionally, we integrate two essential control behaviors for lane-keeping and obstacle avoidance into the controller. To increase the performance of the convoy controller in terms of formation maintenance and fuel economy, the parameters of the controller are optimized in realistic scenarios using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a powerful metaheuristic optimization method well-suited for large parameter spaces. The performances of the optimized controllers are evaluated in high-fidelity multi-vehicle simulations outlining the efficiency and robustness of the proposed strategy.

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Abstract-This paper presents a method for collaborative tracking of multiple vehicles that extends a Gaussian Mixture Probability Hypothesis Density (GM-PHD) filter with a collaborative fusion algorithm. Measurements are preprocessed in a detect-before-track fashion, and cars are tracked using a rectangular shape model. The proposed method successfully mitigates clutter and occlusion problems. In order to extend the field of view of individual vehicles and increase the estimation confidence in the areas where a target is observable by multiple vehicles, PHD intensities are exchanged between vehicles and fused in the Collaborative GM-PHD filter using a novel algorithm based on the Generalized Covariance Intersection. The method is extensively evaluated using a calibrated, high-fidelity simulator in scenarios where vehicles exhibit both straight and curved motion at different speeds.

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Abstract-This paper investigates the problem of controlling a heterogeneous group of vehicles with the aim of forming multilane convoys. We use a distributed, graph-based control law, implemented in a longitudinal coordinate system parallel to the road. Each vehicle maintains a local graph with information from only nearby vehicles, in which the desired distances between vehicles are calculated dynamically. This allows for fast adaptation to the changes in the number of vehicles and their positions. We have also implemented a distributed mechanism that allows vehicles to change lane in a cooperative way within the convoy. Systematic experiments have been carried out in a high-fidelity simulator in order to show the performance of the proposed control law.

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