区块链集成概述 机器人与人工智能

ISSN2379-5980(online)DOI10.5195/LEDGER.2019.171

PROCEEDINGSARTICLE

AnOverviewofBlockchainIntegrationwithRoboticsandArtificialIntelligence

VascoLopes,

∗

†Lu´ısA.Alexandre‡

Abstract.Blockchaintechnologyisgrowingeverydayatafast-passedrhythmanditispossi-bletointegrateitwithmanysystems,namelyRoboticswithAIservices.However,thisisstillarecentfieldandthereisnotyetaclearunderstandingofwhatitcouldpotentiallybecome.Inthispaper,weconductanoverviewofmanydifferentmethodsandplatformsthattrytoleveragethepowerofblockchainintoroboticsystems,toimproveAIservices,ortosolveproblemsthatarepresentinthemajorblockchains,whichcanleadtotheabilityofcreatingroboticsystemswithincreasedcapabilitiesandsecurity.Wepresentanoverview,discussthemethods,andconcludethepaperwithourviewonthefutureoftheintegrationofthesetechnologies.

Introduction

BlockchaintechnologywasfirstintroducedbySatoshiNakamotoalongsidethecryptocurrencyBitcoin.

1

Bothhavegrownintermsofadoption,value,andusage,

2,

3

butthevalueofblockchainisnotonlytoholdcryptocurrenciesbuttoallowtheintegrationofahugenumberofsystemsoverthesameplatforminadecentralisedandsecureway.Ethereum,

4

proposedin2013,introducednewfeaturestoblockchaintechnology,suchassmart-contracts,allowingittointegratemoreservicesandhavemorevaluetomanyindustriesandacademicfields.Theseprojectsarestilllackingsomeessentialcharacteristics,likeenergyefficiencyandthespeedthatablocktakestobevalidated.Withtheseproblemsinmind,everyyearthousandsofnewideasandservicestoworkwithblockchaintechnologyareproposed,butthereisn’tauniquesolutionforallpossibleapplicationsandthatencouragesthedevelopmentofnewwork.Intheroboticsfield,whereintegrationwithblockchainsisstillinfrequent,therearen’tyetmanyapproachesthatshowhowbothtechnologiescanbeusedtogethertoovercomechallenges.Theintroductionofblockchaintechnologiestoroboticsystemscouldsolvemanyproblemsthatthosesystemsface.Thefirstproblemthatitcansolveissecurity:asmanyofthesystemshaveproblemsoftrustanddataintegrity,blockchaincanprovideareliablepeer-to-peercommunicationwithsecuritymeasuresoveratrustlessnetwork.Anotheradvantageofthisintegrationisthepossibilitytomakedistributeddecisions,sinceblockchaincanensurethatallparticipantsofadecentralisednetworkshareidenticalviewsoftheworld.Thisassurancecanallowthesystemtoreachan

∗bc1qqcpw3dn9ss4548srnwldgzfftycuz99as9jxxs

†V.Lopes(vasco.lopes@)isaResearcherintheDepartamentodeInforma´ticaattheUniversidadedaBeiraInteriorandInstitutodeTelecomunicac¸o˜esinCovilha˜,Portugal.

‡L.A.Alexandre(luis.alexandre@ubi.pt)isaFullProfessorintheDepartamentodeInforma´ticaattheUniversidadedaBeiraInteriorandInstitutodeTelecomunicac¸o˜esinCovilha˜,Portugal.

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ISSN2379-5980(online)DOI10.5195/LEDGER.2019.171

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agreementoverthewholenetworkandtohaveglobalcollaborationbetweentherobots.

Inthispaper,wegiveanoverviewonthecurrentstate-of-the-artrelatedtoblockchaintechnologyintegratedwithRoboticsandArtificialIntelligence(AI),bystudyingthemajormethodsthatimplementserviceswithRobotics,and/orAI.WevaluetheAIaspectoftheworksbecauseroboticsisheavilybasedonAIsystems.

Theremainderofthispaperisorganisedasfollows:Section

2

explains,reviews,andcomparesthedifferentapproachestotheintegrationofroboticsandblockchaintechnologies.Section

3

presentsourideasanddiscussesthereviewedmethods.Section

4

summarisesthemainideaspresentedthroughoutthepaper.

BlockchainandRoboticsOverview

Inthissectionwepresentworkthattriestointegrateblockchainintorobotics.

WorkconductedbyBrunoDegardinandLu´ısA.Alexandre(assupervisor),

5

showshowtocreateablockchainanduseittostoreroboticevents.Thisideaallowsthecreationofsmart-contractsthatuseinformationacquiredinthewildbydifferentrobots(possiblyfromdifferentmanufacturers)andhaveaction-triggersbasedonthecontractsthatarestoredandverifiedontheblockchain.Thiscanultimatelyimproveproductivityinafactoryandreducethetimespentondoingtasks,suchasrefillingthescrewsforarobotthatusedtheblockchaintoindicatethatitneedsmorescrewstocontinueitswork.

Asafollow-uptothiswork,andnowusingTezos’stechnology,

6

theauthorsproposethecreationofablockchainforroboticeventregistrationthattakesadvantageoftheimprovedsecurityprovidedbytheformalverificationembeddedintoTezos.Thisongoingworkwillsupportsmart-contractstorunAIcodeovertheblockchain,wherethesesmart-contractsareprovedcorrect(i.e.todoexactlywhattheirspecificationdefines).Theyalsoplantoadapttheblockchaintosupportmanymoreeventspersecondthanthecurrentspecificationenables,inordertoallowforthesystemtodealwithalargenumberofinteractingrobots.

AitheonisaplatformthatadoptedablockchaintechnologybasedontheERC-20standard.

7

Theirgoalistohaveacompleteplatformthatcanreducethenumberoftime-consumingtasksthatdevelopershavetoendure,likeorganisingdocuments.TheirsolutionisaplatformwithbothAIandRoboticsthatcanprovideautomationforspecifiedbusinessprocesses.Theplatformtheybuilthasfivemodules.Thefirst,anAImodule,triestoretrieveinformationaboutfrequently-performedtasksandtakesactionstoautomatethosetasks.Thesecondmodule,calledDigibots,isverysimilartothefirst,butthismodulefocusesonautomatingprogrammingtasks,likeback-endsolutionsanddata-drivenproblems.Thethirdmodule,Mechbots,isfocusedonhelpingbusinessesintegrateroboticautomationtoincreaseefficiencyandproductivity.Thelasttwomodules,AitheonSpecialistsandPilotsarehumanspecialiststhatfinishthetasksthatcannotbefullyautomated,andalsoprovidesupervisionoftherobots.Inshort,Aitheonprovidesaplatformthataimstoautomatetime-consumingtasksbyintegratingAIandrobotics.

WorkconductedbyEduardoCastello´Ferrerpresentsthebenefitsofcombiningtheblockchaintechnologywithrobotics,especiallyswarmroboticsandrobotichardware.

8

Theadvantagesofroboticswarmsincludebotheaseofscalingandrobustnessagainstfailure.Theseadvantagescomefromthefactthatmembersoftheseswarmsaredistributed.Intheindustrialsectorwecanalsoseehowthismarketisgrowingandallowingcompaniestoachievehigherproductivity,

whichisthecasewithAmazonRobotics,whichhasbeenshowcasingitsarmyofrobotsthatcooperativelyworktomanagetheirwarehouses.

9,

10

Mostoftheroboticswarmsonlyuselocalinformation,thismeansthatarobotonlyhasinformationaboutitselfand/orrobotsthatareclosetoit;however,theintegrationofblockchaininthesesystemscangivetherobotsglobalinformation,whichcanbeusefulfordifferentapplications.Blockchainintegrationcanalsoimprovethespeedofhowthesystemchangesthebehaviour,sincehavingglobalinformationallowsthewholesystemtoquicklychangebehaviourtoaddressspecificrobots’needs.Thiscanalsobedonebyacontrollerrobotthatevaluatesthesystemstatebyusingblockchaininformation,andthencommitstothatblockchainthechangestobemade.Theseimprovementsandtheglobalinformationofthesystemcanleadtohigherproductivityandeasiermaintenance.

TheauthorsofRoboChain,aconceptualmethodtosharecriticaldataamongrobotsinasecureway,presentedaframeworktotackleprivacyissuesregardingusingpersonaldatabyrobotsduringahuman-robotinteraction.

11

ThismethodusesMITOPALtoprovidealayerofsecurityandensuretheprivacyoftheinformationrepresentedonthedata.

12

Consequently,therobotscanimproveMachineLearning(ML)algorithmslocallywiththeinformationtheyacquiredandpublishthemtothenetwork.Theblockchaintechnologyisapartofthisframeworkfortransparencyandtoserveasaledger,storingtheeventsthattherobothasdoneduringanevent,andtovalidatethepublishedmodels.Theauthorsalsoproposeaconsensusmechanismsothateverynodecanvoteonwhichmodeltoacceptbytakingadvantageofthesmart-contracttechnologywithintheblockchain.

Inrecentwork,amethodologytocreateacoalitionofrobots,sensorsandactuatorswasproposed.

13

Thewaythisisconductedisbyhavingalltheinformationpassingbyaknowledgeprocessor,andtheninsertingitintoablockchain.Thisallowseverynodeofthecoalitiontohaveglobalinformationandallowstheuseofsmart-contractstoadjustrobotactionsandreallocateresources.Citingtheauthors,thissystemprovidesimmutabledistributedstoragethatiscrucialtonegotiateseparatedtasksamongdifferentparticipants(robots).

Discussion

Table

1

containsashortoverviewofallthemethodsthatwerepresentedinSection

2

andincludessomeproposalsthataimtointegrateblockchaintechnologieswithAI,whichcouldbeusedinconjunctionwithrobotics.Whatwetakeawayfromtheseproposalsisthatblockchain,robotics,andAIarecertainlygoingtodisruptthewaywelive:notonlybecausetheycanbringsomanybenefitsbythemselves,butalsobecause,byjoiningthemtogether,wecancompoundthosebenefits.Blockchaintechnologycanserveasamechanismfortransmittinginformationbetweendifferentrobotsandhaveactiontriggerscodedinsmart-contracts,improvingtheefficiencyoftherobotsandtheirinter-connectivity.Althoughthiswillcertainlybeafactinthenearfuture,currentmethodsarestillintheirinfancy,mainlybecausewearegoingthroughtheexplosivegrowthphaseofthesetechnologies,andtheyareyettomature.Theintegrationofthesetechnologiescouldpotentiallybeusedinreal-time,butforthistohappen,blockchaintechnologyneedstoshifttofasterconsensusmechanismsthatallowthevalidationandinsertionoftransactionsintoablockchainmuchfasterthanispresentlypossible.

Fromthemethodsandplatformsstudied,weconcludethatthosewhichholdthemostpromisingfuturearethosethatintegratemanyservicesinasingleplatformand,atthesametime,

sharethecodewiththeopen-sourcecommunityandhaverewardprogramsforfindingbugs.

Certainly,wewillseemanyroboticsystemsleveragingblockchaintechnology,mainlyinin-dustrialandmilitaryenvironmentswhereblockchaincanhelptoautomateprocesseswiththehelpofsmart-contracts,andenablesystemstohaveimprovedsecurityandmoretraceableprocesses.Blockchainintroduceawaytotrustthedata,trustotherparticipants,andtoconductinternalandexternalchangesbyhavingcertifiedinformationregardingthewholesystem.Scenarioswheretheintegrationofbothtechnologiesareworkingtogethertoreachacommonpurposeareeasytoimagine.Forexample,aswarmof“CopRobots”thatpatrolthestreetsgreetingpeopleandlookingformiss-behaviors.Theserobotscouldcommunicateoverablockchainandhaveaction-triggerswithsmart-contracts.Thesecouldrunwhentheyspotonepersonhurtinganother,tohavethesystemvoteonthebeststrategytoapproachthesceneortocallforhelp.Buttoachievethistypeofbehavior,itisnecessarythatsmart-contractshaveimprovedsecurityandareabletointeractwithinformationfromoutsidetheblockchain(oracles).

Itisvitaltohaveplatformsthatcanintegratecomplementaryapproachessothatthemarketreducesfrommanydifferentseparatedapproachestoasmallnumberofestablishedsolutions,orelse,defineclearinterconnectionstandardstoenablemultiplesolutionstotalktoeachother.

Themarketplacesthatareshowingupwillbecrucialtomakeindividualrobotsabletoexecutemultiplecomplextaskswithouttheneedfortheirdeveloperstocodeallthedifferentnecessarysolutions.Thiscanandshouldbeintegratedwithcloudrobotics.

Table1.Shortoverviewoftheproposalsdiscussedinthepaper.Acronymsusedinthetable:Blockchain(BC);Smart-Contract(SC);ArtificialIntelligence(AI);MachineLearning(ML);Proof-of-Work(PoW);Proof-of-Stake(PoS).

Name

Problem

beingsolved

Solution

Consensus

Token

Token

compatibility

B.Degardin

5

RoboticEvent

Recognition.

ProprietaryBCforfaster

blockvalidation.

PoW

-

-

RobotChain

6

IntegrationofroboticsandBC,

mainlytransactionspeedandlackofwaystocontrolsuchasystem

overaBC.

UsageofTezostechnologyforhighersecurity

andAIandSCstoimproveperformanceandqualityofroboticsystems.

-

-

-

Aitheon

7

Time-consumingtasksthat

developersendure.

AutomationwithAIandRobotics.

Multi-blind

AIC

ERC-20

E.Castello´Ferrer

8

ProblemsassociatedwiththeintegrationofBCinSwarm

Robotics.

AsetofideastosolvesecurityissuesandtoimproveRobotsperformance

byhavingmoreinformation.

-

-

-

RoboChain

11

Privacyissuesregardingtheuseofsensitiveandprotecteddata.

AroboticswarminterconnectedthatcanusethedatatochangerobotsbehaviourandthatcanimproveMLalgorithmsandpropagatethemthroughoutablockchainwithout

compromisingthedata.

SCbased

-

-

Name

Problem

beingsolved

Solution

Consensus

Token

Token

compatibility

N.Teslyaand

A.Smirnov

13

Creationofcoalitionsofintelligentrobots.

Theuseofknowledgeprocessorstoinsertinformationacquired

bytherobotsintoablockchain

andSCstomanagethesystem.

-

-

-

SingularityNET

14

IntegrationofdifferentAIservicessotheycanworktogetherseamlessly

Marketplacetodevelopersselltheiralgorithms.AnAPIthatautomaticallycallalgorithmstosolve

definedproblems.

PoW(bindedtoEthereuminitially)

AGI

ERC-20

Neuromation

15

ThelackofresourcestobuildAIservicesandthedispersionofmodels,datasetsand

AIservices.

Aplatformtoselldatasets,modelsandAIservices.Minersgetpaidtolendtheirgraphicscards.

PoW(basedonEthereum)

NTK

ERC-20

ATN

16

SecurityconcernsaboutsellingAIservices.

MarketplacebasedinSCstoprovidedatasetsandAIalgorithmsinasecureand

trustworthyway.

-

ATN

ERC-20,ERC-223,

Qtum,

RSK

Matrix

17

SpecificlanguagesforSCs,lackofsecurity,slowtransactionspeedandtheinflexibility

oftheBC.

ANNthatautomaticallyconvertssimplescriptstoSCs,byhavingrulesassociatedwiththecontracts,byusingAIand

bydelegatingthePoW.

PoWandPoShybrid

MAN

-

J.Chenetal.

18

Problemsassociatedwithconsensusonthe

BC.

ACNNtoclassifynodes

tospeedthetransactionsandlowertheenergyconsumption

AIbased

-

-

Conclusions

Blockchaintechnologyisstillinitsinfancyanditspossibleimpactontheglobaleconomyisyettobeclearlyunderstood.Theintegrationofserviceswiththeblockchain,especiallyrobotics,isstillinanearlyprototypestage.Thismeansthatmanyimprovementsarebeingachievedonseparateblockchains.Therearenoclear‘winner’technologiesyet,mostmarketparticipantsarenotawareofmanyofthenewtechnologies,andtheysometimeslackconfidenceintherobustnessofthesefirstproposals.Proposedapproachesareabundant,interconnectionstandardsaremissing,andtheintegrationofthoseapproacheswithIndustry4.0orcloudrobotics,e.g.,isyettobeachieved.

Inthispaper,weoverviewedmanyofthecurrentmethodsandproposalsforblockchaintechnologiesthateitheruseroboticsorleverageAIservicesthatcanimproveroboticsystems.

Asblockchaintechnologyismaturing,itwillinteractwithmanyotherparadigms,suchasroboticsandAI,toyieldimprovedproductsandproductivity,services,andhigherlivingstandardsforoursociety.

Acknowledgement

ThisworkwaspartiallysupportedbytheTezosfoundationthroughagrantforprojectRobotchain.

NotesandReferences

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/bitcoin.pdf

.

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2NoAuthor.“BlockchainCharts.”(accessed9March2019)

https://www.blockchain.

com/en/charts

.

3Raja.“BlockchainInfographic:Growth,UseCases&Facts.”DotComInfoway(accessed9March2019)

/blog/growth-and-facts-of-blockchain-technology

.

4Wood,G.“Ethereum:ASecureDecentralisedGeneralisedTransactionLedger.”(2017)Ethereumprojectyellowpaper,revision1e18248,(accessed9March2019)

http://ljk.imag.fr/membres/

Jean-Guillaume.Dumas/Enseignements/ProjetsCrypto/Ethereum/ethereum-yellowpaper.pdf

.

5Degardin,B.BlockchainforRoboticEventRecognition.Covilha˜:UniversidadedaBeiraInterior(2018).

6Fernandes,M.,Alexandre,L.A.“Robotchain:UsingTezosTechnologyforRobotEventManagement.”InE.Castello´Ferrer,T.Hardjono,A.Pentland(Eds.),ProceedingsoftheFirstSymposiumonBlockchainandRobotics,MITMediaLab,5December2018.Ledger4.S132–41(2019)

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7Aitheon.“AitheonWhitepaper.”(2018)(accessed9March2019)

/assets/

Aitheon_Whitepaper_v1.20.pdf

.

8Castello´Ferrer,E.“TheBlockchain:ANewFrameworkforRoboticSwarmSystems.”arXiv(201