Séverin Lemaignan

PhD student in cognitive robotics,

LAAS-CNRS, Robotics and InteractionS group
Technische Universität München, Intelligent Autonomous Systems group

Email: severin.lemaignan@laas.fr
Telephone: +33 5 61 33 78 44
Office: ADREAM building - H112

Research topics

Design and implementation of a cognitive kernel for robots

Robots interacting with complex, human-inhabited, environments are expected to exhibit advanced cognitive skills: objects recognition, natural language interactions, task planning with possible dynamic replanning, ability to cooperate with other robots or humans, etc.

These functions, while being scientific challenges partially independent from each other, need to communicate, and thus to share a common representation of concepts of the world, to be effectively combined in a complete, autonomous, robotic system.

The main focus of my doctoral studies is precisely the design, development and actual implementation on several robots of such a common description framework, along with a library of fundamental cognitive functions. This so-called cognitive kernel is actually build as a server that maps cognitive service to a ontology-based backend.

Click here for the oro-server homepage.

ORO, the OpenRobot Ontology

Click here for the oro OpenRobots Ontology homepage.

Dialogs, natural language processing for robotics

Dialogs is a software written in Python that provides simple English parsing and grounding of the sentence elements into the robot knowledge. For instance, the sentence: The bottle is on the table. is parsed as:

statement

the bottle

be present simple
on

the table

Then dialogs uses a knowledge representation system like oro to ground the different sentence elements. The output of the module is a set of symbolic facts, understandable by the robot. Here, with this simple example:[BOTTLE1 isOn TABLE1] dialogs can handle more complex cases (with ambiguity, questions,...) and can start an interactive process with the speaker to resolve the issues.

Click here for the dialogs homepage. It includes examples, documentation and downloads.

Curriculum

I'm a PhD student at the LAAS-CNRS research institute, in joint supervision with the TU Muenchen, since September 2008.

Before, I've been working for a year as engineer in mobile robotics at the INRIA national institute for computing sciences.

I've first studied mechanical engineering both in France (Diplôme d'ingénieur des Arts et Métiers) and in Germany (Dipl. Ing. in Maschinenbau, Karlsruhe TH).

I got as well a master degree in Computer Sciences applied to Education from Université Paris 5.

My detailed resume can be downloaded here.

Publications

List of my publications on Google Scholar

Cognitive robotics related publications

Book Chapters

[in press] Towards Grounding Human-Robot Interaction, in Bridges between the Methodological and Practical Work of the Robotics and Cognitive Systems Communities - From Sensors to Concepts, Springer Publishing, 2012 (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Alami, R. and Pandey, A. K. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J.

@inbook{lemaignan2012towards,
  chapter = {Towards Grounding Human-Robot Interaction},
  title = {Bridges between the Methodological and Practical Work of the Robotics
    and Cognitive Systems Communities - From Sensors to Concepts},
  publisher = {Springer Publishing},
  year = {2012},
  editor = {Amirat, T. and Chibani, A. and Zarri, G. P.},
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Alami, R. and Pandey, A. K. and Warnier, M. and
    Guitton, J.},
  series = {Intelligent Systems Reference Library},
  note = {To be published}
}

Journals

[in press] Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human-Robot Interaction System: III. An Architecture for Learning and Executing Actions and Shared Plans, IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2012 (show bibtex)
Lallée, S. and Pattacini, U. and Lemaignan, S. and Lenz, A. and Melhuish, C. and Natale, L. and Skachek, S. and Hamann, K. and Steinwender, J. and Sisbot, E.A. and Metta, G. and Pipe, T. and Alami, W. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Warneken, F. and Dominey, P.F.

@article{lallee2012towards,
  author = {Stéphane Lallée and Ugo Pattacini and Séverin Lemaignan and Alexander
    Lenz and Chris Melhuish and Lorenzo Natale and Sergey Skachek and
    Katharina Hamann and Jasmin Steinwender and Emrah Akin Sisbot and
    Giorgio Metta and Tony Pipe and Rachid Alami and Matthieu Warnier
     and Julien Guitton and Felix Warneken and Peter Ford Dominey},
  title = {Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human Robot Interaction
    System: III. An Architecture for Learning and Executing Actions and
    Shared Plans},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development},
  year = {2012},
}

Grounding the Interaction: Anchoring Situated Discourse in Everyday Human-Robot Interaction , International Journal of Social Robotics, 2011 (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Sisbot, E. A. Alami, R. and Beetz M.

@article{lemaignan2011grounding,
  author = {S\'everin Lemaignan and Raquel Ros and E. Akin Sisbot and Rachid Alami and Michael Beetz},
  title = {Grounding the Interaction: Anchoring Situated Discourse in Everyday Human-Robot Interaction},
  journal = {International Journal of Social Robotics},
  publisher = {Springer Netherlands},
  issn = {1875-4791},
  pages = {1-19},
  year = {2011},
  url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12369-011-0123-x}
}

Conferences

[submitted] Let’s clean the table together, IROS 2012 (show bibtex)
Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Lemaignan, S. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{warnier2012lets,
  author = {Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Lemaignan, S. and Alami, R.},
  title = {Let’s clean the table together},
  booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year = {2012},
}

When the robot considers the human... , ISRR 2011 (show bibtex)
Alami, R. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Lemaignan, S. and Sisbot, E. A.

@inproceedings{alami2011when,
  author = {Alami, R. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Lemaignan, S. and Sisbot, E. A.},
  title = {When the robot considers the human...},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Robotics Research},
  year = {2011}
}

Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human-Robot Interaction System: II. Perception, Execution and Imitation of Goal Directed Actions , IROS 2011 (show bibtex)
Lallée, S. and Pattacini, U. and Boucher J.D. and Lemaignan, S. and Lenz, A. and Melhuish, C. and Natale, L. and Skachek, S. and Hamann, K. and Steinwender, J. and Sisbot, E.A. and Metta, G. and Alami, W. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Warneken, F. and Dominey, P.F.

@inproceedings{lallee2011towards,
  author = {Lallée, S. and Pattacini, U. and Boucher J.D. and Lemaignan, S. and Lenz, A. and Melhuish, C. and Natale, L. and Skachek, S. and Hamann, K. and Steinwender, J. and Sisbot, E.A. and Metta, G. and Alami, W. and Warnier, M. and Guitton, J. and Warneken, F. and Dominey, P.F.},
  title = {Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human-Robot Interaction System: II. Perception, Execution and Imitation of Goal Directed Actions},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE/RSJ International  Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year = {2011}
}

What are you talking about? Grounding dialogue in a perspective-aware robotic architecture , ROMAN 2011 (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Alami, R. and Beetz, M.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2011what,
  author = {S\'everin Lemaignan and Raquel Ros and Rachid Alami and Michael Beetz},
  title = {What are you talking about? Grounding dialogue in a perspective-aware robotic architecture},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International Symposium in Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year = {2011}
}

ORO, a knowledge management module for cognitive architectures in robotics , IROS 2010 (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Mösenlechner, L. and Alami, R. and Beetz, M.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2010oro,
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Mösenlechner, L. and Alami, R. and Beetz, M.},
  title = {ORO, a knowledge management module for cognitive architectures in robotics},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year = {2010}
}

Which One? Grounding the Referent Based on Efficient Human-Robot Interaction , ROMAN 2010 Best paper award (show bibtex)
Ros, R. and Lemaignan, S. and Sisbot, E. A. and Alami, R. and Steinwender, J. and Hamann, K. and Warneken, F.

@inproceedings{ros2010which,
  author = {Raquel Ros and S\'everin Lemaignan and E. Akin Sisbot and Rachid Alami and Jasmin Steinwender and Katharina Hamann and Felix Warneken},
  title = {Which One? Grounding the Referent Based on Efficient Human-Robot Interaction},
  booktitle = {19th IEEE International Symposium in Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year = {2010}
}

Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human-Robot Interaction System: I. Perception , IROS 2010 (show bibtex)
Lallée, S. and Lemaignan, S. and Lenz, A. and Melhuish, C. and Natale, L. and Skachek, S. and van Der Zant, T. and Warneken, F. and Dominey, P.F.

@inproceedings{lallee2010towards,
  author = {Lallée, S. and Lemaignan, S. and Lenz, A. and Melhuish, C. and Natale, L. and Skachek, S. and van Der Zant, T. and Warneken, F. and Dominey, P.F.},
  title = {Towards a Platform-Independent Cooperative Human-Robot Interaction System: I. Perception},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE/RSJ International  Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year = {2010}
}

Workshops and other short contributions

Roboscopie: A Theatre Performance for a Human and a Robot , HRI 2012 (video) (show bibtex) (watch the video)
Lemaignan, S. and Gharbi, M. and Mainprice, J. and Herrb, M. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2012roboscopie,
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Gharbi, M. and Mainprice, J. and Herrb, M. and Alami, R.},
  title = {Roboscopie: A Theatre Performance for a Human and a Robot},
  conference = {Proceedings of the 2012 Human-Robot Interaction Conference},
  year = {2012}
}

Human-Robot Interaction in the MORSE Simulator , HRI 2012 (late breaking report) (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Echeverria G. and Karg, M. and Mainprice, M. and Kirsch, A. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2012morse,
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Echeverria G. and Karg, M. and Mainprice, M. and Kirsch, A. and Alami, R.},
  title = {Human-Robot Interaction in the MORSE Simulator},
  conference = {Proceedings of the 2012 Human-Robot Interaction Conference},
  year = {2012}
}

Dialogue in situated environments: A symbolic approach to perspective-aware grounding, clarification and reasoning for robots , Grounding Human-Robot Dialog for Spatial Tasks - RSS 2011 workshop (extended abstract) (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2011dialogue,
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Ros, R. and Alami, R.},
  title = {Dialogue in situated environments: A symbolic approach to perspective-aware grounding, clarification and reasoning for robot},
  conference = {Robotics, Science and Systems, Grounding Human-Robot Dialog for Spatial Tasks workshop},
  year = {2011}
}

Anchoring interaction through symbolic knowledge , HRI Pioneers 2011 (extended abstract) (show bibtex)
Lemaignan, S. and Sisbot, E. A. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{lemaignan2011anchoring,
  author = {Lemaignan, S. and Sisbot, E. A. and Alami, R.},
  title = {Anchoring interaction through symbolic knowledge},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2011 Human-Robot Interaction Pioneers workshop},
  isbn = {978-0-557-79488-1},
  year = {2011}
}

Robot, tell me what you know about...?: Expressing robot's knowledge through interaction , ICAIR 2010 (show bibtex)
Ros, R. and Sisbot, E. A. and Lemaignan, S. and Pandey, A. K. and Alami, R.

@inproceedings{ros2010robot,
  author = {Ros, R. and Sisbot, E. A. and Lemaignan, S. and Pandey, A. K. and Alami, R.}
  title = {Robot, tell me what you know about...?: Expressing robot's knowledge through interaction},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the ICRA 2010 Workshop on Interactive Communication for Autonomous Intelligent Robots},
  year = {2010}
}

Other publications

Modular Open Robots Simulation Engine: MORSE, ICRA 2011 (show bibtex)

@conference{echeverria2011morse,
  title={{Modular Open Robots Simulation Engine: MORSE}},
  author={Echeverria, G. and Lassabe, N. and Degroote, A. and Lemaignan, S.},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation},
  year={2011}
}

GenoM3: Building middleware-independent robotic components, ICRA 2010 (show bibtex)

@conference{mallet2010genom3,
  title={{GenoM3: Building middleware-independent robotic components}},
  author={Mallet, A. and Pasteur, C. and Herrb, M. and Lemaignan, S. and Ingrand F.},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation},
  year={2010}
}

Networking Needs and Solutions for Road Vehicles at Imara, ITST 2007 (show bibtex)

@conference{mehani2007networking,
  title={{Networking Needs and Solutions for Road Vehicles at Imara}},
  author={Mehani, O. and Benenson, R. and Lemaignan, S. and Ernst, T.},
  booktitle={Telecommunications, 2007. ITST'07. 7th International Conference on ITS},
  pages={1--6},
  year={2007}
}

SqueakBot: a Pedagogical Robotic Platform, C5 Conference, 2007 (show bibtex)

@conference{stinckwich2007squeakbot,
  title={{SqueakBot: a Pedagogical Robotic Platform}},
  author={Stinckwich, S. and Lemaignan, S. and Saidani, S.},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing},
  pages={137--144},
  year={2007},
  organization={IEEE Computer Society}
}

La Boite à Bots : quand la robotique s'ouvre à tous, Linux+DVD (show bibtex)

@article{lemaignan2007boiteabots,
  title={{La Boite à Bots : quand la robotique s'ouvre à tous}},
  author={Lemaignan, S. and Stinckwich, S.},
  journal={Linux+DVD},
  year={2007}
}

MASON: A proposal for an ontology of manufacturing domain, IEEE Workshop on Distributed Intelligent Systems (DIS), 2006 (show bibtex)

@conference{lemaignan2006mason,
  title={{MASON: A proposal for an ontology of manufacturing domain}},
  author={Lemaignan, S. and Siadat, A. and Dantan, J.Y. and Semenenko, A.},
  booktitle={IEEE Workshop on Distributed Intelligent Systems (DIS)},
  pages={195--200},
  year={2006}
}

Teaching

2008-2011

Prolog and Artifical Intelligence, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées
ADA - Initiation to programming, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées
Advanced Java, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées
SQL Databases, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées

2006-2007

Teaching assistant in mechatronics, École Nationale Supérieur des Mines de Paris

Since 2006

Numerous training in Educational Robotics, Planete Sciences association