Metareasoning for Robots

Jeffrey W. Herrmann, PhD., is a Professor at the University of Maryland, where he holds a joint appointment with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research. He is a member of Society of Catholic Scientists, IISE, ASME, and the Design Society. He is an associate editor for the ASME Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems. In 2012 he and Gino Lim were the conference chairs for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference.Dr. Herrmann earned his B.S. in applied mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow from 1990 to 1993, he received his Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida. His dissertation investigated production scheduling problems motivated by semiconductor manufacturing. He held a post-doctoral research position in the Institute for Systems Research from 1993 to 1995.Dr. Herrmann’s research, service, and teaching activities have established him as a leader in the following areas: (1) developing novel mathematical models to improve public health preparedness, (2) describing and modeling engineering design decision-making processes, and (3) using risk-based techniques to improve path planning for autonomous systems. Through February 2023, he has published over 140 journal papers and refereed conference papers and fifteen book chapters, co-authored an engineering design textbook, edited two handbooks, and authored a textbook on engineering decision making and risk management. Dr. Herrmann and his colleagues have been awarded over $34 million in research contracts and grants, including research awards from NSF, Amazon, the Naval Air Warfare Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory. He has advised over 50 Ph.D. dissertations and M.S. theses. In 2003, Dr. Herrmann received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Jiri Tlusty Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award; in 2013, he was named a Diplomate of the Society for Health Systems. In 2016, his textbook won the IIE/Joint Publishers Book of the Year award.

“This is a comprehensive volume of tutorial notes on metareasoning for all kinds of robotics-based systems. It should interest readers working in robotic data analytics. … This study of metareasoning in robotics is a fairly easy read.” (Anoop Malaviya, Computing Reviews, December 20, 2023)

• Introduction to Metareasoning.- Metareasoning Design Options.- Implementing Metareasoning.- Synthesizing Metareasoning Policies.- Testing Metareasoning Policies.