The semi-supervised medical image segmentation with a few annotated data can provide significant help in robot-assisted surgery. This step plays a pivotal role in identification of pathological regions, more appropriate planning of surgical procedures, and so on. In this work, we develop an evidence-based tri-branch cross-pseudo supervision model, which integrates evidence-based uncertainty estimation and multi-branch cross supervision to bolster the effectiveness of semi-supervised learning. The overall framework consists of a vanilla network and an evidential dual-branch network. Two evidential branches EPB and ERB are proposed to complement each other and improve the quality of pseudo-labels. The EPB places more focus on classification accuracy at the pixel level and the ERB emphasizes the similarity and overall integrity of the segmented regions. Then, a novel cross-pseudo supervision strategy among the three branches is designed, to guarantee that valuable and diverse unlabeled knowledge is explored and transferred for segmentation improvement. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified on the ACDC dataset, achieving outstanding performance compared with other state-of-the-art methods. In addition, we conducted ablation study to validate the effectiveness of the evidential branches (EPB and ERB) and tri-branch cross-supervision strategy, respectively.

Model-based robot controllers require customized control-oriented models, involving expert knowledge and trial and error. Remarkably, the Koopman operator enables the control-oriented model identification through the input–output mapping set, breaking through the barriers of the customization services. However, in recent years, research on Koopman-based robot control has mostly focused on lifting function construction, deviating from the original intention of improving the controller performance. Thus, we propose a robot controller autogeneration framework using the Bayesian-based Koopman operator, significantly releasing labor and eliminating the design obstacle. First, we introduce the Koopman-based system identification method and offer the basic lifting function design criteria. Then, a Bayesian-based optimization strategy with resource allocation is designed, which allows for the simultaneous optimization of the lifting function and the controller. Next, taking model-predictive control (MPC) as an example, a mission-oriented controller autogeneration framework is developed. Simulation and experimental results indicate that, under various robots and data sources, the proposed framework can effectively generate the robot controllers and perform with a far greater level of mission accuracy than the unoptimized Koopman-based MPC. Meanwhile, the proposed technique exhibits an obvious compensation effect against disturbances, demonstrating its practicability in robot control.

For complex functions to emerge in artificial systems, it is important to understand the intrinsic mechanisms of biological swarm behaviors in nature. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of pursuit–evasion, which is a critical problem in biological groups. First, we review the problem of pursuit–evasion from three different perspectives: game theory, control theory and artificial intelligence, and bio-inspired perspectives. Then we provide an overview of the research on pursuit–evasion problems in biological systems and artificial systems. We summarize predator pursuit behavior and prey evasion behavior as predator–prey behavior. Next, we analyze the application of pursuit–evasion in artificial systems from three perspectives, i.e., strong pursuer group vs. weak evader group, weak pursuer group vs. strong evader group, and equal-ability group. Finally, relevant prospects for future pursuit–evasion challenges are discussed. This survey provides new insights into the design of multi-agent and multi-robot systems to complete complex hunting tasks in uncertain dynamic scenarios.