ABSTRACT and AUTOMATA
These two software packages were developed between 2005 and 2012 as part of a collaboration with the LIRIS laboratory at Lyon 1 University (Prof. Alain Mille), aimed at designing software tools for analysing and modelling driving activities. This work led to the development of the 'ABSTRACT' and 'AUTOMATA' software packages, designed and developed respectively as part of 2 doctoral theses:
- Olivier Georgeon's thesis (2005-2008, funded by the HUMANIST Network of Excellence, (http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2008/georgeon_o) firstly developed methods and the 'ABSTRACT' software tool (for Analysis of Behavior and Situation for menTal Representation Assessment and Cognitive acTivity modeling) for the automatic processing and analysis of 'activity traces' captured via data collected on an instrumented vehicle (cf. 2012 publication in Expert Systems).
- Benoit Mathern's thesis (2008-2012, funded by the Rhône-Alpes region - (https://hal.archives-ouvertes. fr/THESES_LYON1/tel-00864865) extended the ABSTRACT tool in the form of the AUTOMATA software (AUTOmata Models of the Activity, based on Trace Analysis), based on an algorithm for the automatic discovery of automata from activity traces derived from ABSTRACT, and thus making it possible to model driver activity in the form of petri nets, while relying on the 'Driving Patterns' formalism used in the COSMODRIVE model. In 2011, during a 4-month stay by B. Mathern at UC Berkeley (funded by an explora'Doc grant from the Rhône-Alpes Region), this software suite was used to process experimental data collected by the PATH laboratory. This thesis won an AFIA award in 2013 (1st runner-up).