Brief Contents

I Framework for Thinking About AI and Robotics 1

1 What Are Intelligent Robots? 3

2 A Brief History of AI Robotics 19

3 Automation and Autonomy 41

4 Software Organization of Autonomy 63

5 Telesystems 103

II Reactive Functionality 129

6 Behaviors 131

7 Perception and Behaviors 153

8 Behavioral Coordination 185

9 Locomotion 229

10 Sensors and Sensing 251

11 Range Sensing 285

III Deliberative Functionality 319

12 Deliberation 321

13 Navigation 353
viii Brief Contents

14 Metric Path Planning and Motion Planning 385

15 Localization, Mapping, and Exploration 417

16 Learning 445

IV Interactive Functionality 481

17 MultiRobot Systems (MRS) 483

18 Human-Robot Interaction 511

V Design and the Ethics of Building

Intelligent Robots 555
19 Designing and Evaluating Autonomous Systems 557

20 Ethics 585
Contents

I Framework for Thinking About AI and Robotics 1

1 What Are Intelligent Robots? 3
1.1 Overview 3
1.2 Definition: What Is an Intelligent Robot? 4
1.3 What Are the Components of a Robot? 7
1.4 Three Modalities: What Are the Kinds of Robots? 8
1.5 Motivation: Why Robots? 11
1.6 Seven Areas of AI: Why Intelligence? 13
1.7 Summary 15
1.8 Exercises 16
1.9 End Notes 17

2 A Brief History of AI Robotics 19

2.1 Overview 19
2.2 Robots as Tools, Agents, or Joint Cognitive Systems 20
2.3 World War II and the Nuclear Industry 21
2.4 Industrial Manipulators 24
2.5 Mobile Robots 29
2.6 Drones 35
2.7 The Move to Joint Cognitive Systems 36
2.8 Summary 37
2.9 Exercises 38
2.10 End Notes 38

3 Automation and Autonomy 41

3.1 Overview 41
3.2 The Four Sliders of Autonomous Capabilities 43
3.2.1 Plans: Generation versus Execution 44
3.2.2 Actions: Deterministic versus Non-deterministic 44
x Contents

3.2.3 Models: Open- versus Closed-World 46

3.2.4 Knowledge Representation: Symbols versus Signals 48
3.3 Bounded Rationality 48
3.4 Impact of Automation and Autonomy 49
3.5 Impact on Programming Style 50
3.6 Impact on Hardware Design 50
3.7 Impact on Types of Functional Failures 52
3.7.1 Functional Failures 52
3.7.2 Impact on Types of Human Error 53
3.8 Trade-Spaces in Adding Autonomous Capabilities 55
3.9 Summary 57
3.10 Exercises 59
3.11 End Notes 61

4 Software Organization of Autonomy 63

4.1 Overview 64
4.2 The Three Types of Software Architectures 65
4.2.1 Types of Architectures 66
4.2.2 Architectures Reinforce Good Software
Engineering Principles 67
4.3 Canonical AI Robotics Operational Architecture 68
4.3.1 Attributes for Describing Layers 68
4.3.2 The Reactive Layer 70
4.3.3 The Deliberative Layer 71
4.3.4 The Interactive Layer 74
4.3.5 Canonical Operational Architecture Diagram 75
4.4 Other Operational Architectures 75
4.4.1 Levels of Automation 76
4.4.2 Autonomous Control Levels (ACL) 78
4.4.3 Levels of Initiative 80
4.5 Five Subsystems in Systems Architectures 82
4.6 Three Systems Architecture Paradigms 85
4.6.1 Trait 1: Interaction Between Primitives 85
4.6.2 Trait 2: Sensing Route 87
4.6.3 Hierarchical Systems Architecture Paradigm 89
4.6.4 Reactive Systems Paradigm 91
4.6.5 Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Systems Paradigm 93
4.7 Execution Approval and Task Execution 95
4.8 Summary 97
4.9 Exercises 100
4.10 End Notes 101
Contents xi

5 Telesystems 103
5.1 Overview 104
5.2 Taskable Agency versus Remote Presence 105
5.3 The Seven Components of a Telesystem 105
5.4 Human Supervisory Control 108
5.4.1 Types of Supervisory Control 109
5.4.2 Human Supervisory Control for Telesystems 110
5.4.3 Manual Control 111
5.4.4 Traded Control 113
5.4.5 Shared Control 114
5.4.6 Guarded Motion 114
5.5 Human Factors 116
5.5.1 Cognitive Fatigue 117
5.5.2 Latency 118
5.5.3 Human: Robot Ratio 118
5.5.4 Human Out-of-the-Loop Control Problem 120
5.6 Guidelines for Determining if a Telesystem Is Suitable
for an Application 122
5.6.1 Examples of Telesystems 123
5.7 Summary 125
5.8 Exercises 126
5.9 End Notes 128

II Reactive Functionality 129

6 Behaviors 131
6.1 Overview 131
6.2 Motivation for Exploring Animal Behaviors 132
6.3 Agency and Marr’s Computational Theory 134
6.4 Example of Computational Theory: Rana Computatrix 137
6.5 Animal Behaviors 141
6.5.1 Reflexive Behaviors 142
6.6 Schema Theory 143
6.6.1 Schemas as Objects 143
6.6.2 Behaviors and Schema Theory 144
6.6.3 S-R: Schema Notation 146
6.7 Summary 148
6.8 Exercises 150
6.9 End Notes 151
xii Contents

7 Perception and Behaviors 153

7.1 Overview 153
7.2 Action-Perception Cycle 155
7.3 Gibson: Ecological Approach 156
7.3.1 Optic Flow 158
7.3.2 Nonvisual Affordances 159
7.4 Two Perceptual Systems 161
7.5 Innate Releasing Mechanisms 162
7.5.1 Definition of Innate Releasing Mechanisms 165
7.5.2 Concurrent Behaviors 170
7.6 Two Functions of Perception 171
7.7 Example: Cockroach Hiding 171
7.7.1 Decomposition 171
7.7.2 Identifying Releasers 172
7.7.3 Implicit versus Explicit Sequencing 176
7.7.4 Perception 177
7.7.5 Architectural Considerations 178
7.8 Summary 178
7.9 Exercises 181
7.10 End Notes 182

8 Behavioral Coordination 185

8.1 Overview 185
8.2 Coordination Function 186
8.3 Cooperating Methods: Potential Fields 188
8.3.1 Visualizing Potential Fields 188
8.3.2 Magnitude Profiles 191
8.3.3 Potential Fields and Perception 194
8.3.4 Programming a Single Potential Field 194
8.3.5 Combination of Fields and Behaviors 196
8.3.6 Example Using One Behavior per Sensor 199
8.3.7 Advantages and Disadvantages 202
8.4 Competing Methods: Subsumption 204
8.4.1 Example 206
8.5 Sequences: Finite State Automata 213
8.5.1 A Follow the Road FSA 213
8.5.2 A Pick Up the Trash FSA 217
8.6 Sequences: Scripts 220
8.7 AI and Behavior Coordination 222
8.8 Summary 223
8.9 Exercises 224
8.10 End Notes 226
Contents xiii

9 Locomotion 229
9.1 Overview 229
9.2 Mechanical Locomotion 230
9.2.1 Holonomic versus Nonholonomic 231
9.2.2 Steering 231
9.3 Biomimetic Locomotion 235
9.4 Legged Locomotion 238
9.4.1 Number of Leg Events 239
9.4.2 Balance 240
9.4.3 Gaits 243
9.4.4 Legs with Joints 243
9.5 Action Selection 245
9.6 Summary 246
9.7 Exercises 247
9.8 End Notes 249

10 Sensors and Sensing 251

10.1 Overview 252
10.2 Sensor and Sensing Model 253
10.2.1 Sensors: Active or Passive 254
10.2.2 Sensors: Types of Output and Usage 255
10.3 Odometry, Inertial Navigation System (INS) and Global
Positioning System (GPS) 255
10.4 Proximity Sensors 256
10.5 Computer Vision 258
10.5.1 Computer Vision Definition 258
10.5.2 Grayscale and Color Representation 259
10.5.3 Region Segmentation 264
10.5.4 Color Histogramming 267
10.6 Choosing Sensors and Sensing 269
10.6.1 Logical Sensors 269
10.6.2 Behavioral Sensor Fusion 271
10.6.3 Designing a Sensor Suite 274
10.7 Summary 278
10.8 Exercises 280
10.9 End Notes 283

11 Range Sensing 285

11.1 Overview 285
11.2 Stereo 288
11.3 Depth from X 293
11.4 Sonar or Ultrasonics 293
xiv Contents

11.4.1 Light Stripers 300

11.4.2 Lidar 302
11.4.3 RGB-D Cameras 304
11.4.4 Point Clouds 304
11.5 Case Study: Hors d’Oeuvres, Anyone? 307
11.6 Summary 315
11.7 Exercises 315
11.8 End Notes 317

III Deliberative Functionality 319

12 Deliberation 321
12.1 Overview 321
12.2 Strips 323
12.2.1 More Realistic Strips Example 326
12.2.2 Strips Summary 331
12.2.3 Revisiting the Closed-World Assumption and
the Frame Problem 332
12.3 Symbol Grounding Problem 333
12.4 Global World Models 335
12.4.1 Local Perceptual Spaces 335
12.4.2 Multi-level or Hierarchical World Models 336
12.4.3 Virtual Sensors 338
12.4.4 Global World Model and Deliberation 339
12.5 Nested Hierarchical Controller 339
12.6 RAPS and 3T 342
12.7 Fault Detection Identification and Recovery 346
12.8 Programming Considerations 347
12.9 Summary 348
12.10 Exercises 349
12.11 End Notes 351

13 Navigation 353
13.1 Overview 353
13.2 The Four Questions of Navigation 355
13.3 Spatial Memory 358
13.4 Types of Path Planning 359
13.5 Landmarks and Gateways 361
13.6 Relational Methods 364
13.6.1 Distinctive Places 365
13.6.2 Advantages and Disadvantages 368
13.7 Associative Methods 369
Contents xv

13.8 Case Study of Topological Navigation with a Hybrid Architecture 369

13.8.1 Topological Path Planning 370
13.8.2 Navigation Scripts 375
13.8.3 Lessons Learned 378
13.9 Discussion of Opportunities for AI 379
13.10 Summary 381
13.11 Exercises 382
13.12 End Notes 384

14 Metric Path Planning and Motion Planning 385

14.1 Overview 385
14.2 Four Situations Where Topological Navigation Is Not Sufficient 387
14.3 Configuration Space 389
14.3.1 Meadow Maps 391
14.3.2 Generalized Voronoi Graphs 393
14.3.3 Regular Grids 394
14.3.4 Quadtrees 395
14.4 Metric Path Planning 396
14.4.1 A* and Graph-Based Planners 396
14.4.2 Wavefront-Based Planners 402
14.5 Executing a Planned Path 402
14.5.1 Subgoal Obsession 402
14.5.2 Replanning 404
14.6 Motion Planning 407
14.7 Criteria For Evaluating Path and Motion Planners 410
14.8 Summary 411
14.9 Exercises 413
14.10 End Notes 415

15 Localization, Mapping, and Exploration 417

15.1 Overview 418
15.2 Localization 419
15.3 Feature-Based Localization 421
15.4 Iconic Localization 423
15.5 Static versus Dynamic Environments 424
15.6 Simultaneous Localization and Mapping 424
15.7 Terrain Identification and Mapping 426
15.7.1 Digital Terrain Elevation Maps 427
15.7.2 Terrain Identification 427
15.7.3 Stereophotogrammetry 428
15.8 Scale and Traversability 432
15.8.1 Scale 432
15.8.2 Traversability Attributes 434
xvi Contents

15.9 Exploration 435

15.9.1 Reactive Exploration 435
15.9.2 Frontier-Based Exploration 436
15.9.3 Generalized Voronoi Graph Methods 437
15.10 Localization, Mapping, Exploration, and AI 439
15.11 Summary 441
15.12 Exercises 442
15.13 End Notes 443

16 Learning 445
16.1 Overview 446
16.2 Learning 447
16.3 Types of Learning by Example 449
16.4 Common Supervised Learning Algorithms 450
16.4.1 Induction 450
16.4.2 Support Vector Machines 452
16.4.3 Decision Trees 452
16.5 Common Unsupervised Learning Algorithms 454
16.5.1 Clustering 454
16.5.2 Artificial Neural Networks 455
16.6 Reinforcement Learning 460
16.6.1 Utility Functions 461
16.6.2 Q-learning 461
16.6.3 Q-learning Example 464
16.6.4 Q-learning Discussion 468
16.7 Evolutionary Robotics and Genetic Algorithms 468
16.8 Learning and Architecture 473
16.9 Gaps and Opportunities 474
16.10 Summary 475
16.11 Exercises 476
16.12 End Notes 478

IV Interactive Functionality 481

17 MultiRobot Systems (MRS) 483
17.1 Overview 484
17.2 Four Opportunities and Seven Challenges 484
17.2.1 Four Advantages of MRS 485
17.2.2 Seven Challenges in MRS 486
17.3 Multirobot Systems and AI 487
17.4 Designing MRS for Tasks 490
17.4.1 Time Expectations for a Task 490
Contents xvii

17.4.2 Subject of Action 491

17.4.3 Movement 492
17.4.4 Dependency 492
17.5 Coordination Dimension of MRS Design 493
17.6 Systems Dimensions in Design 494
17.6.1 Communication 495
17.6.2 MRS Composition 496
17.6.3 Team Size 498
17.7 Five Most Common Occurrences of MRS 499
17.8 Operational Architectures for MRS 501
17.9 Task Allocation 503
17.10 Summary 504
17.11 Exercises 505
17.12 End Notes 508

18 Human-Robot Interaction 511

18.1 Overview 512
18.2 Taxonomy of Interaction 514
18.3 Contributions from HCI, Psychology, Communications 516
18.3.1 Human-Computer Interaction 516
18.3.2 Psychology 517
18.3.3 Communications 518
18.4 User Interfaces 518
18.4.1 Eight Golden Rules for User Interface Design 519
18.4.2 Situation Awareness 522
18.4.3 Multiple Users 525
18.5 Modeling Domains, Users, and Interactions 525
18.5.1 Motivating Example of Users and Interactions 526
18.5.2 Cognitive Task Analysis 528
18.5.3 Cognitive Work Analysis 529
18.6 Natural Language and Naturalistic User Interfaces 531
18.6.1 Natural Language Understanding 531
18.6.2 Semantics and Communication 533
18.6.3 Models of the Inner State of the Agent 534
18.6.4 Multi-modal Communication 535
18.7 Human-Robot Ratio 538
18.8 Trust 540
18.9 Testing and Metrics 542
18.9.1 Data Collection Methods 543
18.9.2 Metrics 545
18.10 Human-Robot Interaction and the Seven Areas
of Artificial Intelligence 546
xviii Contents

18.11 Summary 547

18.12 Exercises 549
18.13 End Notes 552

V Design and the Ethics of Building

Intelligent Robots 555
19 Designing and Evaluating Autonomous Systems 557
19.1 Overview 557
19.2 Designing a Specific Autonomous Capability 559
19.2.1 Design Philosophy 559
19.2.2 Five Questions for Designing an Autonomous Robot 560
19.3 Case Study: Unmanned Ground Robotics Competition 562
19.4 Taxonomies and Metrics versus System Design 569
19.5 Holistic Evaluation of an Intelligent Robot 571
19.5.1 Failure Taxonomy 572
19.5.2 Four Types of Experiments 573
19.5.3 Data to Collect 575
19.6 Case Study: Concept Experimentation 578
19.7 Summary 581
19.8 Exercises 582
19.9 End Notes 583

20 Ethics 585
20.1 Overview 585
20.2 Types of Ethics 587
20.3 Categorizations of Ethical Agents 588
20.3.1 Moor’s Four Categories 588
20.3.2 Categories of Morality 589
20.4 Programming Ethics 590
20.4.1 Approaches from Philosophy 590
20.4.2 Approaches from Robotics 591
20.5 Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics 591
20.5.1 Problems with the Three Laws 592
20.5.2 The Three Laws of Responsible Robotics 592
20.6 Artificial Intelligence and Implementing Ethics 593
20.7 Summary 594
20.8 Exercises 594
20.9 End Notes 595

Bibliography 597

Index 613