Theoretical foundations of planning and navigation for autonomous robots

Abstract

In this article, theoretical foundations of planning and navigation systems and processes are outlined in a form applicable for autonomous robotics. the core of the theory is based upon methods developed in the team theory of decentralized stochastic control. A class of autonomous control systems is defined, and a problem of information representation is addressed for this class. A phenomenon of nesting is determined to be a key element for arranging design and control procedures for systems of intelligent control. A concept of hierarchical nested knowledge-based controller is employed in this article which enables optimum control using nested dynamic programming. an application of this concept is unfolded for a system of knowledge-based control of an autonomous mobile robot.