Keeping the analog genie in the bottle: a case for digital robots

Abstract

We consider the case for adopting a truly 'digital' type of robot, which would evolve between a discrete and finite set of states. One distinct advantage of this philosophy is that a formal logical analysis can be applied to digital robots, since discrete-time models can now correctly and completely model the robot behavior. We argue that there are significant benefits to this strategy in numerous cases, especially with respect to fault detection and fault tolerance. However, there are also disadvantages-in order to guarantee digital behavior, constraints on the robot's operations are imposed. Essentially, we gain formality of digital analysis at the expense of precision of continuous movement. Using an analogy to digital electronics, we discuss ways in which the development of digital robots could revolutionize certain aspects of robotics.