Sensor-based Modelling For Intelligent Robotic Systems

Abstract

We propose a sensor-based approach to modelling robotic systems. In this approach a robot is modelled as a colony of sensors between which constraints have been imposed. When all constraint are off, each member of the colony behaves as an autonomous agent. A graph structure in which nodes represent sensors and edges represent constraints between sensors, is used to represent a robot modelled in this way. A colony of robots is represented as a set of these graphs, and corresponds to a particular partition of the sensor colony. A different partition will correspond to a different robot colony. We distinguish between physical and virtual robotic systems and propose the latter as an approach to implementing adaptable robotic systems.