Task specification and behavior verification for UUV behavior design

Abstract

The robotics community is deeply interested in both platform design and behavior design, but we lack tools to connect the two. The platform, the behavior design, and the environment work together to determine the robot's actions, but our tools visualize the design of the hardware and the design of the behaviors separately. We lack tools that allow us to visualize the relationship between the platform and the behavior. To address this gap, we introduce a new design method based on a tabular representation called Capability Analysis Tables. The Capability Analysis Table enables the designer to define the constraints on a behavior design based on the platform it will be used on, and to define the constraints on the platform based on the behavior design. It gives the customer and the designer an opportunity to more clearly specify the desired behavior. Environmental factors are implicit in the platform interface definitions -sensory perception filters environmental inputs (colored objects can only be seen by sensors that produce color information) and actuators filter environmental outputs. Communications are handled explicitly as outputs and as either operator inputs or remotely gathered sensory data.