Robots in a Distributed Agent System

Abstract

We describe how we manage cognitive information within our mobile robotics activities. Our approach can be divided into three parts: the local level through Saphira (the navigation system), the global state through OAA^TM (the Open Agent Architecture), and the representation and human-user interaction through multimodal interfaces. Introduction In previous work (Konolige and Myers 1998) we discussed the requirements for autonomous mobile robot operation in open-ended environments. These environments were loosely characterized as dynamic and human-centric, that is, objects could come and go, and the robots would have to interact with humans to carry out their tasks. For an individual robot, we summarized the most important capabilities as the three C's: coordination, coherence, and communication. These constitute a cognitive basis for a stand alone, autonomous robot. Coordination: A mobile agent must coordinate its activity. At the lowest level there are commands for moving wheels, ca...