skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Scaling the dynamic approach to path planning and control: Competition among behavioral constraints

Journal Article · · International Journal of Robotics Research
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States). GRASP Lab.
  2. Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan, Stockholm (Sweden). Centre for Autonomous Systems

The dynamic-systems approach to robot path planning defines a dynamics of robot behavior in which task constraints contribute independently to a nonlinear vector field that governs robot actions. The authors address problems that arise in scaling this approach to handle complex behavioral requirements. They propose a dynamics that operates in the space of task constraints, determining the relative contribution of each constraint to the behavioral dynamics. Competition among task constraints is able to deal with problems that arise when combining constraint contributions, making it possible to specify tasks that are more complex than simple navigation. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, the authors design a system of two agents to perform a cooperative navigation task. They show how competition among constraints enables agents to make decisions regarding which behavior to execute in a given situation, resulting in the execution of sequences of behaviors that satisfy task requirements. The authors discuss the scalability of the competitive-dynamics approach to the design of more complex autonomous systems.

OSTI ID:
320864
Journal Information:
International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 18, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Behavior-based cooperative robotics applied to multi-target observation
Conference · Tue Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1996 · OSTI ID:320864

Multi-robot motion control for cooperative observation
Conference · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · OSTI ID:320864

Cooperative motion control for multi-target observation
Conference · Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · OSTI ID:320864