NOTE: This assignment, like others in this class, is due at the beginning of the class period. This means that if you are even a minute late, you lose 20%. If you are worried about potentially being late, turn in your homework ahead of time. Do this by submitting them to me during office hours or by sliding it under my office door. Do not send assignments to me through email or leave them in my departmental mail box.
Consider that, besides planning, world models (including maps or other knowledge representations) can be used in hybrid deliberative/reactive robot as inputs to behaviors. In this way, world models can be seen as providing virtual sensors for behaviors. This is shown in Figure 7.2 (p. 261) in the Murphy textbook and described in Section 7.6.1 (p. 280) of that textbook as present in the hybrid deliberative/reactive Saphira architecture. The use of virtual sensors can be contrasted with the use of "direct actual sensors," that is, the direct use of minimally processed data from the robot’s actual sensors through a simple perceptual system. This assignment examines these two approaches to providing data to behaviors in the Real-time Control System (RCS) as well as data provisioning to execution modules generally.
RCS Virtual Sensors?
Albus, in "A Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Systems Design" does not use the term 'virtual sensors' in his description of RCS. Nonetheless, it is possible that the concept described by Murphy (and others) as virtual sensors is contained within RCS.
State whether you believe that RCS uses virtual sensors. If you believe that it does, explain where and how it does so. Which components (that is, modules or submodules) provide virtual sensor information to which other components. In what form is that information encoded? How is it used by the recipient? If you believe that it does not, explain where and how the use of virtual sensors could reasonably be added to RCS. Which components (that is, modules or submodules) could reasonably provide virtual sensor information to which other components? In what form should that information be encoded? How should it be used by the recipient?
RCS Direct Actual Sensors?
RCS might use "direct actual sensors" in addition to or instead of virtual sensors.
State whether you believe that RCS uses direct actual sensors. If you believe that it does, explain where and how it does so. Which components (that is, modules or submodules) provide direct actual sensor information to which other components. In what form is that information encoded? How is it used by the recipient? If you believe that it does not, explain where and how the use of direct actual sensors could reasonably be added to RCS. Which components (that is, modules or submodules) could reasonably provide direct actual sensor information to which other components? In what form should that information be encoded? How should it be used by the recipient?
Use of Sensors and Robot Architecture Paradigms
Consider the following table.
| Direct Actual Sensors | Virtual Sensors | |||
| Permitted | Required | Permitted | Required | |
| Deliberative: | a | b | c | d |
| Reactive: | e | f | g | h |
| Hybrid: | i | j | k | l |
For each lettered entry in the table, state whether you believe that type of sensor connectivity bears that relation to that paradigm and justify your answer. For instance, for 'a' state whether you believe that the use of direct actual sensors is permitted for an architecture to be considered deliberative and justify your answer.
Turn in a typed and electronic copy of your work for this assignment. In total, your homework should run from 1.5 to 2 pages in length (roughly 80 characters per line, 50 lines per page). This does not count any figures that you may choose to include, which may be of any size.