Homework 1 - Deliberative Robotics Paradigm

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.

As discussed in class, one of the names for the deliberative paradigm is the functional modules paradigm. As this latter name implies, robot software architectures constructed using this paradigm are composed of several modules, each with a separate function. These modules are then connected together to form a complete chain from sensing on one end to acting on the other. One problem with such a chain is that it is only as strong as its weakest link.

Given that concept, consider the Mowforth & Grant paper, which could be seen as an example of the deliberative (functional modules) paradigm.

From the system covered in the Mowforth & Grant paper, select a component in which you can see at least one weakness that could lead to a failure of that component. For that component, describe:

1. the general role that component plays in the system (whether it relates to sensing, planning, and/or acting) and on what basis you came to that conclusion,
2. the specific module from the functional modules described in class, if any, that component corresponds to and on what basis you came to that conclusion,
3. the weakness you see in that component and why you have concluded that is a weakness,
4. the way(s) in which you would expect system performance to degrade if that component were to fail,
and
5. at least one suggestion for how to strengthen either the component itself or the overall system to ameliorate this weakness.

Turn in a typed copy of your descriptions for this assignment. In total, your descriptions should run from 1.5 to 2 pages in length (roughly 80 characters per line, 50 lines per page). This does not count any diagrams or other figures that you may choose to include which may be of any size.