Homework 2 - The Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive 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, the primary control paradigm for mobile robots currently is the hybrid deliberative/reactive paradigm which, as its name implies, combines aspects of both the deliberative and reactive paradigms you have studied previously. Like the deliberative paradigm, it contains sensing, planning, and acting. Like the reactive paradigm, at least some of the sensing is closely tied to acting for faster response.

Consider the control architecture for the Xavier mobile robot as described by Simmons, et al. and complete the following exercises:

1. Overlay Figure 5 from the paper with boxes marked “sense,” “plan,” and “act” as appropriate to designate which parts of the system are involved in each of these activities.
2. Explain your designations. (That is, make a cogent argument in favor of the designations you made and defend each choice with reference to information presented in the paper.)
3. Explain whether Xavier uses a deliberative, reactive, or hybrid approach.
4. Explain whether Xavier would be more, less, or equally effective using one of the other paradigms in order to accomplish the same overall mission.

Turn in a typed copy of your responses to these exercises. In total, your responses should run from 1 to 2 pages in length (roughly 80 characters per line, 50 lines per page). Turn in both an electronic copy (via D2L) and a hard copy of this assignment.