The Saphira Architecture for Autonomous Mobile Robots

Abstract

Mobile robots, if they are to perform useful tasks and become accepted in open environments, must be autonomous: capable of acquiring information and performing tasks without programmatic intervention. Autonomy has many different aspects; here we concentrate on three central ones: the ability to attend to another agent, to take advice about the environment, and to carry out assigned tasks. All three involve complex sensing and planning operations on the part of the robot, including the use of visual tracking of humans, coordination of motor controls, and planning. We show how these capabilities are integrated in the Saphira architecture, using the concepts of coordination of behavior, coherence of modeling, and communication with other agents.