IRI-9320318 This research explores a sensor- and domain-independent event- driven sensing manager and sensing execution mechanism to address the need for reactive sensing in mobile robot architectures. Success in reactive motor control will have important applications in perceptually demanding applications in space, environmental remediation, defense, and reconnaissance and rescue operations. The specific objectives of this project are to formalize the control scheme for an event-driven manager; develop a sensing execution manager; and create a general purpose structure for representing, reasoning, and propagating evidence about a percept. These objectives will lead to a system which can model a percept independently of sensors and algorithms; translate this model into an executable sensing plan, given the intended task, state of the robot, and state of the world; share sensing resources if possible and arbitrate contention if not possible; maintain sensing given the occurrence of uncontrollable events such as occlusions, malfunctions, and environmental change; and temporarily reduce the computational load associated with sensing without sacrificing certainty. The research results will be evaluated based on experiments on a CSM Denning MRV-3 mobile robot using video, ultrasonic, and laser range data for navigation and assessment of partially known environments. Resulting code and data sets will be made available over internet.
