Chapter 12: Robotics

Question 1

Open-world paradigm

Answer 1

A world in which the actions of the agents alter the world and force those agents to establish a revised view of that world.

Question 2

What is a major inspiration of robotics deign?

Answer 2

The biological world (humans, animals)

Question 3

What way of studying our actions is of particular importance for robotics?

Answer 3

The behavioral approach

Question 4

The behavioral paradigm

Answer 4

Robotics attempt to simulate observable activities of an organism

Question 5

“N-gram”

Answer 5

A map or transformation of the sensory data into motor action. They’re representations of sequences of elementary actions that are stored in our brain.

Question 6

Reflexive responses

Answer 6

Actions that last as long as the stimulus that produced them and whose magnitude is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus.

Question 7

Fixed-action patterns

Answer 7

Actions that continue for a longer period of time than the stimulus

Question 8

Reactive responses

Answer 8

Learned behaviors and consolidated such that they are executed without conscious thought. Subsets of such responses include taxes where the organism moves to a particular orientation (e.g. hatching turtles move to the ocean using reflected moonlight)

Question 9

Ethology

Answer 9

Study of animal behavior

Question 10

Who proposed 4 ways animals acquire behavior?

Answer 10

The four ways of acquiring behavior were proposed by Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen.

Question 11

Automaton

Answer 11

A machine or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a predetermined sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions

Question 12

The Lorenz/Tinberg innate reasoning mechanism (IRM)

Answer 12

It’s a built-in neural structure which when exposed to a specific stimuli (also called releasers) will cause the release of an automatic behavioral response (motor action sequence)

Question 13

Behavioral phenomena that the concurrent execution of two or more IRMs can explain

Answer 13

• Equilibrium (behaviors balance each other our)
• Dominance (one IRM prevails)
• Cancellation (fight or flight can initiate 3rd behavior)

Question 14

Affordances

Answer 14

perceivable environmental elements that are suitable triggers for an action

Question 15

SENSE

Answer 15

A robotic primitive includes that part of robotic system that converts elements of an environment into information that is made available to other parts of the robotic system

Question 16

Paradigm

Answer 16

a philosophy or approach for developing theories and for analyzing and evaluating a class of problems including appropriate analytical tools and associated techniques.

Question 17

Hierarchical paradigm

Answer 17

One of the robotic paradigms also referred to as the “top-down” approach to robotic design. It reflects how humans include “planning” as a key element in their completion of given tasks.
The classical robot designed according to this principle (“Shakey”) used Strips algorithm which is a variant of the General Problem Solver.

Question 18

PLAN

Answer 18

A robotic primitive element encompassing the corresponding human attributes of reasoning and cognition

Question 19

ACT

Answer 19

A robotic primitive that pertains to the actuating or motor elements of an intelligent agent.

Question 20

Reactive paradigm

Answer 20

Paradigm developed from the idea that complex behaviors grow out of simple behaviors that operate in a concurrent manner.

Question 21

Subsumption

Answer 21

A robotic architecture characterized by direct connection between perceptive elements (sensory info) and actuating elements (sense-action processes)

Question 22

Hybrid Deliberate/Reactive Paradigm

Answer 22

Designs that use a combination of reactive behaviors and planning or other cognitive components.

Question 23

What are Reactive Responses?

Answer 23

Learned behaviors consolidated such that they are executed without conscious thought

Question 24

How did Michael Arbib contribute to the development of robotics?

Answer 24

He began to investigate abstract models of animal intelligence including both biological and cognitive elements, in order to gain insights into robotics.

Question 25

How did Valentino Braitenberg contribute to the development of robotics?

Answer 25

Braitenberg proposed a series of hypothetical vehicles of increasing complexity with capabilities that “mimicked” the course of evolution in primates.

Question 26

What is the definition of behavior?

Answer 26

Behavior is considered to be a mapping (translation) of sensory inputs onto a pattern of motor actions whose purpose is to complete a given task.

Question 27

Deliberative behavior

Answer 27

Includes a conscious component, where previously developed behaviors may be string together (e.g. assembling a robot)

Question 28

Ulric Neisser and J.J. Gibson

Answer 28

Psychologists whose work led to an “ecological approach” - contributed to an alternative dynamic for describing animal behavior.

Question 29

Direct perception system

Answer 29

One of two perceptual systems in animals proposed by Neisser. Its structures are located in more primitive regions of the brain and account for affordances.

Question 30

Recognition system

Answer 30

It’s associated with higher order parts of the brain where problem solving and other cognitive activities take place. This is where top-down processing, model-based perception occurs.

Question 31

What is the main advantage of direct perception system that can be used in robotics?

Answer 31

Direct perception (affordances) reduces the computational complexity of sensing, and can trigger action without extensive memory, logic, or reasoning.

Question 32

Action-oriented perception

Answer 32

A perception mechanism will filter stimuli and consider only what is relevant to the behavior

Question 33

Elements of robotic design that are particularly difficult to achieve

Answer 33

Concurrent behavior conflicts, missed affordances, the ability for the robot to learn through experience

Question 34

LEARN

Answer 34

A new primitive proposed by researchers which would include learning process.

Question 35

Weaknesses of the hierarchical paradigm

Answer 35

1. It lays out robotic tasks as horizontal decomposition while according to ethology, behavior has a vertical organization in which an agent starts with primitive survival behaviors and builds upon such facilities to develop new ones.
2. It has a single global model of the world. Generic global world models do not handle “surprises” well.

Question 36

Rodney Brooks

Answer 36

The creator of the reactive paradigm. He built his robots with “unthinking activity”. There would be direct connections between perception (sensory information) and action.

Question 37

The characteristics and connotations of reactive behaviors

Answer 37

1. Speed (rapid execution because of direct connection between SENSE and ACT primitives)
2. Simplicity (absence of “memory” in a traditional sense)
3. “Small world” (ecological niche formed by the goals, and the whole perception of the world)
4. Simple programming (programming particular behaviors)
5. Built on choice (must determine what happens when multiple behaviors are active at the same time

Question 38

When and by whom were cognitive functions introduced into a behavioral system of robots?

Answer 38

In the late 1980s by Ron Arkin and his colleagues.

Question 39

Characteristics of Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Paradigm

Answer 39

1. Reflexive behaviors but also innate and learned behaviors (skill set)
2. Assemblages behaviors sequenced over time rather than primitive behaviors
3. Deliberative portion of Path Planning and Map Making.
4. Behavioral Management component that determines the behaviors to use and their order
5. Performance Monitoring (progress and deficit detection)

Question 40

Mission Planner (Hybrid Architecture attribute)

Answer 40

It interacts with humans and translates commands into robotic terms; constructs a mission plan

Question 41

Cartographer (Hybrid Architecture attribute)

Answer 41

Responsible for creating, storing, and maintaining maps or spatial information about the robot’s environment or task domain.

Question 42

Sequencer Agent (Hybrid Architecture attribute)

Answer 42

Generates the set of behaviors to use in order to accomplish a subtask

Question 43

Resource manager (Hybrid Architecture attribute)

Answer 43

Allocates resources to behaviors. Also determines the circumstances in which to use each of its sensors.

Question 44

Performance Monitor and Problem Solver (Hybrid Architecture attribute)

Answer 44

Allow the robot to notice if it’s making progress and/or adjust for hardware problems within itself.

Question 45

Organizational styles of Hybrid Robotic systems

Answer 45

• Managerial style: Subdivides the deliberative portion into layers based on the managerial responsibility of each deliberative portion
• State hierarchies: Uses the knowledge of the robot’s state to distinguish between reactive and deliberative activities
• Model oriented: Characterized by behaviors that have access to portions of a world model; these architectures are close to purely Hierarchical robots