Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Merriam, E. W..
The conceptual, experimental, and practical aspects of the development of a robot computer problem solving system were investigated. The distinctive characteristics were formulated of the approach taken in relation to various studies of cognition and robotics. Vehicle and eye control systems were structured, and the information to be generated by the visual system is defined.
The conceptual, experimental, and practical phases of developing a robot computer problem solving system are outlined. Robot intelligence, conversion of the programming language SAIL to run under the THNEX monitor, and the use of the network to run several cooperating jobs at different sites are discussed.
This paper argues that an experientally guided robot is necessary to successfully explore far-away planets. Such a robot is characterized as having sense organs which receive sensory information from its environment and motor systems which allow it to interact with that environment. The sensori-motor information which it receives is organized into an experiential knowledge structure and this knowledge in turn is used to guide the robot's future actions. A summary is presented of a problem solving system which is being used as a test bed for developing such a robot. The robot currently engages in the behaviors of visual tracking, focusing down, and looking around in a simulated Martian landscape. Finally, some unsolved problems are outlined whose solutions are necessary before an experientally guided robot can be produced. These problems center around organizing the motivational and memory structure of the robot and understanding its high-level control mechanisms.
The TENEX computer system, the ARPA network, and computer language design technology was applied to support the complex system programs. By combining the pragmatic and theoretical aspects of robot development, an approach is created which is grounded in realism, but which also has at its disposal the power that comes from looking at complex problems from an abstract analytical point of view.
A robot computer problem solving system which represents a robot exploration vehicle in a simulated Mars environment is described. The model exhibits changes and improvements made on a previously designed robot in a city environment. The Martian environment is modeled in Cartesian coordinates; objects are scattered about a plane; arbitrary restrictions on the robot's vision have been removed; and the robot's path contains arbitrary curves. New environmental features, particularly the visual occlusion of objects by other objects, were added to the model. Two different algorithms were developed for computing occlusion. Movement and vision capabilities of the robot were established in the Mars environment, using LISP/FORTRAN interface for computational efficiency. The graphical display program was redesigned to reflect the change to the Mars-like environment.