A transputer network for real-time control of an intelligent mobile robot

This paper describes a distributed transputer architecture used for real-time sensing and control of an intelligent mobile robot. This architecture takes the form of a network of sensing and control nodes, based on locally intelligent control agents (LICAs). Each LICA has its own processing facility, which together do not require any common buses or any central communication facility. Computation is performed locally and communication occurs between any two LICAs using high speed, point to point communication links. They run independently to achieve specific subtasks, and also operate in parallel to interact intelligently with a real world. Using this architecture, the authors´ mobile robot can navigate in their AGV Lab, plan an optimal path to reach the goal, and avoid unexpected obstacles in real time