Architecture of behavior-based mobile robot in dynamic environment

The authors are developing a compact cart-type robot system which moves around an office. They propose a behavior-based architecture with three clustered (reflexive, purposive, and adaptive) agents that realizes efficiency in attaining the mission of the robot, and robustness against the various kinds of failures that may occur in a dynamic environment. The reflexive-level group consists of agents with contact, infrared, and ultrasonic sensors which maintain minimal safety of the robot. The role of the purposive-level group is to achieve the global mission of the robot, such as `if the robot detects a small fire in the office, find and reach a fire extinguisher as soon as possible´. The adaptive-level group stands by to recover from failure in the purposive-level group or in a deadlock situation. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of the method