Abstract
Robotics, when successfully carried out, is concerned with artifacts that optimize their own behavior in the light of information using sensors and actuators. The information includes both that which is stored and that which is immedi ately available from the sensors.
In this paper the problem addressed is how the speed and the steer angle of a path curvature limited robot-vehicle, one that has to move in order to turn, may be altered in order to achieve desirable changes in its position and orientation. A kinematic description of both a tricycle and "turtle" vehicle architecture is developed. A comparison is made between the two architectures. The effect of modulating the steer angle of a path curvature limited vehicle, a tricycle, with a gaussian envelope is illustrated for various amplitudes of the gaussian and speed of the robot-vehicle. The effect of the time concat enation of the steer angle with two or more gaussian enve lopes shows that a range of activities relevant to the functional needs of a robot-vehicle are possible. A number of other "modulating" functions are identified, and it is suggested that these deserve further investigation.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.