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Comparing Robot Controllers Through System Identification

  • Conference paper
From Animals to Animats 9 (SAB 2006)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 4095))

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Abstract

In mobile robotics, it is common to find different control programs designed to achieve a particular robot task. It is often necessary to compare the performance of such controllers. So far this is usually done qualitatively, because of a lack of quantitative behaviour analysis methods.

In this paper we present a novel approach to compare robot control codes quantitatively, based on system identification. Using the NARMAX system identification process, we “translate” the original behaviour into a transparent, analysable mathematical model of the original behaviour. We then use statistical methods and sensitivity analysis to compare models quantitatively.

We demonstrate our approach by comparing two different robot control programs, which were designed to drive a Magellan Pro robot through door-like openings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Essex, UK

    Ulrich Nehmzow, Otar Akanyeti & Theocharis Kyriacou

  2. Electronics and Computer Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Roberto Iglesias

  3. Dept. of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK

    S. A. Billings

Authors
  1. Ulrich Nehmzow
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  2. Otar Akanyeti
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  3. Roberto Iglesias
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  4. Theocharis Kyriacou
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  5. S. A. Billings
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, LARRAL, Via S. Martino della Battaglia 44, 00185, Roma, Italy

    Stefano Nolfi

  2. Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology, (ISTC-CNR), Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Gianluca Baldassarre

  3. Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology, ISTC-CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia 44, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Raffaele Calabretta  & Davide Marocco  & 

  4. The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    John C. T. Hallam

  5. UPMC Univ Paris 6, FRE2507, ISIR, F-75016, Paris, France

    Jean-Arcady Meyer

  6. Laboratory of Autonomous Robotics and Artificial Life, Institute of Cognitive, Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy

    Orazio Miglino

  7. Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, 44, Via San Martino della, 00185, Rome, Battaglia, Italy

    Domenico Parisi

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© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Nehmzow, U., Akanyeti, O., Iglesias, R., Kyriacou, T., Billings, S.A. (2006). Comparing Robot Controllers Through System Identification. In: Nolfi, S., et al. From Animals to Animats 9. SAB 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4095. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11840541_69

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11840541_69

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-38608-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-38615-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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