Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Experimental Robotics IV pp 390–401Cite as

Towards principled experimental study of autonomous mobile robots

  • Chapter 9 Autonomy Via Teaching
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

  • 1007 Accesses

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences ((LNCIS,volume 223))

Abstract

We review the current state of research in autonomous mobile robots and conclude that there is an inadequate basis for predicting the reliability and behavior of robots operating in unengineered environments. We present a new approach to the study of autonomous mobile robot performance based on formal statistical analysis of independently reproducible experiments conducted on real robots. Simulators serve as models rather than experimental surrogates. We demonstrate three new results: 1) Two commonly used performance metrics (time and distance) are not as well correlated as is often tacitly assumed. 2) The probability distributions of these performance metrics is exponential rather than normal, and 3) a modular, object-oriented simulation accurately predicts the behavior of the real robot in a statistically significant manner.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Erann Gat, et al., "Behavior Control for Robotic Exploration of Planetary Surfaces," IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, August 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Erann Gat, "Towards Principled Experimental Study of Autonomous Mobile Robots I," submitted to Autonomous Robots. (This is an expanded version of the present paper.)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ian Horswill and Masaki Yamamoto. "A $1000 Active Stereo Vision System," in Proceedings of the IAPR/IEEE Workshop on Visual Behaviors, W. Martin, ed. Seattle, WA. IEEE Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Jean-Claude Latombe, Robot Motion Planning, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  5. E. L. Lehmann, Nonparametrics: Statistical Methods Based on Ranks, Holden-Day, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Larry Matthies, et al., "Mars Microrover Navigation: Performance Evaluation and Enhancement," Autonomous Robots, to appear.

    Google Scholar 

  7. H.J. Moore and B.M. Jakosky, "Viking Landing Sites, Remote Sensing Observations, and Physical Properties of Mars Surface Materials," Icarus, 81:164–184, 1989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Guy L. Steele Jr., Common Lisp: The Language, Second Edition, Digital Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, 91109, Pasadena, CA

    Erann Gat

Authors
  1. Erann Gat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Oussama Khatib J. Kenneth Salisbury

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1997 Springer-Verlag London Limited

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gat, E. (1997). Towards principled experimental study of autonomous mobile robots. In: Khatib, O., Salisbury, J.K. (eds) Experimental Robotics IV. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, vol 223. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0035229

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0035229

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76133-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-40942-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation