Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Describe the Reactive Paradigm in terms of the 3 robot primitives and its organization of sensing List the characteristics of a reactive robotic system, and discuss the connotations of surrounding the reactive paradigm Describe the two dominant methods for combining behaviors in a reactive architecture: subsumption and potential field summation Be able to program a behavior using pfields Be able to construct a new potential field from primitive pfields and sum pfields to generate an emergent behavior Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Review: Lessons from Biology Programs should decompose complex actions into behaviors. Complexity emerges from concurrent behaviors acting independently Agents should rely on straightforward activation mechanisms such as IRM Perception filters sensing and considers only what is relevant to the task (action-oriented perception) Behaviors are independent but the output may be used in many ways including: combined with others to produce a resultant output or to inhibit others Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Hierarchical Organization is “Horizontal” Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

More Biological is “Vertical” Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Sensing is Behavior-Specific or Local Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Behaviors can “share” perception without knowing it This is behavioral sensor fusion Ask students what’s the difference between this and the layers in RCA… These aren’t layers, they’re concurrent behaviors. The layers in RCA reflected a Commitment to partitioning the world model, here any behavior can have access to any perception. Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Reactive Robots RELEASER behavior SENSE ACT Overview History Reactive USAR Summary Most apps are programmed with this paradigm Biologically based: Behaviors (independent processes), released by perceptual or internal events (state) No world models or long term memory Highly modular, generic Overall behavior emerges Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Example 1: Robomow Behaviors? Random Avoid Avoid(bump=obstacle) Avoid(wire=boundary) Stop Stop(tilt=ON) All active www.friendlymachines.com Overview History Reactive USAR Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Example 2: My Real Baby Behaviors? Touch-> Awake Upside down & Awake-> Cry Awake & Hungry -> Cry Awake & Lonely -> Cry Note can get crying from multiple behaviors Note internal state (countdown timer on Lonely) www.irobot.com Overview History Reactive USAR Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Historically, there are two main styles of creating a reactive system Subsumption architecture Layers of behavioral competence How to control relationships Potential fields Concurrent behaviors How to navigate They are equivalent in power In practice, see a mixture of both layers and concurrency Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Subsumption: Rodney Brooks Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary From http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/fastcheap/index.html Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Subsumption Philosophy Modules should be grouped into layers of competence Modules in a higher lever can override or subsume behaviors in the next lower level Suppression: substitute input going to a module Inhibit: turn off output from a module No internal state in the sense of a local, persistent representation similar to a world model. Architecture should be taskable: accomplished by a higher level turning on/off lower layers Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm runaway 0 wander 1 follow-corridor 2 Level 0: Runaway HALT COLLIDE PS MS RUN AWAY Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Example Perception: Polar Plot Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary if sensing is ego-centric, can often eliminate need for memory, representation Plot is ego-centric Plot is distributed (available to whatever wants to use it) Although it is a representation in the sense of being a data structure, there is no memory (contains latest information) and no reasoning (2-3 means a “wall”) Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm runaway 0 wander 1 follow-corridor 2 Level 1: Wander encoders AVOID PS MS WANDER Note sharing of Perception, fusion Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary What would Inhibition do? Avoid is needed because would tend to runaway to areas already visited, never make any progress Green oval: why suppression? What would inhibition do? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Class Exercise runaway 0 wander 1 move2light 2 Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary LIGHT PHOTO- TROPHISM S In class question: Why suppression rather than inhibition? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Level 2: Follow-Corridors runaway 0 wander 1 follow-corridor 2 Level 2: Follow-Corridors STAY-IN-MIDDLE PS MS Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Class Exercise Design the roomba with subsumption Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Subsumption Review What is the Reactive Paradigm in terms of primitives? What is the Reactive Paradigm in terms of sensing? Does the Reactive Paradigm solve the Open World problem? How does the Reactive Paradigm eliminate the frame problem? What is the difference between a behavior and a level of competence? What is the difference between suppression and inhibition in subsumption? Review Organization -SA -beh. specific Subsumption -Philosophy -Level 0 -Level 1 -Level 2 Summary Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Potential Fields: Ron Arkin From http://www.cc.gatech.edu/aimosaic/faculty/arkin From http://www.cc.gatech.edu/aimosaic/robot-lab/MRLhome.html Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Potential Fields Philosophy The motor schema component of a behavior can be expressed with a potential fields methodology A potential field can be a “primitive” or constructed from primitives which are summed together The output of behaviors are combined using vector summation From each behavior, the robot “feels” a vector or force Magnitude = force, strength of stimulus, or velocity Direction But we visualize the “force” as a field, where every point in space represents the vector that it would feel if it were at that point Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Example: Run Away via Repulsion Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

5 Primitive Potential Fields Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Draw These Now! Common fields in behaviors Uniform Move in a particular direction, corridor following Repulsion Runaway (obstacle avoidance) Attraction Move to goal Perpendicular Corridor following Tangential Move through door, docking (in combination with other fields) random do you think this is a potential field? what would it look like? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Class Exercise Name the field you’d use for Moving towards a light Avoiding obstacles Attractive Repulsive Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Combining Fields for Emergent Behavior obstacle goal obstacle goal obstacle If robot were dropped anywhere on this grid, it would want to move to goal and avoid obstacle: Behavior 1: MOVE2GOAL Behavior 2: RUNAWAY The output of each independent behavior is a vector, the 2 vectors is summed to produce emergent behavior Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Fields and Their Combination Note: in this example, robot can sense the goal from 10 meters away Note: In this example, repulsive field only extends for 2 meters; the robot runs away only if obstacle within 2 meters Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Path Taken Robot only feels vectors for this point when it (if) reaches that point If robot started at this location, it would take the following path It would only “feel”the vector for the location, then move accordingly, “feel” the next vector, move, etc. Pfield visualization allows us to see the vectors at all points, but robot never computes the “field of vectors” just the local vector Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Discussion Could you represent the Arctic Tern feeding behavior with potential fields? what happens with multiple red dots? can you inhibit with potential fields? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Example: follow-corridor or follow-sidewalk Perpendicular Uniform Note use of Magnitude profiles: Perpendicular decreases Combined Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Class Exercise: Draw Fields for Wall-Following (assume that robot stands still if no wall) Just half of a follow-corridor, but… If the stand-off distance is the same as the detection range, the robot is likely to lose sight of the wall Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm But how does the robot see a wall without reasoning or intermediate representations? Perceptual schema “connects the dots”, returns relative orientation orientation MS: Perp. PS: Find-wall S MS: Uniform Sonars Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

OK, But why isn’t that a representation of a wall? It’s not really reasoning that it’s a wall, rather it is reacting to the stimulus which happens to be smoothed (common in neighboring neurons) Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Level 0: Runaway Note: multiple instances of a behavior vs. 1: Could just have 1 Instance of RUN AWAY, Which picks nearest reading; Doesn’t matter, but this Allows addition of another Sonar without changing the RUN AWAY behavior Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Level 1: Wander Wander is Uniform, but Changes direction aperiodically Green oval: why suppression? What would inhibition do? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Level 2: Follow Corridor Should we Leave Run Away In? Do we Need it? Green oval: why suppression? What would inhibition do? Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Pfields Advantages Easy to visualize Easy to build up software libraries Fields can be parameterized Combination mechanism is fixed, tweaked with gains Disadvantages Local minima problem (sum to magnitude=0) Box canyon problem Jerky motion Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Example: Docking Behavior Arkin and Murphy, 1990, Questa, Grossmann, Sandini, 1995, Tse and Luo, 1998, Vandorpe, Xu, Van Brussel, 1995. Roth, Schilling, 1998, Santos-Victor, Sandini, 1997 Orientation, ratio of pixel counts  tangent vector Total count  attraction vector Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Docking Behavior Video Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Class Discussion: When Does a Field End? Imagine the case of a “SodaPup” robot (MIT) task: find and pick up a Coca-Cola can environment: red cans are only red object in world behavior: ?? Remind them about Jon Connell forgetting to inhibit– so it would drop off the red coke can, then see it and pick it up again– an infinite loop! Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm

Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm Pfields Summary Reactive Paradigm: SA, sensing is local Solves the Open World problem by emulating biology Eliminates the frame problem by not using any global or persistent representation Perception is direct, ego-centric, and distributed Two architectural styles are: subsumption and pfields Behaviors in pfield methodologies are a tight coupling of sensing to acting; modules are mapped to schemas conceptually Potential fields and subsumption are logically equivalent but different implementations Pfield problems include local minima (ways around this) jerky motion bit of an art Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press) Chapter 4: The Reactive Paradigm