On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks

Robots must act purposefully and successfully in an uncertain world. Sensory information is inaccurate or noisy, actions may have a range of effects, and the robot's environment is only partially and imprecisely modeled. This thesis introduces active randomization by a robot, both in sele...

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Main Author: Erdmann, Michael A.
Language:en_US
Published: 2004
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7022
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author Erdmann, Michael A.
author_facet Erdmann, Michael A.
author_sort Erdmann, Michael A.
collection MIT
description Robots must act purposefully and successfully in an uncertain world. Sensory information is inaccurate or noisy, actions may have a range of effects, and the robot's environment is only partially and imprecisely modeled. This thesis introduces active randomization by a robot, both in selecting actions to execute and in focusing on sensory information to interpret, as a basic tool for overcoming uncertainty. An example of randomization is given by the strategy of shaking a bin containing a part in order to orient the part in a desired stable state with some high probability. Another example consists of first using reliable sensory information to bring two parts close together, then relying on short random motions to actually mate the two parts, once the part motions lie below the available sensing resolution. Further examples include tapping parts that are tightly wedged, twirling gears before trying to mesh them, and vibrating parts to facilitate a mating operation.
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spelling mit-1721.1/70222019-04-12T08:33:45Z On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks Erdmann, Michael A. Robots must act purposefully and successfully in an uncertain world. Sensory information is inaccurate or noisy, actions may have a range of effects, and the robot's environment is only partially and imprecisely modeled. This thesis introduces active randomization by a robot, both in selecting actions to execute and in focusing on sensory information to interpret, as a basic tool for overcoming uncertainty. An example of randomization is given by the strategy of shaking a bin containing a part in order to orient the part in a desired stable state with some high probability. Another example consists of first using reliable sensory information to bring two parts close together, then relying on short random motions to actually mate the two parts, once the part motions lie below the available sensing resolution. Further examples include tapping parts that are tightly wedged, twirling gears before trying to mesh them, and vibrating parts to facilitate a mating operation. 2004-10-20T20:22:30Z 2004-10-20T20:22:30Z 1989-08-01 AITR-1155 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7022 en_US AITR-1155 51199408 bytes 41486820 bytes application/postscript application/pdf application/postscript application/pdf
spellingShingle Erdmann, Michael A.
On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title_full On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title_fullStr On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title_full_unstemmed On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title_short On Probabilistic Strategies for Robot Tasks
title_sort on probabilistic strategies for robot tasks
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7022
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