Introduction to solving task-level programming problems in logic programming language

Abstract

Purpose: This paper illustrates one of the possibilities of using logic programming language to process task-level description of robot’s program. The goal of such programming method is to achieve almost the same abstract level in human-machine communication as in humanto-human communication. Design/methodology/approach: The task-level programming is very different from trajectory planning, although some algorithms from this field are used in subsequent stage of detailing of the program. At a higher level we only define the proper sequence of actions. This could be also done using logic processing languages (e.g. Prolog). Findings: The approach shown in the paper allows to solve manipulation tasks at high level (the sequence of actions), but does not cover all the problems connected with manipulator movements like avoiding collisions or detailed description of the motion. Practical implications: Due being immature, the mentioned method is not applicable in real world, but could be used as a base of further research. Originality/value: Task-level programming and problem solving is a very current field of research and experiments in robotics. It is also in very early stage, so most of methods have only scientific mean, without wide application in the industry.