A tangible architecture for creating modular, subsumption-based robot control systems

Abstract

We present a new modular, reconfigurable architecture for building and interacting with subsumption-based robot controllers. A set of modules - with embedded sensing, communication and processing capabilities - divide up the subsumption architecture into self-contained behavioral layers that subsume each other according to the way the modules are physically stacked. On-board indicators of the internal state of each module help in programming and understanding the behavior of the robot in real-time. This offers novices, in particular children, a new environment to learn about a powerful metaphor for programming robots and other interactive systems in a hands-on and exploratory manner. We will also discuss a prototype implementation of this architecture and the results of a preliminary user study using the prototype with a group of children.