UFLIBRARY: A SIMULATION LIBRARY IMPLEMENTING THE UTILITY FUNCTION METHOD FOR BEHAVIORAL ORGANIZATION IN AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS

Abstract

A simulation software package (UFLibrary) implementing the utility function (UF) method for behavior selection in autonomous robots, is introduced and described by means of an example involving a simple exploration robot equipped with a repertoire of five different behaviors. The UFLibrary (as indeed the UF method itself) is aimed at providing a rapid yet reliable and generally applicable procedure for generating behavior selection systems for autonomous robots, while at the same time minimizing the amount of hand-coding related to the activation of behaviors. It is demonstrated how the UFLibrary allows a user to rapidly implement individual behaviors and to set up and carry out simulations of a robot in its arena, in order to generate and optimize, by means of an evolutionary algorithm, the behavior selection system of the robot.