Safety control architecture for personal robots : behaviouralsuppression with deliberative control

Abstract

Abstract—This paper presents a novel robot control architecture for use with personal robots, and argues its potential for improving the safety of these types of system, when compared to existing approaches. The proposed architecture design separates the control system into two distinct areas, one area responsible for safe operation and the other for coordinating tasks. The architecture design is formed in a hierarchical structure, composed of low-level deliberative control modules and high-level behavioural safety modules. It is argued that as a result of removing safety considerations from the design of task routines, increasingly complex tasks can be completed safely, which are both more flexible to environmental changes and easier to coordinate. I.