Vital reading for those studying robotics, artificial intelligence and cognitive science, as well as engineering. A thorough introduction to the design, construction and evaluation of autonomous mobile robots.

A thorough introduction to the design, construction and evaluation of autonomous mobile robots Includes a new chapter on novelty detection Contains detailed case studies that show how to build and program real working robots

Autorentext

Antonio Chella e Rosario Sorbello sono rispettivamente Professore Ordinario e Ricercatore Universitario di Robotica. Il Prof. Chella è anche Coordinatore del laboratorio di Robotica presso il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica dell'Università degli Studi di Palermo dove entrambi operano.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 Foundations.- 2.1 Definitions.- 2.2 Applications of Mobile Robots.- 2.3 History of Mobile Robotics: Early Implementations.- 2.4 History of Mobile Robotics: Control Paradigms.- 2.5 Further Reading.- 3 Robot Hardware.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Robot Sensors.- 3.3 Robot Actuators.- 3.4 Example: The Mobile Robot FortyTwo.- 3.5 The Need for Sensor Signal Interpretation.- 3.6 Further Reading.- 4 Robot Learning: Making Sense of Raw Sensor Data.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Learning Methods in Detail.- 4.3 Further Reading on Learning Methods.- 4.4 Case Studies of Learning Robots.- 4.5 Exercise: A Target-Following, Obstacle-Avoiding Robot.- 5 Navigation.- 5.1 Principles of Navigation.- 5.2 Fundamental Navigation Strategies of Animals and Humans.- 5.3 Robot Navigation.- 5.4 Case Studies of Navigating Robots.- 6 Novelty Detection.- 6.1 Motivation.- 6.2 Approaches to Novelty Detection.- 6.3 Case Study on Novelty Detection.- 6.4 Summary.- 7 Simulation: Modelling Robot-Environment Interaction.- 7.1 Motivation.- 7.2 Fundamentals of Computer Simulation.- 7.3 Alternatives to Numerical Models.- 7.4 Case Study on Simulation of Robot-Environment Interaction.- 8 Analysis of Robot Behaviour.- 8.1 Motivation.- 8.2 Statistical Analysis of Robot Behaviour.- 8.3 Case Studies of Performance Evaluation and Analysis.- 8.4 Summary.- 9 Outlook.- 9.1 Achievements.- 9.2 Reasons for Success.- 9.3 Challenges.- 9.4 The Beginning.- 9.5 Further Reading.- Answers to Exercises.- List of Exercises and Case Studies.- References.