Mobile robot control by a structured hierarchical neural network

Abstract

A mobile robot whose behavior is controlled by a structured hierarchical neural network and its learning algorithm is presented. The robot has four wheels and moves about freely with two motors. Twelve sensors are used to monitor internal conditions and environmental changes. These sensor signals are presented to the input layer of the network, and the output is used as motor control signals. The network model is divided into two subnetworks connected to each other by short-term memory units used to process time-dependent data. A robot can be taught behaviors by changing the patterns presented to it. For example, a group of robots were taught to play a cops-and-robbers game. Through training, the robots learned behaviors such as capture and escape.< >