Keywords
Citation
Murphy, R.R. (2001), "Introduction to AI Robotics", Industrial Robot, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 266-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2001.28.3.266.1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Introduction to AI Robotics covers the main subjects required to understand the underlying principles of programming an artificially intelligent robot for a variety of applications. Real‐world applications require an understanding of sensing, navigation, planning and uncertainty.
The book is divided into two parts, Robot Paradigms and Navigation. Part I comprises eight chapters which address techniques for solving problems in robotics. Chapter 1, “From teleoperation to autonomy”, asks the questions “how can a machine be intelligent?” and “what can robots be used for?”. It also presents teleoperation, a brief history of robotics, and the seven areas of artificial intelligence (AI). The following chapter addresses “The hierarchical paradigm”.
Chapter 3 discusses the “Biological foundations of the reactive paradigm”. Topics including the co‐ordination and control of behaviours, perception in behaviours, schema theory, and principles and issues in transferring insights to robots are discussed. “The reactive paradigm”, “Designing a reactive implementation”, and “Common sensing techniques for reactive robots”, are discussed in chapters 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Subjects covered in these sections include representing behaviours as objects in object oriented programming (OOP), designing a reactive behavioural system, designing a sensor suite, and computer vision.
Chapter 7 discusses the “Hybrid deliberative/reactive paradigm”, while chapter 8 presents “Multi‐agents” and includes discussion of the control of multi‐agent and emergent social behaviour.
Part II comprises four chapters which analyse robot navigation. Chapter 9 and 10 discuss “Topological path planning” and “Metric path planning”, respectively. Exploration, sonar sensor model and the HIMM (Histogram In Motion Mapping) algorithm are addressed in chapter 11, “Localisation and map making”. The final chapter, “On the horizon”, discusses the future of AI robotics and presents shape‐shifting and legged platforms, applications and expectations.
Overall, this is an inspiring book which is informative and easy to read. Each chapter finishes with a summary, exercises and endnotes. It is aimed at A Level and undergraduate students of computer science and engineering. The only prerequisite necessary for the full benefit of this textbook is an understanding of OOP.