Robot Brains: Circuits and Systems for Conscious Machines

6

Motor actions for robots

6.1 SENSORIMOTOR COORDINATION

Humans and animals can execute complex motor actions without any apparent computations. As soon as a nearby object is seen it can be grasped; the readiness to do so seems to arise as soon as the object is perceived. A motor act can also be imagined and subsequently executed, again without any apparent computational effort.

In robotic applications this kind of lucid readiness would be most useful. However, the existing robots usually do not work in that way; each motion has to be computed and more complex acts call for complicated numeric modelling.

Here a more natural way of motion control is outlined, one that realizes the immediate readiness to act as a response to a perceived situation and also allows the execution of ‘imagined’ acts. All this is to be executed without numeric computations.

6.2 BASIC MOTOR CONTROL

In many technical applications the position of a mechanical component has to be controlled accurately. For instance in CD players the laser head position must be exactly correct at every moment; the tracking error must be zero at all times. This calls for elaborate control circuitry. In robotic applications, however, this kind of accuracy is not always necessary. A robot arm must execute a motion that allows it to grasp an object. Here the trajectory of the arm is not important; the final position is. There is no need to define a trajectory for the arm and try to control the tracking error against this trajectory. ...