Integration of multiple sensors into a robotic system and its performance evaluation

The author proposes a systematic approach to integrating multiple sensors into a robotic system. It is shown that the robot motion control mechanism has a hierarchical structure consisting of multiple layers. The integration of multiple sensors should not disturb the structure, but it should enhance the intelligence of each activity. Therefore, multiple sensors can be hierarchically integrated into an existing system. To make the integration feasible, the author adopts the concept of logical sensors and treats logical sensors as object modules. By using object-oriented programming, integration becomes a modular procedure and interobject communication becomes an effective method of data flow required by the integration. The authors also proposes an objective method for evaluating the performance of integration. The benefit of the integration is measured by how the intelligence of the robotic system is enhanced. The cost of the integration is measured by a cost function and a loss function. The former is related to the sensor time; the latter is affected by sensor uncertainty