Robot behaviors connected with utterances and environments via potential fields

This paper proposes a mechanism which employs a potential field for interpreting verbal commands. We define each verbal command as a potential field. Each sensed situation is also expressed as a potential field. The proposed mechanism combines the potential fields and generates a robot´s action based on the merged field. Since the field reflects both of the verbal command and environmental situation, the generated action is appropriate and unique to the situation. In short, the mechanism achieves a situated interpretation of a verbal command.