Robust low-computation sensor-driven control for task-directed navigation

Reliable goal-directed navigation is demonstrated on a real robot in an unmodified office environment using crude sensors and minimal computation. The control system is based on reactive behaviors which fail cognizantly, that is, which can detect when something goes wrong. Cognizant failure allows unreliable behaviors to be combined by a reactive scheduler to produce an overall behavior which is more reliable than any of its components. Algorithms which fail cognizantly are much easier to produce than algorithms which never fail. Several such algorithms are presented