System and method for editing and controlling the behavior of a movable robot

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for editing and controlling the actions of a movable robot. The invention enables in particular the creation and modification of behaviour and movements according to a factual logic as well as to a time logic, the latter controlling the factual logic and thus enabling the synchronisation of the behaviour and movements of the various sub-units of the robot. For this purpose, the system is organised into behaviour and movement layers which comprise sequences of actions and a timeline. The actions may be programmed via boxes interconnected by signals which convey information. The boxes are arranged into a hierarchical structure in which the lowest level includes a script that can be interpreted by a virtual robot which simulates the execution of commands and, when applicable, by a physical robot. The movements of the robot can also be controlled in a graphical manner by means of movement screens.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to the field of robot programming systems. More specifically, it applies to the editing and control of behavior and motion based on articulated limbs or robots (especially human or animal shaped robots) that use them to ambulate. Background technique [0002] Motion can be considered humanoid when the robot has the following human-specific appearance attributes: head, torso, two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet, etc. However, humanoid robots can be more or less complex. Its limbs may have a greater or lesser number of joints. It can control its own balance both statically and dynamically, and may walk on two limbs in three dimensions. It can pick up signals from the environment ("listen", "see", "touch", "sense", etc.) interact. In order to make optimal use of these capabilities, it is still necessary to provide the robot's computer control unit with commands for the behavior. Some bots can independently extract t...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, this logic presents a disadvantage: the preprogrammed sequence of behavior cannot be interrupted until the expected event has occurred

However, in the described method, the programmer must intervene in one of these two programming blocks, so that they are compatible

This approach thus does not solve the problem of making both event and temporal programming logic compatible without programmer intervention

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