MIT Mobile Robots - What's Next?

Abstract

The MIT Mobile Robot Project began in January of 1985 with the objective of building machines that could operate autonomously and robustly in dynamically changing environments. We now have four working robots, each progressively more intelligent and sophisticated. All incorporate some rather novel ideas about how to build a control system that can adequately deal with complex environments. The project has also contributed some innovative and creative technical solutions in terms of putting together sensors, actuators, power supplies and processing power into whole systems that actually work. From our experiences over the past two and a half years, we have gained insight into the real issues and problems and what the goals should be for future robotics research. This paper gives our perspectives on mobile robotics: our objectives, experiences, mistakes and future plans.