A VISUAL PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT FOR AUTONOMOUS RO

AVisualProgrammingEnvironmentforAutonomousRobotsbyOmidBanyasadAThesisSubmittedtotheFacultyofComputerScienceinPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfortheDegreeofMasterofComputerScienceApproved:Dr.P.Cox,SupervisorDr.T.Smedley,FacultyofComputerScienceDr.D.ThomasDalTech,DalhousieUniversityHalifax,NovaScotia2000iiDalTechLibrary“AUTHORITYTODISTRIBUTETHEMANUSCRIPT”Title:AVISUALPROGRAMMINGENVIRONMENTFORAUTONOMOUSROBOTSTheabovelibrarymaymakeavailableorauthorizeanotherlibrarytomakeavailablephoto/microfilmcopiesofthisthesiswithoutrestrictions.FullNameofAuthor:OmidBanyasadSignatureofAuthor:Date:ixAbstractUntilrelativelyrecentlycomputerprogrammershadtousemachine-orientedpro-gramminglanguagesowingtothefactthatmemoryandprocessingpowerwereinsuf-ficientforbothcomputationandcomplexhuman-computerinteraction.Computerstodayareequippedwithlargermemorycapacityandoffermuchhigherprocessingpower.Visualprogrammingisoneofthemanyresearchfieldsthathasemergedandbecomeactiveasaresultofthistechnologicaladvancement.Recently,therehasbeenconsiderableinterestinapplyingvisualprogramminglanguagestorobotcontrol.Inthiswork,wewillintroducethereadertoourproposedvisuallanguageforprogram-mingautonomousrobots.Inthissystemthephysicalcharacteristicsofaspecificrobotcanbeincorporatedwiththegeneralsyntaxandsemanticsoftheunderlyingcontrolarchitecturetoprovidebothgeneralityanddomainspecificity.Thishasbeenaccom-plishedbydividingtheprogrammingsystemintotwomajormodules;HardwareDef-initionModuleorHDMandSoftwareDefinitionModuleorSDM.ThisworkfocusesonthesecondmoduleSDManddescribesindetailhowacontrolprogramiscreatedbyusingthemodelspreviouslygeneratedinHDM.Wealsopresentacom-pleteandprecisereformulationofthesubsumptionarchitectureforrobotcontrolonwhichoursystemisbased.viiiAcknowledgmentsThisworkmightneverhavebeencompletedwithoutthegeneroushelpandsupportofmysupervisor,Dr.PhilCox,whowasalwayseagertohelpandhisdoorwasalwaysopenfordiscussion.Iwouldliketothankhimforbeingmymentorduringthepasteighteenmonthsandforallthoselongdiscussionsthatwehad.Ithankhimforintro-ducingmetothefieldofvisuallanguagesandmostimportantlyforteachingmehowtoconveyideasinwriting.IwouldalsoliketothankDr.TreverSmedleyandDr.DaveThomasforagreeingtobeamemberformyguidingcommittee.Last,andnottheleast,Iwouldliketothankmyparentswhohavealwayssupportedme.Withouttheirsupport,encouragementandlovethisworkwouldhaveneverbeencompleted.iiiTableofContentsCHAPTER1Introduction.........................................11.1Hypothesis....................................................................21.2ResearchObjectives.............................................................31.3Overview.....................................................................3CHAPTER2VisualProgramming..................................52.1VisualProgrammingEnvironments.................................................62.2VisualProgrammingLanguages...................................................62.2.1CommonCharacteristicsofVPLs...............................................82.3EvaluationTechniquesforVisualProgrammingLanguages.............................92.4Summary....................................................................11CHAPTER3RobotControl......................................123.1Introduction..................................................................123.2HierarchicalStructure..........................................................133.3Subsumption.................................................................143.3.1LevelsofCompetence.......................................................173.3.2LayersofControl...........................................................173.3.3StructureofLayers..........................................................183.3.4NotesonBrooks’SubsumptionArchitecture.....................................203.3.5FiniteStateMachines........................................................223.3.6Conventions...............................................................253.3.7SuppressionandInhibition...................................................273.3.8ControlSystemBlockDiagram................................................29CHAPTER4HardwareDefinitionModule..........................394.1ReconciliationofGeneralityandConcreteness.......................................394.2HardwareDefinitionModule.....................................................404.2.1Requirements..............................................................414.2.1.1Objects................................................................414.2.1.2Properties..............................................................41iv4.2.1.3Types.................................................................414.2.1.4Sensors................................................................424.2.1.5Actuators..............................................................424.2.1.6Attachment.............................................................43CHAPTER5SoftwareDefinitionModule...........................44CHAPTER6EvaluationofSDM......................