Computational Model for an Extendable Robot Body Schema

Computational Model for an Extendable Robot Body Schema


Abstract

The body schema is a perceptually derived model of the body which the brain uses to register the location of sensations on the body and to control body movements. This model of the body is not static and can be extended by noncorporeal objects attached to the body such as clothes, ornaments, and tools. This paper describes a computational model for a robot body schema that has extensibility properties similar to its biological analog. The model is based on the model developed by (Morasso and Sanguineti 1995) which is modified here to have extendibility properties. The notion of extended robot body schema is introduced.

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BibTeX Entry

@TechReport{Stoytchev2003,
  author =      {Alexander Stoytchev},
  title =       {Computational Model for an Extendable Robot Body Schema},
  institution = {Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Computing}, 
  year =        2003,
  number =      {GIT-CC-03-44},
  month =       {October 21},
}



Movies from the 2D Kinematics Simulator

In the first two movies, the blue circles represent the stored Cartesian X and Y coordinates of a the body marker associated with the end effector. The red circles represent the most highly activated body icons (their radius is proportional to the activation level). The goal of the robot is to position its end effector over the green object. This object can be displaced by the robot which results in a continuous pursuit. If the object is outside the reachability area the end effector is moved to the point on the reachability boundary that is closest to the object. In the third movie, blue circles represent the stored Cartesian X and Y coordinates of the marker associated with the elbow. The goal is to position the elbow over the object which for distant objects results in pointing the elbow toward the object.

Movies from a 3D Dynamics Simulator (not described in the paper)


References