Many of the references mentioned below are also on my related web sites page. The code for edmund is available down there . Subsumption architecture stipulates that intelligence should be decomposed into individual behaviors, each of which controls its own sensing and activation.
All behaviors run continuously in parallel.
Whether a behavior is expressed in the control of the robot is determined partly by the behavior itself, which can recognize situations in which it should be active, and partly by intricate interactions with other behaviors. Behaviors are allowed to inhibit and change each other's input, and also to suppress each other's output. Behaviors are organized in carefully crafted networks that specify these interactions. Groups of behaviors for pursuing the same goal are implemented as a unit called a level. Levels of additional, higher goals are added in a linear hierarchy.