Many of those interactions are spatial in nature. In joint work with Leo Joskowicz, we are exploring the use of both geometric and topological representations of space to reason about how a mobile robot perceives and interacts with the environment. Finally, in collaboration with Martha Pollack, we are investigating the use of decision analysis to determine at what times, and how, an agent should monitor in order to maximize its utility. The goal is to develop a general framework, and specific domain-independent strategies, that would enable an automatic planner to add monitors to its plans in an effective and computationally tractable manner. We do not yet have enough experimental evidence to know which techniques work well, and under what circumstances.
Much work remains to be done before autonomous robots can reliably monitor their own behaviors.
Bibliography 1 Joaquin Lopez Fernandez and Reid Simmons. Robust execution monitoring for navigation plans. In Proceedings International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Systems , Vancouver, Canada, October 1998. 2 Reid Simmons. Becoming increasingly reliable.