Page 16 - Introduction to AI Robotics

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Preface
a head start on a programming project. Also, Part I covers the coordination
and control of teams of multi-agents. Since the fundamental mission of a
mobile robot involves moving about in the world, Part II devotes three chap-
ters to qualitative and metric navigation and path planning techniques, plus
work in uncertainty management. The book concludes with an overview of
how advances in computer vision are now being integrated into robots, and
how successes in robots are driving the web-bot and know-bot craze.
Since Introduction to AI Robotics is an introductory text, it is impossible to
cover all the fine work that has been in the field. The guiding principle has
been to include only material that clearly illuminates a specific topic. Refer-
ences to other approaches and systems are usually included as an advanced
reading question at the end of the chapter or as an end note. Behavior-based
Robotics 10 provides a thorough survey of the field and should be an instruc-
tor’s companion.

Acknowledgments

It would be impossible to thank all of the people involved in making this
book possible, but I would like to try to list the ones who made the most
obvious contributions. I’d like to thank my parents (I think this is the equiv-
alent of scoring a goal and saying “Hi Mom!” on national TV) and my family
(Kevin, Kate, and Allan). I had the honor of being in the first AI robotics
course taught by my PhD advisor Ron Arkin at Georgia Tech (where I was
also his first PhD student), and much of the material and organization of this
book can be traced back to his course. I have tried to maintain the intellec-
tual rigor of his course and excellent book while trying to distill the material
for a novice audience. Any errors in this book are strictly mine. David Kor-
tenkamp suggested that I write this book after using my course notes for a
class he taught, which served as a very real catalyst. Certainly the students
at both the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), where I first developed my
robotics courses, and at the University of South Florida (USF) merit special
thanks for being guinea pigs. I would like to specifically thank Leslie Baski,
John Blitch, Glenn Blauvelt, Ann Brigante, Greg Chavez, Aaron Gage, Dale
Hawkins, Floyd Henning, Jim Hoffman, Dave Hershberger, Kevin Gifford,
Matt Long, Charlie Ozinga, Tonya Reed Frazier, Michael Rosenblatt, Jake
Sprouse, Brent Taylor, and Paul Wiebe from my CSM days and Jenn Casper,
Aaron Gage, Jeff Hyams, Liam Irish, Mark Micire, Brian Minten, and Mark
Powell from USF.