Page 170 - Introduction to AI Robotics

153
4.8 End Notes
mobile robot in batches of $50 or less, which could be reimbursed out of petty cash.
The resulting robot was about the size and capability of a Lego Mindstorms kit with
a total cost around $500.
Robot name trivia.
The MIT robots used in the early days of subsumption were all named for conquerors:
Attila, Genghis, etc. Ron Arkin did his initial work on potential fields methodology
while pursuing his PhD at the University of Massachusetts. The robot he used was
a Denning MRV called HARV (pronounced “Harvey”). HARV stood for Hardly Au-
tonomous Robot Vehicle morphing into Harmful Autonomous Robot Vehicle, when
military research sponsors were present. HARV was also considered a short version
of “Harvey Wallbanger,” both a description of the robot’s emergent behavior and the
name of a cocktail.