Page 21 - Introduction to AI Robotics

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a. b. Part I

Figure I.1 Two views of robots: a) the humanoid robot from the 1926 movie
Metropolis (image courtesty Fr. Doug Quinn and the Metropolis Home
Page), and b) a HMMWV military vehicle capable of driving on roads and
open terrains. (Photograph courtesy of the National Institute for Standards
and Technology.)

it, etc. A computer doesn’t move around under its own power. “Function
autonomously” indicates that the robot can operate, self-contained, under
all reasonable conditions without requiring recourse to a human operator.
Autonomy means that a robot can adapt to changes in its environment (the
lights get turned off) or itself (a part breaks) and continue to reach its goal.
Perhaps the best example of an intelligent mechanical creature which can
function autonomously is the Terminator from the 1984 movie of the same
name. Even after losing one camera (eye) and having all external cover-
ings (skin, flesh) burned off, it continued to pursue its target (Sarah Connor).
Extreme adaptability and autonomy in an extremely scary robot! A more
practical (and real) example is Marvin, the mail cart robot, for the Baltimore
FBI office, described in a Nov. 9, 1996, article in the Denver Post. Marvin is
able to accomplish its goal of stopping and delivering mail while adapting
to people getting in its way at unpredictable times and locations.