Behavioral speed control based on tactical information

This paper presents a novel organization of reactive behaviors which avoids the problems generally associated with arbitration or combination of behaviors. The organization uses tactical behaviors to attempt to safely satisfy the intent of strategic behaviors given the immediate situation (e.g., state of the environment, status of the robot, certainty, etc.) A tactical speed control behavior using fuzzy logic is described in detail. Experiments with a nonholonomic mobile robot navigating a 150 ft course show that a tactical speed control behavior improves navigational performance without requiring either knowledge about the strategic behavior (follow-line) or the complexity of the course. The speed control behavior has also been used in conjunction with shared control and has been transferred to a holonomic robot, demonstrating how the behavioral organization enhances software modularity and portability.