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Publication summary

Author(s): J. Albus, A. Barbera, Howard Bloom, M. Fitzgerald, E. Kent and Charles McLean

Publication date: April 1983

Citation: J. Albus, A. Barbera, Howard Bloom, M. Fitzgerald, E. Kent and Charles McLean: "Hierarchical Control for Robots in an Automated Factory," Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Industrial Robots, Robots 7, April, 1983.

Key words: robots, automation, automated factory control

Availability:

• A paper copy of this document is available by contacting Kristy Thompson [web,email]

Abstract:

The basic structure of a hierarchical control system is a tree, wherein each computational module has a single superior, and one or more subordinate modules. The top module is where the highest level decisions are made and the longest planning horizon exists. Goals and plans generated at this highest level are transmitted to the next lower level where they are decomposed into sequences of subgoals. In general, the decomposition at each level takes into account information derived from: (a) processed input data from sensors that measure the state of the environment, (b) reports from lower control levels as to the state of the control hierarchy itself, and (c) predictions (or expectations) generated by models, knowledge bases, or inference engines.

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