SitLog: A Programming Language for Service Robot Tasks

Abstract

In this paper we present SitLog: a declarative situation-oriented logical language for programming situated service robot tasks. The formalism is task and domain independent, and can be used in a wide variety of settings. SitLog can also be seen as a behaviour engineering specification and interpretation formalism to support action selection by autonomous agents during the execution of complex tasks. The language combines the recursive transition network formalism, extended with functions to express dynamic and contextualized task structures, with a functional language to express control and content information. The SitLog interpreter is written in Prolog and SitLog's programs follow closely the Prolog notation, permitting the declarative specification and direct interpretation of complex applications in a modular and compact form. We discuss the structure and representation of service robot tasks in practical settings and how these can be expressed in SitLog. The present framework has been tested in the service robot Golem-II+ using the specification and programming of the typical tasks which require completion in the RoboCup@Home Competition.