Skill Acquisition for Resource-Constrained Mobile Robots through Continuous Exploration

Abstract

We present a cognitive mobile robot that acquires knowledge, and autonomously learns higher-level abstract capabilities based on play instincts, inspired by human behavior. To this end, we (i) model skills, (ii) model the robot’s sensor and actuator space based on elementary physical properties, and (iii) propose algorithms inspired by humans’ play instincts that allow the robot to autonomously learn the skills based on its sensor and actuator capabilities. We model general knowledge in the form of competencies (skills) of the mobile robot based on kinematic properties using physical quantities. Thus, by design, our approach has the potential to cover very generic application domains. To connect desired skills to the primitive capabilities of the robot’s sensors and actuators, it playfully explores the effects of its actions on its sensory input, thus autonomously learning relations and dependencies and eventually the desired skill. KnowRob is used for knowledge representation and reasoning, and the robot’s operation is based on ROS. In the experiments, we use a millirobot, sized 2 cm2, equipped with two wheels, motion, and distance sensors. We show that our cognitive mobile robot can successfully and autonomously learn elementary motion skills based on a playful exploration of its wheels and sensors.