Controlling Wild Bodies Using Linear Temporal Logic

There is substantial interest in controlling a group of bodies from specifications of tasks given in a high-level, human-like language. This paper proposes a methodology that creates low-level hybrid controllers that guarantee that a group of bodies execute a high-level specified task without dynamical system modeling, precise state estimation or state feedback. We do this by exploiting the wild motions of very simple bodies in an environment connected by gates which serve as the system inputs, as opposed to motors on the bodies. We present experiments using inexpensive hardware demonstrating the practical feasibility of our approach to solving tasks such as navigation, patrolling, and coverage.