Implementing Reactive Algorithms on a Cellular Control Architecture

This paper deals with a cellular control architecture and the implementation of reactive algorithms on it. Two examples reveal that, to extend a behaviour-based architecture by equipping it with additional reactive algorithms, the arbitration, otherwise action selection, problem has to be redefined in terms of the interaction laws of the algorithms involved. The principles of modularisation and compositionality are proposed as necessary guidelines for reconfigurability. Modularisation refers to the separation of the algorithms from the action selection components and compositionality expresses the concern for modelling the interactions between individual activities. This way, two composition levels are necessary: one at the individual task arousal system and one at the actuators level. For a task considered, the right behavioural grain of activity is the one that minimises those compositionality needs.