An Exception Handling Model Applied to Autonomous Mobile Robots

In traditional robot applications the successful execution of the robot task is ensured by reducing the uncertainty in the environment to an absolute minimum. Extending the applications of robots into less controlled environments requires that the robot be able to recognize and respond to unforeseen and non-nominal situations. Mobile robots or manipulators designed for a partially structured environment provide a prime example of such an application. In this paper we describe a robot architecture suitable for robot applications in incompletely known environments. It is based on concepts of elementary operations and exception handling developed at our institutes