Integrating Multiple Representations of Spatial Knowledge for Mapping, Navigation, and Communication

A robotic chauffeur should reason about spatial information with a variety of scales, dimensions, and ontologies. Rich representations of both the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of space not only enable robust navigation behavior, but also permit natural communication with a human passenger. We apply a hierarchical framework of spatial knowledge inspired by human cognitive abilities, the Hybrid Spatial Semantic Hierarchy, to common navigation tasks: safe motion, localization, map-building, and route planning. We also discuss the straightforward mapping between the variety of ways in which people communicate with a chauffeur and the framework’s heterogeneous concepts of spatial knowledge. We present pilot experiments with a virtual chauffeur.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ICIA
• Authors: Patrick Beeson, Matt MacMahon, Joseph Modayil, Aniket Murarka, Benjamin Kuipers, Brian Stankiewicz
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, ICIA 2007, Spatial, Spatial Knowledge, Spatial Semantic Hierarchy