Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:38:04.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

English as a command language for robot control (HIROB)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

Peter Bock
Peter Bock
Affiliation:
Associate Professer of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052 (U.S.A.)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

To facilitate expedient communication with robots, a very-high level hierarchical robot command language (HIROB) has been designed and implemented. HIROB uses the full and comprehensive syntax of the English imperative, allowing users to control a robot without the need of learning an esoteric programming language. A Parser/Scanner/Recognizer (PSR) performs a lexical analysis of a HIROB command stream, and identifies which portions of the command stream already exist as fully defined procedures in the files of the Procedure Management System (PMS). Those portions which do not exist must be defined using either existing HIROB procedures (English phrases), or by using the primitive commands of the low-level robot command language (LOROB). This process is fully recursive, so that HIROB procedures may consist of defined or undefined HIROB procedures, as well as LOROB commands, with the understanding that a high-level command cannot be executed until all of its hierarchical sub-commands have been fully defined. A user-friendly editor has been incorporated into the PMS to allow convenient creation, modification, and testing of HIROB commands.

Type
Article
Information
Robotica , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 19 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Albus, J.S., Brains, Behavior, and Robotics (McGraw Hill, New York, 1981).Google Scholar
2.Taylor, R.H. et al. , “A Survey of Robot Programming Languages” ONR/NRL Conference on Military and Space Applications of Robotics (unpublished) (1980).Google Scholar
3.Weizenbaum, J., Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation (W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1976).Google Scholar
4.Winograd, T., Understanding Natural Language (Academic Press, New York, 1972).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Chomsky, N., “A Naturalistic Approach to Language and Cognition” Cognition and Brian Theory V(1), 3–22 (1981); “Mobile Robot Project: Phase V Progress Report”, NBS Grant NB80-NADA-1044, George Washington University (25 02 and 30 09 1982).Google Scholar
6.Shimano, B., User's Guide to VAL (Unimation Inc., Conn. 1980).Google Scholar