The Use of Relations for Motion Control in an Environment With Multiple Moving Objects

This paper considers the problem of motion specification for multiple moving objects in complicated environments. It addresses the problems of interactions between the moving objects and the environment, and the interactions between the moving objects themselves. This is considerably more difficult than motion specification for a single object due to the large number of interactions that cannot be predicted before the start of the motion. The solution proposed here is based on dividing the motion specification into a number of atomic units called relations. A relation is a mapping from the object that causes a movement to the object(s) that performs it. Each relation performs a simple dynamic behavior controlled by its own sensing ability and the state of the environment. A description of this approach is presented along with some of the techniques that we have developed for controlling relations. Also, severnl ballroom dancing examples are used to illustrate the power of this approach.