A Parallel Blackboard System for Robot Control

The b l a c k b o a r d a r c h i t e c t u r e i s a p o w e r f u l e x p e r t systems a r c h i t e c t u r e . I t s main advantages a r e f l e x i b i l i t y o f c o n t r o l and i n t e g r a t i o n o f d i f f e r e n t k i n d s o f knowledge r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s and i n f e r e n c i n g t e c h n i q u e s . At our L a b o r a t o r i e s we b u i l t a b l a c k b o a r d s h e l l , based on the p r i n c i p l e s as deve loped in the system H e a r s a y I l and the b l a c k b o a r d s h e l l s H e a r s a y I l l and BB1. T h i s paper d e s c r i b e s how we mod i fy t h i s b lackboa rd s h e l l , i n o r d e r t o use i t f o r the c o n t r o l o f a r o b o t c e l l . T h i s c e l l c o n s i s t s o f a number o f independent dev i c e s , wh i ch w i l l have t o execu te t h e i r tasks c o n c u r r e n t l y . T h i s means a m o d i f i c a t i o n o f the b l a c k b o a r d s h e l l towards p a r a l l e l i s m . Ve see g r e a t p o s s i b i l i t i e s f o r u s i n g our system no t o n l y f o r s i m u l a t i n g r o b o t c e l l c o n f i g u r a t i o n s and p r o t o t y p i n g f l e x i b l e c o n t r o l o f r obo t c e l l s , but a l s o f o r o t h e r systems w i t h m u l t i p l e p r o c e s s o r s .