Gauging Intelligence of Mobile Robots

This chapter offers approaches for gauging the intelligence of a mobile robot and case studies as illustrations. The meaning of “Intelligence” varies greatly depending on the context in which the word is used. A general discussion on various perspectives for intelligence is provided. A framework consisting of an agent, an environment and a goal is provided for viewing intelligent behaviors. Three possible means of gauging performance of intelligent mobile robots are suggested. The first is a qualitative perception that is based on an extension of the Turing test for perceiving an unsuspecting UVS behavior as that of a person. The second is a quantitative measure where taskspecific intelligence performance of a smart system is evaluated. The third is the comparative scale that gauges the difficulty of challenges against the intelligent skills of humans. Two case studies, one involving a commercially available robotic floor vacuum cleaner and the other autonomous competition mobile robots, are gauged using the suggested measures. Included in this chapter is a description of a key experiment which revealed that it requires the mind of at least a four-year-old child to successfully navigate an autonomous navigation course.