A reactive navigation method based on an incremental learning of tasks sequences

Within the context of learning sequences of basic tasks to build a complex behavior a method is proposed to coordinate a hierarchical set of tasks Each one pos sesses a set of sub tasks lower in the hierarchy which must be coordinated to respect a binary perceptive con straint For each task the coordination is achieved by a reinforcement learning inspired algorithm based on an heuristic which does not need internal parameters A validation of the method is given using a simulated Khepera robot A goal seeking behavior is divided into three tasks go to the goal follow a wall on the left and on the right The last two ones utilize basic behaviors and two other sub tasks avoid obstacles on the left and on the right All the tasks may use a set of basic behaviors The global goal seeking behavior and the wall following and the obstacle avoidance tasks are learned during a step by step learning process