Immune robustness from top to down: bio-inspired immune- based behavior coordination for autonomous mobile robot navigation

Behavioral robustness at antibody and immune network levels is discussed. The robustness of the immune response that drives an autonomous mobile robot is examined with computational experiments in the trajectory generation context in unknown environments. The immune response is met based on the immune network metaphor for different low-level behaviors coordination. These behaviors are activated when a robot sense the appropriate conditions in the environment in relation to the network current state. Results are obtained over case studies in computer simulation as well as in laboratory experiments with a Khepera II microrobot, and also when such an immune response is externally perturbed at network or low-level behavioral modules for behavioral robustness. Results indicate that robust behavior and immune responses relate to the coupling between behavioral modules that are selectively engaged with the environment based on