Optimal Control of Sensor-Induced Illusions on Robotic Agents

-- This paper presents a novel problem of creating and regulating localization and navigation illusions considering two agents: a receiver and a producer . A receiver is moving on a plane localizing itself using the intensity of signals from three known towers observed at its position. Based on this position estimate, it follows a simple policy to reach its goal. The key idea is that a producer alters the signal intensities to alter the position estimate of the receiver while ensuring it reaches a different destination with the belief that it reached its goal. We provide a precise mathematical formulation of this problem and show that it allows standard techniques from control theory to be applied to generate localization and navigation illusions that result in a desired receiver behavior . I. INTRODUCTION Humans experience illusions when sensory organs are exposed to stimuli that, when processed by the nervous system, result in a perceptual experience that does not coincide with the reality. For example, the famous Ponzo illusion results from two identical lines being perceived as having different length [1], [2]. Analogous to the human sensory organs and nervous system are the sensors and the processor of a robotic agent. The sensors provide measurements of the agent's body and the physical world, and a processor condenses these measurements into an internal state that represents the state of the physical world.