To Know or Not to Know: On the Utility of Models in Mobile Robotics

This article describes JEEVES, one of the winning entries in the 1996 Annual AAAI Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition, held as part of the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The model, a geometric map constructed from sensory data gathered while the robot performed its task, enabled JEEVES to sweep the arena efficiently. This article argues that JEEVES's success depended crucially on the existence of the model. It also argues that models are generally useful in mobile robotics -- even in tasks as simple as the one faced in this competition.