CS63 Fall 2005
Lab 6: Braitenberg Vehicles
Due: Friday, October 28 by 11am

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

For this lab you will familiarize yourself with Pyro. Then you will create your own Braitenberg vehicle and demonstrate it for several people and collect their reactions. Remember that the point of these vehicles is to see whether a very simple control mechanism that links senors directly to motors can lead to interesting emergent behavior. Feel free to create your own world for the Pyrobot Simulator. You may also add multiple robots to your world.

You may not work with a partner on this lab.

LAB INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Read the Introduction to Pyro and try out the examples given in pyrobot. It has a number of sub-sections. For now, focus on the sections dealing with effectors, the interface, attributes, simulators (only the Pyrobot Simulator), sensors, and brains.
  2. Also read the Overview of Pyro Objects and the explanation of Direct Control.
  3. Once you are comfortable with the Pyro tools, write your own Braitenberg vehicle. One idea would be to create a type 4 vehicle that responds to both light and range sensors. Be sure to explain what the expected behavior should be in your comments.
  4. Once you are satisfied with your vehicle, invite three individuals to observe its behavior and explain what it is doing. Record their reactions and discuss them. Do they use psychological terms to describe what the robot is doing or do they talk about it in an algorithmic way? Do they think the behavior demonstrates some form of intelligence?

HAND IN

Use cs63handin to turn in your version of a Braitenberg vehicle as well as a text file describing other people's reactions to your vehicle's behavior. If you created your own simulated world, be sure to hand that in as well.