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Application of systems identification to the implementation of motion camouflage in mobile robots

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Abstract

Motion camouflage is an animal stealth behaviour in which a shadower—or predator—moves in the vicinity of a shadowee—or prey—in such a way that the later perceives no apparent motion apart from the self motion. Despite some light has been shed on the control mechanism generating this pursuit strategy, it is not fully understood. Motion camouflage represents an interesting challenge in biological motion, and although simulated controllers can be found in the literature, no implementation on real robots has been done so far. This paper presents the first implementation of motion camouflage in real wheeled robots through a polynomial NARMAX model controller. The trajectories to adjust the model are generated using a heuristic approach. The NARMAX model outperforms the heuristic approach in terms of computational time and generates good camouflage trajectories in real robots and simulation. The transparency of polynomial models can also shed some light over this complex animal behaviour.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to dedicate this work to the memory of Ulrich Nehmzow, who was involved in, and made essential contributions to the work reported in this paper. He was an enthusiastic researcher who made extraordinary contributions in the field of cognitive robotics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intelligent Systems Research Centre, University of Ulster, Derry/Londonderry, UK

    Iñaki Rañó

  2. Centro Singular de Investigación en Tecnoloxias da Información (CITIUS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Roberto Iglesias

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  1. Iñaki Rañó
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  2. Roberto Iglesias
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Correspondence to Iñaki Rañó.

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Dedicated to Ulrich Nehmzow.

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Rañó, I., Iglesias, R. Application of systems identification to the implementation of motion camouflage in mobile robots. Auton Robot 40, 229–244 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-015-9449-9

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