REMINDER: Theory Seminar, Wed, Feb. 9, 2000; 4:30-5:30 PM; RM
Tamara Tessier
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000
Time: 4:30 - 5:30 PM
Place: 3427 EECS
Title: Composition and Phase Regulation of Cyclic Processes
Speaker: Eric Klavins, Graduate Student, AI Laboratory
Abstract:
We are concerned with the composition of cyclic processes into coupled
cyclic processes. By cyclic process, we mean a controlled dynamical
system that oscillates. Examples of such processes that we consider are
repetitive robot behaviors in an assembly line, a vertical piston
bouncing a ball, and a running robot. By composition, we mean that we wish to
start with two separate cyclic processes and couple them, using some
mechanism either logical or mechanical or both, so that they together behave in
some desired manner. Our motivation for this work is our desire to arrive at
a work programming language -- that is, a class of syntactic structures
whose semantics entail work done by some object (robot) on its
environment. In such a language, one specifies a task to be done (such
as walking or manipulating an object) in terms of the couplings between
components of a hypothesized robot. The semantics of the language should
yield a way to ``compile'' a robot or factory that, robustly performs
the task.
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Tamara Tessier
Research Secretary III
Software Systems Laboratory
University of Michigan
PH: (734) 764-9401
Email: tes...@eecs.umich.edu
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