Run-time detection of faults in autonomous mobile robots based on the comparison of simulated and real robot behaviour

Millard, Alan G.; Timmis, Jon; Winfield, Alan F.T.

Abstract

© 2014 IEEE. This paper presents a novel approach to the run-time detection of faults in autonomous mobile robots, based on simulated predictions of real robot behaviour. We show that although simulation can be used to predict real robot behaviour, drift between simulation and reality occurs over time due to the reality gap. This necessitates periodic reinitialisation of the simulation to reduce false positives. Using a simple obstacle avoidance controller afflicted with partial motor failure, we show that selecting the length of this reinitialisation time period is non-trivial, and that there exists a trade-off between minimising drift and the ability to detect the presence of faults.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014)
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 12, 2016
• Journal: IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
• Print ISSN: 2153-0858
• Electronic ISSN: 2153-0866
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 3720-3725
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2014.6943084
• Keywords: collision avoidance, fault diagnosis, mobile robots
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/813019
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2014.6943084
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014), 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on
• Contract Date: Apr 12, 2016