Summary

In this chapter, we introduced the subject of AI, which will be emphasized throughout this book. We identified the main difference between an AI robot and a regular robot, which is that an AI robot may be nondeterministic. This is to say it may have a different response to the same stimulus, due to learning. We introduced the problem we will use throughout the book, which is picking up toys in a playroom and putting them into a toy box. Next, we discussed two critical tools for AI robotics: the OODA loop, which provides a model for how our robot makes decisions, and the soft real-time control loop, which manages and controls the speed of execution of our program. We applied these techniques in a timing loop demonstration and began to develop our main robot control program.

In the next chapter, we will teach the robot to recognize toys – the objects we want the robot to pick up and put away. We will use computer vision with a video camera to find and recognize the toys left on the floor.