Erik's Robotics page

I have an interest in algorithms for learning adaptive behaviors on a mobile robot. Research didn't go far, but I built something. It's not much to look at, but, well, it made me happy.  Here's a picture from when it was being built.  I used the excellent circuits and software designed at MIT for the 6.270 course.

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It had very poor IR range sensors, bump sensors, and wheel  rotation sensors, all kludged onto a RC "Scorcher 6x6" chassis. With fellow student Eric Bax, I taught it to follow walls (sort of) by driving it around by remote-control while collecting sensor data and recording my actions, then training a neural network to reproduce my average sensor -> action function, such as it was.  My ultimate goal was to apply techniques from genetic algorithms and Kolmogorov complexity in combination with on-line, 24 hours a day operation.... didn't happen.

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winfree@hope.caltech.edu