Iterative Goal Refinement for Robotics

Goal Reasoning (GR) concerns actors that assume the responsibility for dynamically selecting the goals they pursue. Our focus is on modelling an actor’s decision making when they encounter notable events. We model GR as an iterative refinement process, where constraints introduced for each abstraction layer shape the solutions for successive layers. Our model provides a conceptual framework for robotics researchers and practitioners. We present a goal lifecycle and define a formal model for GR that (1) relates distinct disciplines concerning actors that operate on goals, and (2) provides a way to evaluate actors. We introduce GR using an example on waypoint navigation and outline its application, in three projects, for controlling simulated and real-world vehicles. We emphasize the relation of GR to planning, and encourage PlanRob researchers to collaborate in exploring this exciting frontier.