Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: tim@iss.nus.sg (Tim Poston)
Subject: Re: Robots doing taxis
Message-ID: <1993Feb1.065750.15593@nuscc.nus.sg>
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Organization: Institute of Systems Science, NUS, Singapore
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References: <1993Jan30.231730.21969@aifh.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 06:57:50 GMT
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bhw@aifh.ed.ac.uk (Barbara H. Webb) writes:
: Just to clarify, I'm talking about mobile robots that find a particular sensory
: source by moving towards it: for example the light attraction shown in
: Grey Walter's turtles (phototaxis). I'm most interested in robots that
: move towards sound sources (phonotaxis).

This identifies taxis with _positive_ taxis;
with their roots, plants also do negative phototaxis.
In the robot literature this is usually called `avoidance'
(you can count on the tendrils of one root the English-speaking
roboticists who use terms from the Greek),
but a lot of the same issues come up.
Grey Walter lived before the collapse of classical education.

The industrial robot literature has quite a lot
about not bumping into things.
Might the keyword `avoidance'---and perhaps
`approach'---usefully enlarge your search?

Tim

________________________________________________________________________
  "That cloak of invisiblity was no good," said the King,
  "I still bumped into things just as much as ever."
						      Walter de la Mare
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
