Abstract

What do we actually mean when we talk about “autonomous mobile robots”? This chapter gives an introduction into the technical side of autonomy of mobile robots in the current state of the art and provides the relevant technical background for discussions about autonomy in mobile robot systems. A short history of robotic development explains the origins of robotics and its development from industrial machines into autonomous agents. The term “autonomous robot” is looked at in more detail by presenting the way of decision-making with different categories of robots and by introducing the general model of a rational agent for decision making. Additionally a short outlook on the process of understanding the environment is discussed, giving an overview of the individual steps from sensing up to interpretation of a scene. Selected examples of modern robots present the current state of the art and its limitations within this field. Overall, this introduction provides the required technical insight for non robotic experts to get an understanding of the term autonomous mobile robots and the implications for regulations concerning it.