A systems engineering-based approach to robotics
When you set out to create a complex robot, with artificial intelligence-based software, you can't just jump in and start slinging code and throwing things together without some sort of game plan as to how the robot goes together and how all the parts communicate with one another. We will discuss a systematic approach to robot design based on systems engineering principles. We will be learning about use cases and storyboards as a technique to understand what we are building and what parts are needed.
Our task – cleaning up the playroom
We have already talked a bit about our main task for Tinman, our robot example for this book, which is to clean up the playroom in my house after my grandchildren come to visit. We need to provide a more formal definition of our problem, and then to turn that into a list of tasks for the robot to perform along with a plan of action on how we might accomplish those tasks.
Why are we doing this? Well, consider...
