Immune robustness from top to down: bio-inspired immune- based behavior coordination for autonomous mobile robot navigation.

Abstract

Behavioral robustness at antibody and immune network levels is discussed. The robustness of the immune response that drives an autonomous mobile robot is examined with computational experiments in the trajectory generation context in unknown environments. The immune response is met based on the immune network metaphor for different low-level behaviors coordination. These behaviors are activated when a robot sense the appropriate conditions in the environment in relation to the network current state. Results are obtained over case studies in computer simulation as well as in laboratory experiments with a Khepera II microrobot, and also when such an immune response is externally perturbed at network or low-level behavioral modules for behavioral robustness. Results indicate that robust behavior and immune responses relate to the coupling between behavioral modules that are selectively engaged with the environment based on immune response. The importance of results is that such a demonstration, because of the simplicity, leads discussions on a dynamical systems perspective of behavioral robustness in artiicial immune systems that goes beyond the isolated immune network response, but the antibody self-response with implications on bio-inspired systems research. Challenges and limitations of the proposed approach are also identiied for future studies.