Entry Date:
October 7, 2013

Integrated Task and Motion Planning in Belief Space

Principal Investigator Leslie Kaelbling

Co-investigator Tomas Lozano-Perez


We describe an integrated strategy for planning, perception, state-estimation and action in complex mobile manipulation domains based on planning in the belief space of probability distri- butions over states using hierarchical goal regression (pre-image back-chaining). We develop a vocabulary of logical expressions that describe sets of belief states, which are goals and subgoals in the planning process. We show that a relatively small set of symbolic operators can give rise to task-oriented perception in support of the manipulation goals. An implementation of this method is demonstrated in simulation and on a real PR2 robot, showing robust, exible solution of mobile manipulation problems with multiple objects and substantial uncertainty.