Controller XML Configuration¶

The following controllers are available:

Controller	Required Loop Functions	Notes
crw	d0	CRW = Correlated Random Walk.
dpo	d0	DPO = Mapped Decaying Pheromone Object. Uses pheromones to track objects within the arena.
mdpo	d0	MDPO = Mapped Decaying Pheromone Object. DPO + mapped extent of the arena tracking relevance of individual cells within it.
odpo	d0	ODPO = Oracular DPO. Has perfect information about blocks in thye arena.
omdpo	d0	OMDPO = Oracular MDPO. Has perfect information about blocks in the arena.
bitd_dpo	d1	Greedy task partitioning + DPO. Requires static caches to also be enabled.
bitd_odpo	d1	Greedy task partitioning + DPO + oracle (perfect knowledge, as configured). Requires static caches, oracle to be enabled.
bitd_mdpo	d1	Greedy task partitioning + MDPO. Requires static caches, oracle to be enabled.
bitd_omdpo	d1	Greedy task partitioning + MDPO + oracle (perfect knowledge, as configured). Requires static caches, oracle to be enabled.
birtd_dpo	d2	Recursive greedy task partitioning + DPO. Requires dynamic caches to be enabled.
birtd_mdpo	d2	Recursive greedy task partitioning + MDPO. Requires dynamic caches to be enabled.
birtd_odpo	d2	Recursive greedy task partitioning + DPO + oracle (perfect knowledge, as configured). Requires dynamic caches, oracle to be enabled.
birtd_omdpo	d2	Recursive greedy task partitioning + MDPO + oracle (perfect knowledge, as configured). Requires dynamic caches, oracle to be enabled.

The following root XML tags are defined under <params>.

Root XML Tag	Mantory For ?	Notes
`perception`	All but CRW	See COSM docs also; only augmented slightly here.
`block_sel_matrix`	All but CRW	Parameters used by robots when selecting which block to acquire as part of the task they are currently executing.
`cache_sel_matrix`	All d1, d2 controllers	Parameters used by robots when selecting which cache to acquire as part of the task they are currently executing.
`sensing_subsystemQ3D`	All controllers	See COSM docs.
`actuation_subsystem2D`	All controllers	See COSM docs.
`strategy`	All controllers	Parameters for robot exploration, collision avoidance, etc. strategies.
`task_executive`	d1, d2 controllers	See COSM docs.
`task_alloc`	d1, d2 controllers	See COSM docs.

`block_sel_matrix`¶

Required child attributes if present: nest.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: none.
Optional child tags: [block_priorities, pickup_policy ].

XML configuration:

<block_sel_matrix
    nest="6, 3">
    <block_priorities>
    ...
    </block_priorities>
    <pickup_policy>
    ...
    </pickup_policy>
</block_sel_matrix>

nest - The location of the nest.

`block_sel_matrix/block_priorities`¶

Required by: None. If omitted, the default priority values shown below are used.
Required child attributes if present: nest.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: [cube, ramp ].
Optional child tags: none.

XML configuration:

<block_sel_matrix>
    ...
    <block_priorities
    cube="1.0"
    ramp=1.0/>
    ...
</block_sel_matrix>

cube - The priority value used as part of block utility calculation for cube blocks during block selection. Default if omitted: 1.0
ramp - The priority value used as part of block utility calculation for ramp blocks during block selection. Default if omitted: 1.0

`block_sel_matrix/pickup_policy`¶

Required by: None.
Required child attributes if present: policy.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: [cluster_proximity, prox_dist ].
Optional child tags: none.

XML configuration:

<block_sel_matrix>
    ...
    <pickup_policy
    policy=""
    prox_dist="FLOAT"/>
    ...
</block_sel_matrix>

policy - The policy to use to restrict (1) the conditions under which robots can pick up a block that they encounter, (2) which blocks are considered valid for acquisition. Valid values are:
- cluster_proximity - Only allow blocks which are within prox_dist from the average of the positions of the blocks currently known to a robot to be picked up. Only makes sense for object distributions in which objects are clumped into clusters; used to help d2 robots not to pickup the blocks other robots have dropped in order to start caches.
- "" - An empty string to disable if the the tag pickup_policy is present.
prox_dist - The minimum distance measure for usage with cluster_proximity pickup policy.

`cache_sel_matrix`¶

Required by: [d1, d2] controllers.
Required child attributes if present: all.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: none.
Optional child tags: pickup_policy.

XML configuration:

<cache_sel_matrix
    cache_prox_dist="FLOAT"
    nest_prox_dist="FLOAT"
    block_prox_dist="FLOAT"
    site_xrange_dist="FLOAT:FLOAT"
    cache_prox_dist="FLOAT:FLOAT">
        <pickup_policy>
        ...
        </pickup_policy>
</cache_sel_matrix>

cache_prox_dist - When executing the Cache Finisher task, the constraint applied to new cache selection for how close the chosen new cache can be to known existing caches. Should be at least twice the size of a cache for Cache Finisher robots to behave properly and not get stuck in infinite loops attempting to drop a block too close to a known cache.
block_prox_dist - When executing the Cache Starter task, the constraint applied to cache site selection for how close the chosen cache site can be to known blocks.
nest_prox_dist - When executing the Cache Starter task, the constraint applied to cache site selection for how close the chosen cache site can be to the nest.
site_xrange - The valid X range for cache site selection (should be a subset of the full arena X size, to avoid robots being able to select locations by arena boundaries).
site_yrange - The valid Y range for cache site selection (should be a subset of the full arena Y size, to avoid robots being able to select locations by arena boundaries).

`cache_sel_matrix/pickup_policy`¶

Required by: [d1, d2] controllers.
Required child attributes if present: policy.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: [timestep, cache_size ].
Optional child tags: none.

XML configuration:

<cache_sel_matrix>
    ...
    <pickup_policy
        policy="time|cache_size|cache_duration"
        timestep="INTEGER"
        cache_size="INTEGER"/>
    ...
</cache_sel_matrix>

policy - The policy to use to restrict (1) the conditions under which robots can pick up from a cache that they encounter, (2) which caches are considered valid for acquisition. Valid values are:
- cache_size - Only allow robots to pickup from caches with at least cache_size blocks in them. Robots intending to drop blocks in caches are not restricted.
- cache_duration - Only allow robots to pickup from caches after they have existed for at least time timesteps.
- time - Only allow robots to pickup from caches after timestep timesteps have elapsed during simulation. Robots intending to drop blocks in caches are not restricted.
- Can also be an empty string to disable the cache pickup policy if the pickup_policy tag is present.

`strategy`¶

Required by: All controllers.
Required child attributes if present: None.
Required child tags if present: [ explore, nest, blocks ].
Optional child attributes: [ caches ]
Optional child tags: None.

XML configuration:

<strategy>
    <blocks>
      ...
    </blocks>
    <caches>
      ...
    </caches>
    <nest>
      ...
    </nest>
</strategy>

`perception`¶

Required child attributes if present: [ type ].
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child tags: [ rlos, dpo, mdpo ]
Optional child attributes: none.

XML configuration:

<perception
  type="STRING">
  <rlos>
     ...
  </rlos>
  <dpo>
      ...
  <dpo/>
  <mdpo>
      ...
  <mdpo/>
</perception>

type - The perception type to use.

`perception/dpo`¶

Parameters for the Decaying Pheromone Object (DPO) perception type.

Required child attributes if present: none.
Required child tags if present: [ rlos, pheromone ].
Optional child tags: none.
Optional child attributes: none.

XML configuration:

<perception>
  ...
  <dpo>
    <rlos>
      ...
    </rlos>
    <pheromone>
      ...
    </pheromone
  </dpo>
  ...
</perception>

`perception/dpo/pheromone`¶

Parameters controlling the decay of the pheromone-based memory for the Decaying Pheromone Object (DPO) perception model.

Required child attributes if present: rho.
Required child tags if present: none.
Optional child attributes: repeat_deposit.
Optional child tags: none.

XML configuration:

<dpo>
  ...
  <pheromone rho="FLOAT"
             repeat_deposit="false"/>
  ...
</dpo>

rho How fast the relevance of information about a particular cell within a robot’s 2D map of the world loses relevance. Should be < 1.0.
repeat_deposit - If true, then repeated pheromone deposits for objects a robot already knows about will be enabled. rho should be updated accordingly, probably to a larger value to enable faster decay. Default if omitted: false.

`perception/mdpo`¶

Parameters for the Mapped Decaying Pheromone Object (MDPO) perception model.

Required child attributes if present: none.
Required child tags if present: [ rlos, pheromone ].
Optional child tags: none.
Optional child attributes: none.

XML configuration:

<perception>
  ...
  <mdpo>
    <rlos>
      ...
    </rlos>
    <pheromone>
      ...
    </pheromone
  </mdpo>
  ...
</perception>

Additional notes to COSM controller docs¶

`task_alloc/stoch_nbhd1`¶

tab_sel child tag required by d2 controllers

`task_alloc/task_exec_estimates`¶

Valid values for <task_name> are:

generalist

collector

harvester

cache_starter

cache_finisher

cache_transferer

cache_collector

Controller XML Configuration¶

block_sel_matrix¶

block_sel_matrix/block_priorities¶

block_sel_matrix/pickup_policy¶

cache_sel_matrix¶

cache_sel_matrix/pickup_policy¶

strategy¶

perception¶

perception/dpo¶

perception/dpo/pheromone¶

perception/mdpo¶

Additional notes to COSM controller docs¶

task_alloc/stoch_nbhd1¶

task_alloc/task_exec_estimates¶

`block_sel_matrix`¶

`block_sel_matrix/block_priorities`¶

`block_sel_matrix/pickup_policy`¶

`cache_sel_matrix`¶

`cache_sel_matrix/pickup_policy`¶

`strategy`¶

`perception`¶

`perception/dpo`¶

`perception/dpo/pheromone`¶

`perception/mdpo`¶

`task_alloc/stoch_nbhd1`¶

`task_alloc/task_exec_estimates`¶