The behavior control scheme in our artificial animal can be viewed as consisting of two important relationships. One relationship is between the motor controllers and muscles/fins, and the other is between some higher control mechanisms and the motor controllers. The motor controllers coordinate and control the muscles and fins in order to form useful motor skills while, in a similar manner, higher control mechanisms compete for the control of the motor controllers to generate meaningful behaviors. This paradigm is consistent with the animal behavior theory proposed by the ethologist Manning Manning79.
In our framework, the higher control mechanisms correspond to the
fish's behavior system, where the action selection process--the
competition over the control of the motor controllers--happens at two
levels: the intention level and the action
level. Intentions are governed by the intention generator and actions
are governed by the focusser and the behavior routines.
Fig. 
illustrates the overall control scheme
for action selection in the artificial fish.
| Xiaoyuan Tu | January 1996 |
