Robot navigation modalities

Whilst navigation (robotic or otherwise) consists simply of traversing from a starting point to a goal, there are a plethora of conditions, states of knowledge and functional intentions which dictate how best to execute this process in a manageable, reliable, safe and efficient way. This position paper addresses the broad issues of how a continuum of choices from pure manual or teleoperation control through to fully autonomous operation can be laid out and then selected from, taking into account the variety of factors listed above and the richness of live sensory data available to describe the operational environment and the location of the robot vehicle within it.