Optimal Control of Sensor-Induced Illusions on Robotic Agents

This paper presents a novel problem of creating and regulating localization and navigation illusions considering two agents: a receiver and a producer. A receiver is moving on a plane localizing itself using the intensity of signals from three known towers observed at its position. Based on this position estimate, it follows a simple policy to reach its goal. The key idea is that a producer alters the signal intensities to alter the position estimate of the receiver while ensuring it reaches a different destination with the belief that it reached its goal. We provide a precise mathematical formulation of this problem and show that it allows standard techniques from control theory to be applied to generate localization and navigation illusions that result in a desired receiver behavior.

@article{medici2025_2504.18339,
  title={ Optimal Control of Sensor-Induced Illusions on Robotic Agents },
  author={ Lorenzo Medici and Steven M. LaValle and Basak Sakcak },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.18339},
  year={ 2025 }
}