SUBSUMPTION ARCHITECTUREAND ROBOTICBEHAVIOURTo subsume a task is to supersede it with a higher priority task. When we speak of subsumption in robotic programming we are describing the process by which one behaviour subsumes, or over-rides another based on an explicit priority that we have defined. This behavioural architecture was first described by Dr. Rodney Brooks in his article ”A robust layered control system for a mobile robot” in IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, RA-2, April, 14-23, 1986. The Brooksian ideal subsumption architecture does not require that any behaviour know anything about any other behaviour.