Empirical Assessment of Corrupt Sensor Data Detection Methods in a Robot

An experiment was conducted to investigate the response of a robot to cyber attacks and the effectiveness of methods to detect such attacks. The experiment was run in simulation as well as on an actual robot. To ensure validity of results, cyber attacks were implemented on three robots of the same make and model through their wireless control mechanisms. Attacks were launched to investigate their feasibility, impact, and the effectiveness of the detection methods. Analysis of experimental data indicates that, among the several methods examined, the one which compares sensor values to the average historical values, is the most effective. In some experiments, the effectiveness of various methods was found to be lower in actual robots as compared to that in simulation. Thus, when practically feasible, it is important to test security countermeasures in realistic environments. Furthermore, factors such as attack size and timing, were found to influence the attack detection effectiveness, and hence ought to be considered while designing security countermeasures.