Even in the absence of external reward, babies and scientists and others explore their world. Using some sort of adaptive predictive world model, they improve their ability to answer questions such as what happens if ...
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Even in the absence of external reward, babies and scientists and others explore their world. Using some sort of adaptive predictive world model, they improve their ability to answer questions such as what happens if I do this or that? They lose interest in both the predictable things and those predicted to remain unpredictable despite some effort. One can design curious robots that do the same. The author's basic idea (1990, 1991) for doing so is a reinforcement learning (RL) controller is rewarded for action sequences that improve the predictor. Here, this idea is revisited in the context of recent results on optimal predictors and optimal RL machines. Several new variants of the basic principle are proposed. Finally, it is pointed out how the fine arts can be formally understood as a consequence of the principle: given some subjective observer, great works of art and music yield observation histories exhibiting more novel, previously unknown compressibility/regularity/predictability (with respect to the observer's particular learning algorithm) than lesser works, thus deepening the observer's understanding of the world and what is possible in it.
developmental robotics is also known as epigenetic robotics. We propose in this paper that there is one substantial difference between developmental robotics and epigenetic robotics, since epigenetic robotics concentr...
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developmental robotics is also known as epigenetic robotics. We propose in this paper that there is one substantial difference between developmental robotics and epigenetic robotics, since epigenetic robotics concentrates primarily on modeling the development of cognitive elements of living systems in robotic systems, such as language, emotion, and social skills, while developmental robotics should also cover the modeling of neural and morphological development in single-and multirobot systems. With the recent rapid advances in evolutionary developmental biology and systems biology, increasing genetic and cellular principles underlying biological morphogenesis have been revealed. These principles are helpful not only in understanding biological development, but also in designing self-organizing, self-reconfigurable, and self-repairable engineered systems. In this paper, we propose morphogenetic robotics, an emerging new field in developmental robotics, is an important part of developmental robotics in addition to epigenetic robotics. By morphogenetic robotics, we mean a class of methodologies in robotics for designing self-organizing, self-reconfigurable, and self-repairable single-or multirobot systems, using genetic and cellular mechanisms governing biological morphogenesis. We categorize these methodologies into three areas, namely, morphogenetic swarm robotic systems, morphogenetic modular robots, and morphogenetic body and brain design for robots. Examples are provided for each of the three areas to illustrate the main ideas underlying the morphogenetic approaches to robotics.
Inspired by child development and brain research, we introduce a computational framework which integrates robotic active vision and reaching. Essential elements of this framework are sensorimotor mappings that link th...
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Inspired by child development and brain research, we introduce a computational framework which integrates robotic active vision and reaching. Essential elements of this framework are sensorimotor mappings that link three different computational domains relating to visual data, gaze control, and reaching. The domain of gaze control is the central computational substrate that provides, first, a systematic visual search and, second, the transformation of visual data into coordinates for potential reach actions. In this respect, the representation of object locations emerges from the combination of sensorimotor mappings. The framework is tested in the form of two different architectures that perform visually guided reaching. Systematic experiments demonstrate how visual search influences reaching accuracy. The results of these experiments are discussed with respect to providing a reference architecture for developmental learning in humanoid robot systems.
Evolutionary algorithms have previously been applied to the design of morphology and control of robots. The design space for such tasks can be very complex, which can prevent evolution from efficiently discovering fit...
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Evolutionary algorithms have previously been applied to the design of morphology and control of robots. The design space for such tasks can be very complex, which can prevent evolution from efficiently discovering fit solutions. In this article we introduce an evolutionary-developmental (evo-devo) experiment with real-world robots. It allows robots to grow their leg size to simulate ontogenetic morphological changes, and this is the first time that such an experiment has been performed in the physical world. To test diverse robot morphologies, robot legs of variable shapes were generated during the evolutionary process and autonomously built using additive fabrication. We present two cases with evo-devo experiments and one with evolution, and we hypothesize that the addition of a developmental stage can be used within robotics to improve performance. Moreover, our results show that a nonlinear system-environment interaction exists, which explains the nontrivial locomotion patterns observed. In the future, robots will be present in our daily lives, and this work introduces for the first time physical robots that evolve and grow while interacting with the environment.
Affordances capture the relationships between a robot and the environment in terms of the actions that the robot is able to perform. The notable characteristic of affordance-based perception is that an object is perce...
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Affordances capture the relationships between a robot and the environment in terms of the actions that the robot is able to perform. The notable characteristic of affordance-based perception is that an object is perceived by what it affords (e.g., graspable and rollable), instead of identities (e.g., name, color, and shape). Affordances play an important role in basic robot capabilities such as recognition, planning, and prediction. The key challenges in affordance research are: 1) how to automatically discover the distinctive features that specify an affordance in an online and incremental manner and 2) how to generalize these features to novel environments. This survey provides an entry point for interested researchers, including: 1) a general overview;2) classification and critical analysis of existing work;3) discussion of how affordances are useful in developmental robotics;4) some open questions about how to use the affordance concept;and 5) a few promising research directions.
The new field of developmental robotics faces the formidable challenge of implementing effective learning mechanisms in complex, dynamic environments. We make a case that knowledge-based learning algorithms might help...
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The new field of developmental robotics faces the formidable challenge of implementing effective learning mechanisms in complex, dynamic environments. We make a case that knowledge-based learning algorithms might help to meet this challenge. A constructive neural learning algorithm, knowledge-based cascade-correlation (KBCC), autonomously recruits previously-learned networks in addition to the single hidden units recruited by ordinary cascade-correlation. This enables learning by analogy when adequate prior knowledge is available, learning by induction from examples when there is no relevant prior knowledge, and various combinations of analogy and induction. A review of experiments with KBCC indicates that recruitment of relevant existing knowledge typically speeds learning and sometimes enables learning of otherwise impossible problems. Some additional domains of interest to developmental robotics are identified in which knowledge-based learning seems essential. The characteristics of KBCC in relation to other knowledge-based neural learners and analogical reasoning are summarized as is the neurological basis for learning from knowledge. Current limitations of this approach and directions for future work are discussed.
Epi is a humanoid robot developed by Lund University Cognitive Science robotics Group. It was designed to be used in experiments in developmental robotics and has proportions to give a childlike impression while still...
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Epi is a humanoid robot developed by Lund University Cognitive Science robotics Group. It was designed to be used in experiments in developmental robotics and has proportions to give a childlike impression while still being decidedly robotic. The robot head has two degrees of freedom in the neck and each eye can independently move laterally. There is a camera in each eye to make stereovision possible. The arms are designed to resemble those of a human. Each arm has five degrees of freedom, three in the shoulder, one in the elbow and one in the wrist. The hands have four movable fingers and a stationary thumb. A force distribution mechanism inside the hand connect a single servo to the movable fingers and makes sure the hand closes around an object regardless of its shape. The rigid parts of the hands are 3D printed in PLA and HIPS while the flexible parts, including the joints and the tendons, are made from polyurethane rubber. The control system for Epi is based on neurophysiological data and is implemented using the Ikaros system. Most of the sensory and motor processing is done at 40 Hz to allow smooth movements. The irises of the eyes can change colour and the pupils can dilate and contract. There is also a grid of LEDs that resembles a mouth that can be animated by changing colour and intensity.
This paper formulates five basic principles of developmental robotics. These principles are formulated based on some of the recurring themes in the developmental learning literature and in the author's own researc...
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This paper formulates five basic principles of developmental robotics. These principles are formulated based on some of the recurring themes in the developmental learning literature and in the author's own research. The five principles follow logically from the verification principle (postulated by Richard Sutton) which is assumed to be self-evident. This paper also gives an example of how these principles can be applied to the problem of autonomous tool use in robots.
developmental psychology has long recognized the presence of stages in human cognitive development, although the underlying causes and processes are still an open question and subject to much debate. This article draw...
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developmental psychology has long recognized the presence of stages in human cognitive development, although the underlying causes and processes are still an open question and subject to much debate. This article draws inspiration from psychology and describes an approach towards developmental growth for robotics that utilizes natural constraints in a general learning mechanism. The method, summarized as Lift-Constraint, Act, Saturate (LCAS), is applicable to all levels of control and behavior, and can be implemented in any robotic configuration. An implementation based on sensorymotor learning in early infancy is described and the results from experiments are presented and discussed.
Piaget's account of object permanence development is rethought in light of both its historical roots in Poincari's theory of space and current understanding of mechanisms. This rethinldng reveals the developme...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781424411153
Piaget's account of object permanence development is rethought in light of both its historical roots in Poincari's theory of space and current understanding of mechanisms. This rethinldng reveals the developmental constraints reflected in Piaget's stages of object permanence, charts the essential interdependence of spatial capacity, memory capacity, embodied movement, and object cognition, exonerates the A-not-B phenomenon from its appearance of an oddity, and provides programmatic guidance for a future robotics of object permanence development.
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