Embodied Thought —
Recent Robotics (some highlights)
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2009-08-20
CS 102 with Robots
1948 — Grey Walter’s “Tortoises”
Simple neural netinspired “brain”
Showed simple “brains”
can lead to complex, lifelike, intelligent behavior
Could find their way to
recharging station
Simple (Pavlovian)
learning
Similarities to
“Braitenberg vehicles”
(LCR, ch. 6) and
Scribblers
2009-08-20
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Ancestors of the Scribbler
Grey Walter’s tortoises

Seymour Papert’s turtles

turtle graphics

the Scribbler
2009-08-20
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Importance of
Embodied Intelligence
Traditional (dualist) view:
mind is essentially
independent of the body
in principle, could have an intelligent “brain in a vat”
Now we understand that much of our
knowledge is implicit in the fact that we have a
body
Also, our body teaches us about the world
Structure of body is foundation for structure of
knowledge
Knowledge is in the environment, rather than a
representation of the environment
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2009-08-20
Structure of Embodied Intelligence
Representational primitives are skills, not concepts
Higher-level skills are built on lower-level
Lowest-level skills are grounded in the body
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2009-08-20
Embodied & Situated Artificial Intelligence
Therefore a genuine AI must be:
embedded in a body (embodied)
capable of interacting significantly with its world
(situated)
Intelligence develops as consequence of interaction of
body with environment, including other agents
How can we investigate embodied, situated
intelligence?
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2009-08-20
1990s — “Ant” Microrobots (Rodney Brooks, MIT)
About 1 cubic inch
17 sensors
Can communicate with
each other
Goal: push limits of
microrobotics
Goal: explore social
interactions inspired by
ant colony
Applications: explosives
disposal, Mars
exploration
2009-08-20
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1990s — Clustering Around “Food”
“Food” amongst other
objects in environment
First “ant” to encounter
food, signals others
Others cluster at food
source
2009-08-20
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1990s — Tag Game
“It” robot wanders until
bumps something
Transmits “Tag”
A “Not It” robot replies “I
got tagged”
First becomes “Not It”
Second becomes “It”
2009-08-20
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1990s — Genghis (Brooks, MIT)
Subsumption architecture
Inspired by evolution:
more complex behaviors
build on simpler ones
Individual legs “do their
jobs”
Legs are coordinated to
achieve stability
Leg motion coordinated
to achieve locomotion to
goal
2009-08-20
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1990s — Genghis (Brooks, MIT)
Front view & infrared sensing of person
2009-08-20
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1998 — Cog (Brooks, MIT)
“Humanoid
intelligence requires
humanoid
interactions with the
world”
Form of body is
fundamental to
cognitive
representation
no “brains in vats”
Human-like
intelligence requires
human-like body
2009-08-20
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2001 — Leonardo
Cynthia Breazeal’s
Lab, MIT
“Sociable Robots”
Project
Vehicle for exploring
socially guided
learning &
cooperative activity
(video < Breazeal’s Lab)
2009-08-20
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2001 — Touch-Sensitive “Skin”
Touch-sensitive
silicone skin over
entire body
Mapped to neural netlike “homunculus”
Here Leo is
programmed to notice
& withdraw from
contact
(video < Breazeal’s Lab)
2009-08-20
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2004–7 — Socially Guided Learning
Leo is taught to
“turn on all the
lights”
Leo generalizes to
new situation
Leo displays
commitment to joint
activity in spite of
incorrect action
(video < Breazeal’s Lab)
2009-08-20
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2004–7 — Collaborative tasks
Leo and human
collaborate on a task
(making sailboat and
smiley face from colored
blocks)
Have a common goal
toward which the are
working
Use gestures and social
cues to cooperate
2009-08-20
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???? — Consciousness and self-awareness?
2009-08-20
Algorithms
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