Embodiment 11/27/06 23:27

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11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 1

Embodiment &Embodiment & SituatednessSituatedness

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 2

How Dependent is Intelligenceon its Hardware?Traditional View

• Brain is no more powerful than Turing machine• Human intelligence is a result of the program

running on our brains• The same program could be run on any Universal

TM• In particular, it could run on a Von Neumann

machine and make it artificially intelligent

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 3

ConnectionistView

• Information processing on Von Neumanncomputers (hardware) is fundamentally differentfrom that in brains (wetware)

• The flexible, context-sensitive cognition weassociate with human intelligence depends on thephysical properties of biological neurons

• Therefore, true artificial intelligence requiressufficiently brain-like computers(neurocomputers)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 4

Importance ofEmbodied 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 knowledgeis 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• A “disembodied intelligence” is a contradiction in

terms?

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 5

Structure ofEmbodied Intelligence

• Representational primitives are skills, notconcepts

• Higher-level skills are built on lower-level

• Lowest-level skills are grounded in the body

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 6

Embodied & SituatedArtificial 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, situatedintelligence?

Embodiment 11/27/06 23:27

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11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 7

“Ant” Microrobots (Brooks, MIT)• About 1 cubic inch• 17 sensors• Can communicate with

each other• Goal: push limits of

microrobotics• Goal: explore social

interactions inspired byant colony

• Applications: explosivesdisposal, Mars exploration

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 8

Clustering Around “Food”

• “Food” amongst otherobjects in environment

• First “ant” toencounter food,signals others

• Others cluster at foodsource

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 9

Tag Game

• “It” robot wandersuntil bumps something

• Transmits “Tag”• A “Not It” robot

replies “I got tagged”• First becomes “Not It”• Second becomes “It”

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 10

Genghis (Brooks, MIT)• Inspired by evolution

in that more complexbehaviors build onsimpler ones

• Individual legs “dotheir jobs”

• Legs are coordinatedto achieve stability

• Leg motioncoordinated to achievelocomotion to goal

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 11

Genghis (Brooks, MIT)

Front view & infrared sensing of person

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 12

Cog (Brooks, MIT)• “Humanoid

intelligence requireshumanoid interactionswith the world”

• Form of body isfundamental tocognitiverepresentation– no “brains in vats”

• Human-likeintelligence requireshuman-like body

Embodiment 11/27/06 23:27

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11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 13

Learning Hand-Eye Coordination

• Before learning toreach to a visual target

• Final position of handdifferent from wherelooking

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 14

Learning Hand-Eye Coord. (2)• View from Cog’s eyes

during training trial• Cog learns to

coordinate appearanceof arm’s position with“feel” of arm’sposition

• Rapid motion issaccade

• Also see motion-detection & groupingalgorithm

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 15

Learning Hand-Eye Coord. (3)• After 3 hours self-

training• Robot instructed to

reach toward anymoving object

• Successfully reachestowards object

• (Hand is non-functional)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 16

Cog: “Social Interaction”

• Cog attending tovisual motion

• Orients head & eyes tomotion

• (Arm & hand motionare not relevant tointeraction)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 17

Cog: Learning by Imitation• Imitation is an

important means ofhuman learning

• Here, Cog learns toimitate head motions

• Recognizes the motionof faces

• Cog does not try toimitate non-faces

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 18

Cog: Learning by Imitation (2)

• Cog recognizesobjects sufficientlylike faces

• Imitates their motionwith its own

Embodiment 11/27/06 23:27

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11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 19

Interactions with Other Agents

• Being situated includes interactions withother agents

• Cooperative interactions:– robots with robots– robots with humans

• Competitive interactions:– robots against robots– robots against humans– robots against animals “Robonaut”

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 20

“Mind Reading”and Other Social Skills

• Need to understand other agents’ mentalstates & processes

• Need to communicate (or misrepresent)one’s own mental state & processes

• Non-verbal communication: gesture, eyecontact, gaze

• Imitation as basis of learning & socialunderstanding

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 21

Shared Cooperative Activities

• Commitment to joint activity & mutualsupport

• Joint intention theory• Simulation theory• Ability to take perspective of other agent

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 22

Kismet (Brooks, MIT)

• Responds to a facewith a happyexpression

• Responds to rapidlymoving face withdisgusted expression

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 23

Kismet (Brooks, MIT)

• Two-wayconversationalinteraction

• Kismet understandsintonation & bodylanguage, but notwords

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 24

Kismet (Brooks, MIT)

• Example of three-wayconversationalinteraction

Embodiment 11/27/06 23:27

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11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 25

Leonardo

• Cynthia Breazeal’sLab, MIT

• “Sociable Robots”Project

• Vehicle for exploringsocially guidedlearning & cooperativeactivity

(video < Breazeal’s Lab)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 26

Touch-Sensitive “Skin”• Touch-sensitive

silicone skin over entirebody

• Mapped to neural net-like “homunculus”

• Here Leo isprogrammed to notice& withdraw fromcontact

(video < Breazeal’s Lab)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 27

Learning to Mimic Expressions• Imitation as a way to bootstrap social understanding

& “theory of mind”• Understand behavior in terms of mental states

producing it• Leo makes faces• Human imitates• Leo learns what his

face looks like• Learns to imitate humans

(video < Breazeal’s Lab)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 28

Socially Guided Learning

• Leo is taught to “turnon all the lights”

• Leo generalizes tonew situation

• Leo displayscommitment to jointactivity in spite ofincorrect action

(video < Breazeal’s Lab)

11/27/06 UH 267 — Embodiment 29

Social Implications ofArtificial Intelligence