Cognitive Robotics Resources
The resources here are intended to support the IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics.
Contents
General Information
Definitions of Cognition
It has proved difficult to define cognition (and some argue that it isn't worth trying). Here is a list of over 40
definitions which were contributed by members of euCognition - the European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems -
in response to a questionnaire.
For comparison, here is the definition of a cognitive system that is being adopted by the Springer Reference Guide to Computer Vision.
Research Material
Research Issues
Controversies in Cognitive Systems Research
White Papers
* Dynamic Field Theory (DFT): Applications in Cognitive Science and Robotics
- Observing Human Behaviour in Image Sequences: The Video-Hermeneutic Challenge
- Cognitive Ontologies: Mapping Structure and Function of the Brain from a Systemic View
- Coordinating with the Future: the Anticipatory Nature of Representation
- Communication and Distributed Control in Multi-Agent Systems: Preliminary Model of Micro-unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MAV) Swarms
- Enactive Artificial Intelligence
- CoEvolutionary Approaches in Cognitive Robotic Systems Design
- Action Selection for Intelligent Systems
Surveys
Comparative Repository of Cognitive Architectures
Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures Society (BICA)] comparison of 25 cognitive architectures]
A Survey of Cognitive and Agent Architectures
University of Michigan survey of (mostly cognitivist) cognitive architectures
A Framework for Comparing Agent Architectures
Aaron Sloman and Matthias Scheutz, Proceedings UKCI'02, UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, 2002
Robot Platforms
The iCub is an open source cognitive humanoid robotic platform.
Research Networks
euCognition
. This network was the first in a series of three networks, culminating in EUCog III below.
European Society forl Cognitive Systems (originally the European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems, Interaction and Robotics).
Software Resources
AKIRA
AKIRA is an open source C++ framework for designing distributed, modular agent architectures (e.g., schema-based, behaviour-based, etc.) Some features of the framework include:
- support for decentralized, asynchronous and parallel processing;
- flexible implementation of the beahavior each module, with libraries for implementing soft computing algorithms (neural networks, fuzzy logic, fuzzy cognitive maps, etc.);
- flexible implementation of modules interaction (the default is inspired by complex systems research, i.e. local excitation and global inhibition among the modules);
- communication via blackboard and shared global variables;
- works under linux.
See: Giovanni Pezzulo and Gianguglielmo Calvi (2007). Designing Modular Architectures in the Framework AKIRA. Multiagent and Grid Systems, 3, 65--86.
AmonI - Artificial Models of Natural Intelligence
Behavior Oriented Design (BOD) and POSH Action Selection, and much more ...
Behaviour oriented design is a methodology for developing intelligent systems. It extends object oriented design to the special problems of proactive systems, including real-time systems for dynamic enviornments. To the extent that these systems are agents, they need goals and priorities; in BOD these are specified using POSH action selection.
CAST: The CoSy Architecture Schema Toolkit
This a software toolkit to support the developments of intelligent systems based on a space of possible architecture designs described by the CoSy Architecture Schema (CAS). The CoSy Architecture Schema Toolkit (CAST) is a software implementation of this schema designed to allow researchers (primarily in the fields of AI and robotics) to develop instantiations of the schema. The toolkit supports C++ and Java, and provides a communication framework for distributing an instantiation across a network. Its primary scientific purpose is to maintain a separation between a system's architecture and the content of its architecture, allowing one to be varied independently of the other.
YARP: Yet Another Robot Platform
YARP is a thin middleware for humanoid robots (and more). YARP supports building a robot control system as a collection of programs communicating in a peer-to-peer way, with an extensible family of connection types (tcp, udp, multicast, local, MPI, mjpg-over-http, XML/RPC, tcpros, ...) that can be swapped in and out to match your needs. It also supports similarly flexible interfacing with hardware devices. The strategic goal is to increase the longevity of robot software projects.
Teaching Resources
Tutorials
- The dynamic neural field approach to cognitive robotics
- Neuronal Dynamics Approaches to Cognitive Robotics
- Tutorial on Embodiment
- Control engineering of autonomous cognitive vehicles - a practical tutorial
Model Curricula
Course Material
Artificial Cognitive Systems
Teaching material to support Artificial Cognitive Systems - A Primer, MIT Press, 2014.
Cognitive Computer Vision
This course focusses mainly on generative models and deals with such issues as Bayesian Networks, Gaussian Mixtures, and Hidden Markov Models. The 15 lectures and slides for the entire course are available for download from the ECVision website.
Human Vision
Cognitive Architectures
This module is part of a course on computation and cognition that gives a particularly useful introduction to production system cognitivist cognitive architectures.
Degrees in Cognitive Systems
The following is a sample of the Master-level degrees that are available in cognitive systems.
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain Interdisciplinary Master in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media (60 ECTS)
- Technical University of Munich Robotics, Cognition, and Intelligence
- University of Warwick M.Sc. in Cognitive Systems
- University of Zurich Master of Science in Informatics: Field of study Multimodal and Cognitive Systems
- Jacobs University, Germany Cognitive Systems and Processes
