Reflection #8: Robot Programming

Synopsis: 

Similarly to Braitenberg’s Creatures, this article focused on how a series of commands can allow for robots to become more self aware and ‘intelligent’

Notes and Quotes:

“Behavior control allows us to tie together into a coherent whole all the elements of robot control”

Behaviors are simply layers of control systems that run in parallel whenever appropriate sensors fire”

Modeling is a good solution to manipulating space as a robot but it is subject to time (the time needed to model the world before executing task) and t programming power.

Behavior fusion and suppressor nodes can be used to debug my kittenbot code

Suppressor Node: used to prioritise between two or more powerful commands as to which should be triggered b the other

The Process/task/ scheduler system work similarly to functions/modules in other coding languages

Reflection:

While this process allows for more self aware machines, it reminded me of the Chinese experiment mentioned in the embodied cognitive science article in that, as stated in the article, even though the machine can take in the place and move around accordingly, the robot cannot distinguish between a chair and a table, nor do they have a sense of object permanence. This would be the next step in making such machines intelligent.

Behavior programming works similarly to electronic bricks and I am not entirely sure of the difference

Behavior control is beneficial because it allows for an action-reaction based system [real-time robustness]. This differs from modeling which works poorly in changing or natural environments

Reflection #6: Braitenberg Creatures

Synopsis:

This article explained different autonomous creatures created using electronic bricks inspired by Braitenberg’s creatures.

Definitions:

Electronic bricks: specifically modified LEGO Bricks with simple electronic circuits inside

Questions:

  • These creatures were made to be more child friendly. The article explains that “Children learn important ideas about living systems not just by observing creatures but by building them” However after reading on how the creatures work, isn’t it a bit complex and subtle for children below a certain age to comprehend the nuances of the various behaviours?
  • How can vehicles mimic behaviour
    • Follow up: They are not actually imitating the emotions through feeling but rather through response and reaction therefore mimicing associated actions with the given behaviours
  • Can these behaviours also be applied to a kittenbot

Reflection:

The reading was quite comprehensive and generated much though on potential structures when building future robots. It also triggered the thoughts on what it means to live. Is to live, to be able to react? I think these actions can be easily applied to the kittenbot in concept but I’m not sure of the technicalities.