Re: Where is behavior AI now?

On 27 Aug 2006 09:44:11 -0700, "dan michaels" <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


Tim Polmear wrote:



I'm afraid I haven't got past bump switches 101, but my robots use a
very simple history gathering algorithm to recognise when they are
caught in a corner. Expressing the recent frequency of collisions as a
stress factor, the robot can respond to being caught in a corner by
panicking and executing a radical about turn. I don't offer this as an
example of machine intelligence, but as an illustration of the types
of information the machine can build up using the simplest of sensors.




This is well described by Joe Jones in his latest book, mentioned
earlier. Even a simple robot needs short-term memory, and not simply
Brooksian reactive-subsumption, else it can be easily caught in
infinite repetitive behavioral loops, and never "know" the diffference,
nor take corrective action.




I agree that the complexity of sensory input does not necessarily
limit intelligence. A hypothetical intelligent robot armed only with a
bump sensor and an ability to perform rudimentary odometry, placed in
a box with an obstacle which it is allowed to discover and memorise
could make some profound logical deductions about the universe if the
obstacle was subsequently removed. That's assuming the robot has the
kind of cognitive capability to make deductions. Is that the key
point? Cognition. Or would syllogism suffice?




What you're talking about here is still VERY simple behavioral
repertoire, and I think Randy is looking for something beyond that. For
a "robot" [rather than just an AI program in a box] to perform robust
behavior over a wide range of environmental problems, extensive sensory
intelligence about the outside world is of prime importance, as well as
a large stored knowledgebase, plus the ability to use both.

Hey, VERY simple is all you're going to get from me, I couldn't
back-propagate my way out of a wet paper bag. Making sense of the
environment seems a hideously complicated task, to my way of thinking
and let's face it: People with PhDs in all sorts of things have been
working in the field for decades.

But my illustration of a bot in a box was not intended to merely
represent a typical bump-n-go thing on wheels. I maintain that even
that minimalist environment could be used to test a robust machine
intelligence system.

Driving, bumping, odometry, mapping, route planning, these are all
mechanical aspects of the process. In my example, I suggest that the
theoretical obstacle is removed after being mapped by the robot. It
doesn't take intelligence by the robot to discover that the obstacle
is missing and update its area map, An intelligent robot, however,
might be able to generalise about the nature of obstacles:

I can crash into obstacles
I can drive around obstacles
Obstacles can exist
Obstacles can be in front of me or beside me or behind me
Obstacles can be close or far away
Obstacles can be in my way or not
Obstacles can be small like the one I found at x,y position
Obstacles can surround me
There can be a distance between obstacles
Obstacles cause a change in certain registers of my circuits
When I am stationary, obstacles have no effect on me unless I have
already crashed into one.
Obstacles can be approached from a number of directions
Obstacles can meet in a corner
Some obstacles stop my odometry circuits registering forward motion
even though I am trying to drive forwards.
Some obstacles can move
Obstacles do not usually move
Some obstacles can be there and then not there
If the obstacles that surround me behave in the same way as the
obstacle that was in the middle of my world and which is now gone,
what will happen?
And so on...

Writing these ideas as a human is a fairly simple task, but I think it
would be a very elaborate robot that could fully comprehend the nature
of a box with a block in the middle.

EG, imagine how your daily life would change if you had been deaf and
blind from birth, Curt's example of Helen Keller notwithstanding. Then,
reflect that onto your robot.

HK had the internal processing power necessary to overcome her sensory
limitations, by virtual of 2 factors. First, she did have the great
internal processing power of other humans, and secondly, she still had
a very sophisticated sensory input capability - ie, millions of touch
sensors in her hands, pain sensors, heat sensors, ability to sense the
unique properties of water [her ultimate link to reality according to
the movie, IIRC] - which allowed her to integrate into the world of
humans.

Now, like your robot, imagine HK's life without her millions of
touch/etc sensory fibers. Without vision, hearing, or even touch, she
would have been forever locked into her private world, with no way out.

What would her mind have done then, I wonder. A 'tabula rasa' with no
sensory input... The neurons would have created some kind of altered
sense of reality unless consciousness is entirely based on sensory
input. Or would the brain have simply atrophied, losing its capacity
to function beyond the semi-autonomous regulation of he body systems.
Any evil scientist worth his reputation could answer the question with
a brain in a jar and an MRI machine :)



____________________________________________________
"I like to be organised. A place for everything. And everything all over the place."
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Range-finding ultrasonic / infrared
    ... Infrared is way cheaper, but I don't full ... > filtered to only detect IR, instead of normal light? ... > turning my robot, but if it doesn't turn quick enough, it'll increase ... when you are trying to detect obstacles, ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
  • Re: Range-finding ultrasonic / infrared
    ... >> I'll start turning my robot, but if it doesn't turn quick enough, ... > when you are trying to detect obstacles, ... but Acroname don't have visible shipping costs for the UK! ... Cheapest I've found here is: ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
  • Re: Controlling the path
    ... Building a robot that could go around a room (no obstacles) in a spiral ... manner with only 3.5mm inside of the preceeding path. ...
    (comp.robotics.misc)
  • Re: Cooperative robots (AGV) simulation using MATLAB
    ... your robot will know obstacles if he will ... "bumps on them", and even then he won't know nothing about the obstacle ... cross roads) while traveling in the area and will choose shortcut... ...
    (comp.soft-sys.matlab)
  • Re: Where is behavior AI now?
    ... I'm afraid I haven't got past bump switches 101, ... Even a simple robot needs short-term memory, ... I agree that the complexity of sensory input does not necessarily ... plus the ability to use both. ...
    (comp.robotics.misc)