Re: How does this robot know it has arms?

On Sep 2, 1:31 am, Clifford Heath <n...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Chad Johnson wrote:
Along the same lines, how does a baby figure out it has arms and legs?

According to my observations (three children), they do it by observation.

When very young, a child is apt to flail sometimes when excited, and when
hit in the face by one of its own arms, to look startled and perhaps cry,
in a normal and otherwise-observed startle reflex. I've seen this at least
twice quite clearly. They have no idea the arm belongs to them.

I think this is a very wonderful bit of observation!

My thinking on the subject is similar. Children experiment to find
what they can control and what they cannot. I've heard discussions
about them discovering their toes, for instance.

A quick Google search shows: http://www.raisingarizonakids.com/index.php?page=article_view&ar_id=57

"Watching our children discover new things is one of the great joys of
parenting. First, they discover their toes. Then come bubbles and
butterflies, books, bicycles and banana splits."

But one of the things I think they discover first, is their "thoughts"
are somehow connected to getting what they want.

Want to see a grown adult make a baby face? Tell them to cause
something "tele-kenetically". "Hey Joe, try to flip that wall switch
over there without touching it." Watch him close his eyes and scrunch
up his face. Maybe reach out in empty space, and make a groping
motion. (If you need a visual, in short, "Do the Yoda".) Basically all
the same moves as a baby trying to will a meal into its mouth.

How does this fit with robotics? We're still trying to move things
with our minds. Programming robotics may be a latent tendancy trying
to control things with our "thoughts" back like when we thought we
first figured it out.

--
Randy M. Dumse
www.newmicros.com
Caution: Objects in mirror are more confused than they appear.

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