Colloquium Details
Technology from Biology: Using Biological Concepts to Guide the Design of Autonomous, Adaptive Technology
| Author: | Gene Korienek 3 Sigma Robotics |
|---|---|
| Date: | February 15, 2001 |
| Time: | 15:30 |
| Location: | 110 Willamette |
| Host: | Dave Clements |
Note: Special Time and Place
Abstract
Consider a mobile artificial lifeform that traverses an irregular and unpredictable terrain or a robotic arm that reaches through a cluttered space for an object by emerging novel and adaptive behaviors. Imagine that these emergent behaviors use environmental irregularities as Solutions rather than Obstacles to movement. This style of interaction between an organism and the environment is typical in the world of biological life, yet rarely observed in artificial life. While the physical characteristics of artificial agents and robots are often designed with reference to biological life, the actual behavior of these systems is seldom similar to the behavior observed in biological life.
Our research directive at 3 Sigma Robotics is founded in the notion that biological life cooperates with the environment in a special way to produce autonomous and adaptive behavioral outcomes. This level of cooperation establishes the environment as a guide to the organism's autonomous, adaptive behavior through the complexity and unpredictability of the environment. Current artificial life forms often do not use their environment as a cooperative mechanism in the regulation of their movement. Important components of this thinking are:
- Collective control,
- Loose specification,
- Environment as its own representation,
- Environment completes the movement computation.
In this seminar, I will discuss these concepts relative to existing work in computer science, ecological psychology, and robotics. In addition, I will present data collected from experiments using a puppet robotic arm.
Biography