IP, 15.10.2003, Ansprechpartner Geert-Jan Kruijff, UdS
We start from the assumption that the visionary FP6 objective ?To construct physically instantiated ... systems that can perceive, understand ... and interact with their environment, and evolve in order to achieve human-like performance in activities requiring context-(situation and task) specific knowledge? is far beyond the current state of the art and will remain so for many years. However we have devised a set of intermediate targets inspired by that vision. Achieving these targets will also provide a launch pad for further work on the long term vision.
In particular we aim to advance the science of cognitive systems through a multi-disciplinary investigation of requirements, design options and trade-offs for human-like, autonomous, integrated, physical (e.g. robot) systems, including requirements for architectures, for forms of representation, for perceptual mechanisms, for learning, planning, reasoning, motivation, action, and communication.
The results of the investigation will provide the basis for a succession of increasingly ambitious working systems to test and demonstrate the ideas. Devising demanding but achievable test scenarios, including scenarios in which a machine not only performs some task but shows that it understands what it has done, and why, is one of the challenges to be addressed in the project.
Preliminary scenarios are presented below. Further scenarios, designs and implementations will be developed on the basis of (a) their potential contribution to the long term vision, (b) their achievability (which may not be obvious in advance) and (c) the possibility of practical applications, for instance in machines to help house-bound invalids who prefer not to impose too much on fellow humans. Developing tools to support this exploration is an additional aim. The work will use an ?open? framework facilitating collaboration with a variety of international projects with related objectives.
