Biological Studies

Animal motion and behavior studies such as those carried out at the UCB Poly-pedal Lab & MIT's Leg Lab, sometimes augmented with motion capture suits, can extract the characteristics of such activities as legged movement. Suites of characteristics can be used to produce motion-script files which can be run on 3D animated computer models of biologically-inspired robots in physics-based computer simulations. These VR 3-D Kinematic Animation Modeling with Physics Properties studies can be used to develop Robot Control systems.

Artificial Intelligence and Related Software

Artificial Intelligence (AI) software: A promising application is developing applied dynamic artificial intelligence. The robot can connect via wireless mobile software to a PC Server farm, even a hyper-threaded multi-processor parallel PC array, running sophisticated integrated Artificial Intelligence software ensembles. Such software collections can include Genetic Algorithms, Neural Nets, Fuzzy Logic, Expert Systems, Intelligent Agents, Help Desk, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Optical Character Recognition, and Speech Recognition/Synthesis. As the robot encounters challenging situations, data is transmitted from the robot to the AI system. The AI system mines and crunches the data until intelligent methods and procedures are found. These are then transmitted back to robot to try. A classic example is using a Genetic Algorithm/Neural Net combination to get smarter at solving some task in real time such as a competition ball game or maze navigation event. Another is remote field office problem determination/solving and delivery of technical expertise via Help Desk and Intelligent Agent resources. A low-cost Humanoid toy for prototyping wireless AI applications is the recently announced "Dr. Robot".



Multi-Robot Distributed Data Network: In this extension of an AI-driven robot system, a team or community of robots share data, learn from and teach each other. Each robot grows smarter at a much faster rate that single unconnected robots working in isolation. Large tasks that require teamwork, including many household/office chores, can be broken down into subtasks and accomplished quickly because the robots are arranged in a Wireless Collaborative/Cooperative Multi-Robot Distributed Sensing/Data Collection Network. In a particularly compelling application, Artificial Life based, Particle systems driven, Agent software can be used to generate motion and behavior scripts for Virtual Reality groups of Robots, as was recently demonstrated by the use of MASSIVE software in battle scenes of the film "Lord of the Rings".



Genetic Algorithms (GA), Neural Nets & Cellular Automata: These tools can be mated to robot development to accelerate to advanced results. AI software like Brandeis University's Dynamical & Evolutionary Machine Organization (DEMO) may be used to accelerate the evolution of optimum performance, such as a simple legged robot walking gait or more complex machine evolution of a robot body part. Stanford University's John Koza, inventor of Genetic Programming (GP), offers a comprehensive GP website.

In the simple case, the script may run directly on the hardware robot until the GA achieves optimum performance. The complex case may run the script repeatedly entirely on the software robot computer simulation until optimum results are achieved, at which point the final script is downloaded to the hardware robot. A typical application is running a Genetic Algorithm on a working model robot simulator to evolve optimum movement and behavior.

Artificial Intelligence Resources



AI Categories Information Compendium

About Beginner's Resources

PC AI magazine

(Note

(1) For new technology, see list in rightmost column where it reads:

"PC AI Is Growing!...Watch this site for more information on these new Artificial Intelligence topics";

(2) For existing technology, page down to table that reads "Watch this sites for the addition of new AI Categories...Artificial Intelligence Categories...AI Languages")

AI "off-the-shelf" applications: Genetic Algorithm / Neural Net Software



AI low-cost wireless Humanoid toy prototyping system



Dr. Robot (from SFRSA announcement)





Multi-Robot Distributed Data Network

SFRSA "Robots!" report ("Britain’s Kevin Morrick...team of tiny, insect brain power robots...")



MASSIVE (Artificial Life based, Particle system driven, Agent software)

Popular Science Review ("Lord of the Rings" battle scenes)





Advanced Genetic Algorithm work

James Martin "Computers Will Save Us" article (Note: do a Find or scroll down to where it reads "The engine of this transformation...alien intelligence...using genetic algorithms...")

James Martin "After the Internet: Alien Intelligence" book

Genetic Programming (Inventor of Genetic Programming (GP), Stanford University's John Koza's comprehensive GP website)

"Evolving Virtual Creatures" Genetic Algorithm Demo (Scientific American Frontiers "Robot Independence" Karl Sims segment) (Note: Click the thumbnail graphic, wait for the "Scientific American...Virage Video" player to appear; the player will take a while to download and start playing; if the page doesn't come up initially, click "Refresh")

DEMO (Dynamical & Evolutionary Machine Organization):

(1) Robotics



(2) Autonomous Evolution of Dynamic Gaits (for Sony AIBO)

(3) "Evolving Robust Gaits with AIBO" (Tech Pub.)

(4) "Autonomous Evolution of Gaits with the Sony Quadruped Robot" (Tech Pub.)



(5) Automatic Design and Manufacture of Robotic Lifeforms

The Golem Project (Genetically Organized Lifelike Electro Mechanics)

Robot Kitten Case Study

ATR HIP (Kyoto, Japan) / Genobyte's CAM-Brain Machine (CBM) driven Robot Kitten Robokoneko. Some salient quotes from Genobyte & Robokoneko-related sites offer the following exploration of the attempt to create kitten-like behavior in a robot:

"The long term aim of the CAM-Brain Machine (CBM) Project is to build...artificial brain-like systems formed by modular neural networks...(the)... brain will be used to control the behaviors of a kitten robot that is called "Robokoneko" (robot kitten) in Japanese. The Japanese name for the robot originated at ATR HIP (Kyoto, Japan), where the project was started... " (To create the Brain)...Neural network circuits are based on compartmental modeling on a substrate of 3D cellular automata: the branching dendrites and axons, as well as the soma, are made up from hundreds of tiny compartments (cellular automata cells)...The neural modules are evolved, not engineered, using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Evolutionary process is implemented at electronic speeds directly in silicon -- fine-grain FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), such as Xilinx's XC6264 FPGA...The topology of the neural module is encoded in a "chromosome", which guides the process of embryonic growth to produce a neural module...Each chromosome is a configuration bitstring loadable into FPGA configuration memory to define logical functions and wiring of the circuit. In order to evolve a circuit for a specific task, a population of competing circuits is run over generations, starting at random, each new generation inheriting characteristics of the relatively fitter parents via recombination and mutation of their chromosomes...The process is guided by a genetic algorithm which operates on a population of circuit chromosomes...Compartmental models of complex neural circuits are embryonically grown and evaluated completely in hardware in microseconds, making it possible to complete a GA run (i.e. tens of thousands of circuit growths and evaluations (fitness measurements) in a matter of a few seconds...Tens of thousands of evolved neural modules with up to 75 million neurons can be assembled into large artificial brain-like architectures. Each neuron in the brain, made up by hundreds to thousands of individual compartments is stored in a large (1.2 GByte) distributed memory, and updated by specialized electronic hardware hundreds of times per second, which is sufficient for real time control of advanced robots... "