CR Lecture 5 - Developmental Robotics

Developmental Robotics Principles

1. Development as a Dynamical System

2. Phylogenetic and Ontogenetic Interaction

3. Embodied and Situated Development

4. Intrinsic Motivation and Social Learning

5. Nonlinear, Stage-Like Development

6. Online Open-Ended Cumulative Learning

Bifurcation points

A value of the parameter that causes a change in the nature of the equilibrium

Dynamical Systems

Systems whose state evolves over time characterised by:

• Decentralised system

• Self-organising and emergence

• Multi-causality

• Nested timescales

Dynamical Systems: Decentralised System

• Behaviour determined by many factors, not one central factor. Central factor would be brain

• Many behaviours determined by local interactions (environment, internal state)

Dynamical Systems: Self-organising and emergence

• Many mechanisms that organise themselves in such a way that creates the stable state of the child

• Emergence: emerges from three elements

  • Environment, body shape, brain

Dynamical Systems: Multi-causality

• Many causes that explain the behaviour

• In the walking: water, environment, maturation, movement etc

Dynamical Systems: Nested timescales

• Fast timescale for producing behaviour (100s of ms) time taken for neuron to move a muscle

Maturation

Changes in physical structure of the body and the brain

Critical period

A critical period is a time during early postnatal life when the development and maturation of functional properties of the brain, its “plasticity,” is strongly dependent on experience or environmental influences.

Example: Language development can’t be native speaker after critical period
Duckling responding to person like it’s their mother

Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis

Phylogenesis: Evolution

Ontogenesis: development in lifetime

• Maturation

• Critical period

• Learning

Embodied and Situated

• Embodiment: Body-brain-environment interaction

• Situatedness: learning in context

  • Enaction: own model of the world

  • Morphological computation

    • Grounding

Intrinsic Motivation and Social Learning

Reasons for wanting to learn

• Intrinsic motivation:

  • Curiosity

    • Instinct to learn about anything that is new

  • Surprise

  • Novelty-seeking

  • Values

  • Drives

• Social learning and imitation

Nonlinear, Stage-like development

• Developmental milestones

• Qualitative stages (Piaget)

• Non-linear development (U-shape)

Fast mapping

Say “kiwi” once, I learn kiwi

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 yrs)

• Think about doing things, don’t reason logically or internally

Preoperational stage (2 to 7)

• Practical logic

Concrete operational stage (7-11)

• Bit more formal

Formal Operational Stage

• Equations… formal logic

Online, Open Ended, Cumulative

Idea you never stop learning

• Online learning

  • Learn when you do things

• Cumulative (add through linear or non-linear stages)

• Cognitive bootstrapping

  • Can speed up performance by re-arranging my strategy

• Cross-modality