Latest by Tony J Prescott
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2021
The functional organization of the mammalian brain can be considered to form a layered control ar... more The functional organization of the mammalian brain can be considered to form a layered control architecture, but how this complex system has emerged through evolution and is constructed during development remains a puzzle. Here we consider brain organization through the framework of constraint closure, viewed as a general characteristic of living systems, that they are composed of multiple sub-systems that constrain each other at different timescales. We do so by developing a new formalism for constraint closure, inspired by a previous model showing how within-lifetime dynamics can constrain between-lifetime dynamics, and we demonstrate how this interaction can be generalized to multi-layered systems. hrough this model, we consider brain organization in the context of two major examples of constraint closure—physiological regulation and visual orienting. Our analysis draws attention to the capacity of layered brain architectures to scaffold themselves across multiple timescales, including the ability of cortical processes to constrain the evolution of sub-cortical processes, and of the latter to constrain the space in which cortical systems self-organize and refine themselves.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
iScience, 2021
Social robots that can interact and communicate with people are growing in popularity for use at ... more Social robots that can interact and communicate with people are growing in popularity for use at home and in customer-service, education, and healthcare settings. Although growing evidence suggests that cooperative and emotionally aligned social robots could benefit users across the lifespan, controversy continues about the ethical implications of these devices and their potential harms. In this perspective, we explore this balance between benefit and risk through the lens of humanrobot relationships. We review the definitions and purposes of social robots, explore their philosophical and psychological status, and relate research on human-human and human-animal relationships to the emerging literature on human-robot relationships. Advocating a relational rather than essentialist view, we consider the balance of benefits and harms that can arise from different types of relationship with social robots and conclude by considering the role of researchers in understanding the ethical and societal impacts of social robotics.
The action-oriented paradigm in cognitive science is emerging alongside a broader movement toward... more The action-oriented paradigm in cognitive science is emerging alongside a broader movement towards a more contextualized, pragmatic and socially-distributed science. This synergy between the view of the mind as practice and the practice of the science of mind, bodes well for the development of a new, robust and socially-useful understanding of human experience through which scientific insights can connect with broader intellectual traditions and refocus on societal impact as opposed to impact factors. Through its emphasis on action, the paradigm is well-suited to addressing real-world problems at the same time as advancing fundamental understanding. This chapter briefly explores promising domains in which applications of the action-oriented view are being pursued, including biomimetics, enactive approaches to design, and immersive technologies. Research that has real-world impacts entails social risk, therefore, to be ethical, research in action-oriented cognition should be performed openly and in dialog with the wider public.
ROBIO, 2016
— Learning and perception from multiple sensory modalities are crucial processes for the developm... more — Learning and perception from multiple sensory modalities are crucial processes for the development of intelligent systems capable of interacting with humans. We present an integrated probabilistic framework for perception, learning and memory in robotics. The core component of our framework is a computational Synthetic Autobiographical Memory model which uses Gaussian Processes as a foundation and mimics the functionalities of human memory. Our memory model, that operates via a principled Bayesian probabilistic framework, is capable of receiving and integrating data flows from multiple sensory modalities, which are combined to improve perception and understanding of the surrounding environment. To validate the model, we implemented our framework in the iCub humanoid robotic, which was able to learn and recognise human faces, arm movements and touch gestures through interaction with people. Results demonstrate the flexibility of our method to successfully integrate multiple sensory inputs, for accurate learning and recognition. Thus, our integrated probabilistic framework offers a promising core technology for robust intelligent systems, which are able to perceive, learn and interact with people and their environments.
It is five years since the publication of “Principles of Robotics” developed by a panel of distin... more It is five years since the publication of “Principles of Robotics” developed by a panel of distinguished British robotics and AI experts at an EPSRC/AHRC funded retreat. The principles, which were aimed at “regulating robots in the real world”, were stated in the form of five
“rules” and seven “high-level messages.” The five rules are as follows:
1. Robots are multi-use tools. Robots should not be designed solely or
primarily to kill or harm humans, except in the interests of national
security.
2. Humans, not robots, are responsible agents. Robots should be designed;
operated as far as is practicable to comply with existing laws &
fundamental rights & freedoms, including privacy.
3. Robots are products. They should be designed using processes which
assure their safety and security.
4. Robots are manufactured artefacts. They should not be designed in a
deceptive way to exploit vulnerable users; instead their machine nature
should be transparent.
5. The person with legal responsibility for a robot should be attributed.
A 1-day symposium was held on the 4th of April as part of the AISB 2016 Conference in Sheffield, UK. These proceedings contain commentaries on the principles solicited in advance of the meeting. Commentaries were checked for relevance by the organising committee but were not peer reviewed. Revised, extended and peer-reviewed versions of the commentaries together with a report of the meeting will by published in 2017 in the journal Connection Science.
Living Machines V. The Fifth International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, 2016
We describe the design of a novel commercial biomimetic brain-based robot, MIRO, developed as a p... more We describe the design of a novel commercial biomimetic brain-based robot, MIRO, developed as a prototype robot companion. The MIRO robot is animal-like in several aspects of its appearance, however, it is also biomimetic in a more significant way, in that its control architecture mimics some of the key principles underlying the design of the mammalian brain as revealed by neuroscience. Specifically, MIRO builds on decades of previous work in developing robots with brain-based control systems using a layered control architecture alongside centralized mechanisms for integration and action selection. MIRO's control system operates across three core processors, P1-P3, that mimic aspects of spinal cord, brainstem, and forebrain functionality respectively. Whilst designed as a versatile prototype for next generation companion robots, MIRO also provides developers and researchers with a new platform for investigating the potential advantages of brain-based control.
THE DOWLOAD IS THE BOOK FRONT MATTER ONLY SEE LINKS FOR FULL TEXT. Touch is the ability to under... more THE DOWLOAD IS THE BOOK FRONT MATTER ONLY SEE LINKS FOR FULL TEXT. Touch is the ability to understand the world through physical contact. The noun “touch” and the verb “to touch” derive from the Old French verb “tochier”. Touch perception is also described by the adjectives tactile, from the Latin “tactilis”, and haptic, from the Greek “haptόs”. Academic research concerned with touch is also often described as haptics.
The aim of Scholarpedia of Touch, first published by Scholarpedia (www. scholarpedia.org), is to provide a comprehensive set of articles, written by leading researchers and peer reviewed by fellow scientists, detailing the current scientific understanding of the sense of touch and of its neural substrates in animals including humans. It is hoped that the encyclopedia will encourage sharing of ideas and insights between researchers working on different aspects of touch in different species, including research in synthetic touch systems. In addition, it is hoped that the encyclopedia will raise awareness about research in tactile sensing and promote increased scientific and public interest in the field.
Scholarpedia, Apr 26, 2015
Despite its behavioural significance and omnipresence throughout the animal kingdom, the sense of... more Despite its behavioural significance and omnipresence throughout the animal kingdom, the sense of touch is still one of the least studied and understood modalities. There are multiple forms of touch, and the mechanosensory basis underlying touch perception must be divided into several distinct sub-modalities (such as vibration or pressure), as will be made clear by the contributions elsewhere in this encyclopaedia. The commonality of all touch sensing systems is that touch experience is mediated by specialised receptors embedded in the integument—the outer protective layers of the animal such as the mammalian skin or the arthropod cuticle. Comparative research on touch, and its neuroethology, is only just beginning to provide a larger picture of the different forms of touch sensing within the animal kingdom. We begin our volume by reviewing works on several different invertebrate and vertebrate species, focusing on mechanosensation, each one with a specific requirement for tactile information. The aim of this introductory overview is to give selected examples of research on important model organisms from various classes of the animal kingdom, ranging from the skin of worms to the feelers of insects, and from the whiskers of a rat to the human hand. We conclude by discussing forms of human touch and the possibility of its future extension via synthetic systems.
We consider the problem of sensorimotor coordination in mammals through the lens of vibrissal tou... more We consider the problem of sensorimotor coordination in mammals through the lens of vibrissal touch, and via the methodology of embodied computational neuroscience—using biomimetic robots to synthesize and investigate models of mammalian brain architecture. The chapter focuses on five major brain subsystems and their likely role in vibrissal system function—superior colliculus, basal ganglia, somatosensory cortex, cerebellum, and hippocampus. With respect to each of these we demonstrate how embodied modelling has helped elucidate their likely function in the brain of awake behaving animals. We also demonstrate how the appropriate coordination of these subsystems , with a model of brain architecture, can give rise to integrated behaviour in a lifelike whiskered robot.
Living Machines is an international conference series concerned with the development of future re... more Living Machines is an international conference series concerned with the development of future real-world technologies that harness the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems. The conference highlights the most exciting contemporary research in biomimetics—the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems, and biohybrids—formed by combining a biological component—an existing living system—with an artificial, newly-engineered component. The concept of “Living Machine” captures the insight that useful artificial entities can be designed by copying life, and, at the same time, that we can understand biological organisms, including ourselves, as living machines “designed” by nature.
Some of the most interesting new developments in biomimetic and biohybrid technologies, grouped under five themes, together with some striking examples of contemporary biomimetic or biohybrid art, were selected for presentation at the Living Machines Exhibition, a one-day event at the Science Museum in London. Highlights of the 2013 Living Machines exhibition included:
• A musical performance featuring the iCub humanoid robot
• Mammal-like robots with whiskered touch systems
• A robot model of fossilised animal behaviour from the dawn of life
• Biomimetic medical devices including a wasp-like needle for minimally-invasive surgery
• A robot that powers itself by digesting human waste
• Micro-flying robots, worm, octopus, fish and mammal-like robots
• Biohybrid clothing made with living cells and robots controlled by slime mould
• Live visual art generated by the Artificial Intelligence AARON, created by Harold Cohen
• A string quartet performing music generated by the Artificial Intelligence EMI, created by David Cope.
The Living Machines conference series and the Living Machines exhibition are co-ordinated by the Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (csnetwork.eu) which is supported by the EU Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Programme. Both events are organised by the leading biomimetic scientists Professor Tony Prescott of the University of Sheffield and Professor Paul Verschure of the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Contact us at [email protected] or [email protected], or see our web-pages at http://csnetwork.eu
Living Machines IV. The Fourth International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, 2015
In this paper we present an architecture for the study of telepresence and human-robot interactio... more In this paper we present an architecture for the study of telepresence and human-robot interaction. The telepresence system uses the visual and gaze control systems of the iCub humanoid robot coupled with the Oculus Rift virtual reality system. The human is able to observe the remote location from the visual feedback displayed in the Oculus Rift. The exploration of the remote environment is achieved by controlling the eyes and head of the iCub humanoid robot with orientation information from human head movements. Our system was tested from various remote locations using both local and wide area networks, producing a smooth control of the robot. This provides a robust architecture for immersion of humans in a robotic system for remote observation and exploration of the environment.
New Scientist, 2015
What might we discover about being human by giving a robot a sense of self?
HRI & Societal Impacts by Tony J Prescott
Living Machines IV. The Fourth International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, 2015
Recently, the concept of a 'companion robot' as a healthcare tool has been popularised, and even ... more Recently, the concept of a 'companion robot' as a healthcare tool has been popularised, and even commercialised. We present MIRO, a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how emulation of the familiar body language and other emotional expressions of mammals may facilitate effective communication with na¨ıve users through the reliable evocation of intended perceptions of emotional state and intent. We go on to present a brief pilot study addressing the question of whether shared cultural signals can be relied upon, similarly , as components of communication systems for companion robots. Such studies form part of our ongoing effort to understand and quantify human responses to robot expressive behaviour and, thereby, develop a methodology for optimising the design of social robots by accounting for individual and cultural differences.
Advances in Computer Entertainment, 2015
Here we present MIRO, a companion robot designed to engage users in science and robotics via edut... more Here we present MIRO, a companion robot designed to engage users in science and robotics via edutainment. MIRO is a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how MIRO's emulation of familiar mammalian body language as one component of a broader biomimetic expressive system provides effective communication of emotional state and intent. We go on to discuss how these features contribute to MIRO's potential in other domains such as healthcare, education, and research.
Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2014, 2014
ABSTRACT
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014
The Expressive Agents for Symbiotic Education and Learn-ing (EASEL) project will explore human-ro... more The Expressive Agents for Symbiotic Education and Learn-ing (EASEL) project will explore human-robot symbiotic interaction(HRSI) with the aim of developing an understanding of symbiosis overlong term tutoring interactions. The EASEL system will be built uponan established and neurobiologically grounded architecture - Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC). Here we present the design of an initial exper-iment in which our facially expressive humanoid robot will interact withchildren at a public exhibition. We discuss the range of measurementswe will employ to explore the effects our robot’s expressive ability hason interaction with children during HRSI, with the aim of contributingoptimal robot personality parameters to the final EASEL model.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2013
There is increasing discussion of the possibility of AI being developed to a point where it reach... more There is increasing discussion of the possibility of AI being developed to a point where it reaches a 'singularity' beyond which it will continue to improve in a runaway fashion without human help. Worst-case scenarios sup- pose that, in the future,
homo sapiens might even be replaced by intelligent ma-chines as the dominant 'species' on our planet. This paper argues that the standard argument for the AI singularity is based on an inappropriate compari-son of advanced AI to average human intelligence, arguing instead that progress in AI should be measured against the collective intelligence of the global com-munity of human minds brought together and enhanced be smart technologies that include AI. By this argument, AI as a separate entity, is unlikely to surpass 'runaway' human (or, perhaps, posthuman) intelligence whose continued ad-vance, fueled by scientific and cultural feedback, shows no sign of abating. An alternative scenario is proposed that human collective intelligence will take an increasingly biohybrid form as we move towards a greater, deeper and more seamless integration with our technology.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2013
Natural design is an interaction of both adaptive evolutionary forces and generative developmen... more Natural design is an interaction of both adaptive evolutionary forces and generative developmental processes – evo-devo. We consider how evo-devo principles can be applied to the design of living ma-chines, and how biohybrid societies (comprising machines and organisms)may be used as a new form of scientific model.
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2013
Biomimetics is a research field that is achieving particular prominencethrough an explosion of new... more Biomimetics is a research field that is achieving particular prominencethrough an explosion of new discoveries in biology and engineering. The field concernsnovel technologies developed through the transfer of function from biological systems.To analyze the impact of this field within engineering and related sciences, we compiledan extensive database of publications for study with network-based informationanalysis techniques. Criteria included publications by year and journal or conference,and subject areas judged by popular and co-occurring terms in titles. Our resultsreveal that this research area has expanded rapidly from less than one hundred papersper year in the 1990s to several thousand papers per year in the first decade of thiscentury. Moreover, this research is having impact across a variety of research themes,spanning robotics, computer science and bioengineering. In consequence, biomimeticsis becoming a leading paradigm for the development of new technologies that will potentially lead to significant scientific, societal and economic impact in the near future
This paper considers some of the ethical issues around the use of robots in caring for older peop... more This paper considers some of the ethical issues around the use of robots in caring for older people and in childcare. I argue that the debate on the use of robots in care has involved slippery slope arguments for which the likelihood of progression to worst-case outcomes needs more thorough analysis. In older care, the risk of social isolation of older people through use of care robots is indirect and may have been over-stated; similarly, in childcare, the risk of psychological damage to children, through irresponsible use of robots, must be balanced against the potential positive benefits of these technologies if used appropriately.
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Latest by Tony J Prescott
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
“rules” and seven “high-level messages.” The five rules are as follows:
1. Robots are multi-use tools. Robots should not be designed solely or
primarily to kill or harm humans, except in the interests of national
security.
2. Humans, not robots, are responsible agents. Robots should be designed;
operated as far as is practicable to comply with existing laws &
fundamental rights & freedoms, including privacy.
3. Robots are products. They should be designed using processes which
assure their safety and security.
4. Robots are manufactured artefacts. They should not be designed in a
deceptive way to exploit vulnerable users; instead their machine nature
should be transparent.
5. The person with legal responsibility for a robot should be attributed.
A 1-day symposium was held on the 4th of April as part of the AISB 2016 Conference in Sheffield, UK. These proceedings contain commentaries on the principles solicited in advance of the meeting. Commentaries were checked for relevance by the organising committee but were not peer reviewed. Revised, extended and peer-reviewed versions of the commentaries together with a report of the meeting will by published in 2017 in the journal Connection Science.
The aim of Scholarpedia of Touch, first published by Scholarpedia (www. scholarpedia.org), is to provide a comprehensive set of articles, written by leading researchers and peer reviewed by fellow scientists, detailing the current scientific understanding of the sense of touch and of its neural substrates in animals including humans. It is hoped that the encyclopedia will encourage sharing of ideas and insights between researchers working on different aspects of touch in different species, including research in synthetic touch systems. In addition, it is hoped that the encyclopedia will raise awareness about research in tactile sensing and promote increased scientific and public interest in the field.
Some of the most interesting new developments in biomimetic and biohybrid technologies, grouped under five themes, together with some striking examples of contemporary biomimetic or biohybrid art, were selected for presentation at the Living Machines Exhibition, a one-day event at the Science Museum in London. Highlights of the 2013 Living Machines exhibition included:
• A musical performance featuring the iCub humanoid robot
• Mammal-like robots with whiskered touch systems
• A robot model of fossilised animal behaviour from the dawn of life
• Biomimetic medical devices including a wasp-like needle for minimally-invasive surgery
• A robot that powers itself by digesting human waste
• Micro-flying robots, worm, octopus, fish and mammal-like robots
• Biohybrid clothing made with living cells and robots controlled by slime mould
• Live visual art generated by the Artificial Intelligence AARON, created by Harold Cohen
• A string quartet performing music generated by the Artificial Intelligence EMI, created by David Cope.
The Living Machines conference series and the Living Machines exhibition are co-ordinated by the Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (csnetwork.eu) which is supported by the EU Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Programme. Both events are organised by the leading biomimetic scientists Professor Tony Prescott of the University of Sheffield and Professor Paul Verschure of the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Contact us at [email protected] or [email protected], or see our web-pages at http://csnetwork.eu
HRI & Societal Impacts by Tony J Prescott
homo sapiens might even be replaced by intelligent ma-chines as the dominant 'species' on our planet. This paper argues that the standard argument for the AI singularity is based on an inappropriate compari-son of advanced AI to average human intelligence, arguing instead that progress in AI should be measured against the collective intelligence of the global com-munity of human minds brought together and enhanced be smart technologies that include AI. By this argument, AI as a separate entity, is unlikely to surpass 'runaway' human (or, perhaps, posthuman) intelligence whose continued ad-vance, fueled by scientific and cultural feedback, shows no sign of abating. An alternative scenario is proposed that human collective intelligence will take an increasingly biohybrid form as we move towards a greater, deeper and more seamless integration with our technology.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
“rules” and seven “high-level messages.” The five rules are as follows:
1. Robots are multi-use tools. Robots should not be designed solely or
primarily to kill or harm humans, except in the interests of national
security.
2. Humans, not robots, are responsible agents. Robots should be designed;
operated as far as is practicable to comply with existing laws &
fundamental rights & freedoms, including privacy.
3. Robots are products. They should be designed using processes which
assure their safety and security.
4. Robots are manufactured artefacts. They should not be designed in a
deceptive way to exploit vulnerable users; instead their machine nature
should be transparent.
5. The person with legal responsibility for a robot should be attributed.
A 1-day symposium was held on the 4th of April as part of the AISB 2016 Conference in Sheffield, UK. These proceedings contain commentaries on the principles solicited in advance of the meeting. Commentaries were checked for relevance by the organising committee but were not peer reviewed. Revised, extended and peer-reviewed versions of the commentaries together with a report of the meeting will by published in 2017 in the journal Connection Science.
The aim of Scholarpedia of Touch, first published by Scholarpedia (www. scholarpedia.org), is to provide a comprehensive set of articles, written by leading researchers and peer reviewed by fellow scientists, detailing the current scientific understanding of the sense of touch and of its neural substrates in animals including humans. It is hoped that the encyclopedia will encourage sharing of ideas and insights between researchers working on different aspects of touch in different species, including research in synthetic touch systems. In addition, it is hoped that the encyclopedia will raise awareness about research in tactile sensing and promote increased scientific and public interest in the field.
Some of the most interesting new developments in biomimetic and biohybrid technologies, grouped under five themes, together with some striking examples of contemporary biomimetic or biohybrid art, were selected for presentation at the Living Machines Exhibition, a one-day event at the Science Museum in London. Highlights of the 2013 Living Machines exhibition included:
• A musical performance featuring the iCub humanoid robot
• Mammal-like robots with whiskered touch systems
• A robot model of fossilised animal behaviour from the dawn of life
• Biomimetic medical devices including a wasp-like needle for minimally-invasive surgery
• A robot that powers itself by digesting human waste
• Micro-flying robots, worm, octopus, fish and mammal-like robots
• Biohybrid clothing made with living cells and robots controlled by slime mould
• Live visual art generated by the Artificial Intelligence AARON, created by Harold Cohen
• A string quartet performing music generated by the Artificial Intelligence EMI, created by David Cope.
The Living Machines conference series and the Living Machines exhibition are co-ordinated by the Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (csnetwork.eu) which is supported by the EU Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Programme. Both events are organised by the leading biomimetic scientists Professor Tony Prescott of the University of Sheffield and Professor Paul Verschure of the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Contact us at [email protected] or [email protected], or see our web-pages at http://csnetwork.eu
homo sapiens might even be replaced by intelligent ma-chines as the dominant 'species' on our planet. This paper argues that the standard argument for the AI singularity is based on an inappropriate compari-son of advanced AI to average human intelligence, arguing instead that progress in AI should be measured against the collective intelligence of the global com-munity of human minds brought together and enhanced be smart technologies that include AI. By this argument, AI as a separate entity, is unlikely to surpass 'runaway' human (or, perhaps, posthuman) intelligence whose continued ad-vance, fueled by scientific and cultural feedback, shows no sign of abating. An alternative scenario is proposed that human collective intelligence will take an increasingly biohybrid form as we move towards a greater, deeper and more seamless integration with our technology.
(freelisting) task for two categories: animals and body parts. Additive tree analysis
(Sattath & Tversky, 1977) was used to clusters items based upon both their proximity
in the generated lists and their frequency of co-occurrence; the resulting trees together with production frequency data were compared across three age groups. For the animals category, this analysis revealed that although older children named
proportionally more non-mammals, at all ages children tend to cluster animals
according to their environmental context. For body parts, the analysis showed more
parts, particularly internal organs, named with age and a cluster of face parts generated by all age groups. A novel feature of the current research was the use of statistical measures of additive tree similarity. The results are discussed with respect to theories of developmental change in the organization of conceptual memory, and are viewed as supporting an assumption of continuity with age in the use of schematic relations in category structure. Insights are drawn from connectionist modeling to help explain the persistence, throughout childhood, of early forms of memory organization.
A connectionist learning architecture is developed for reinforcement and delayed reinforcement learning that performs adaptive recoding in tasks defined over continuous input spaces. This architecture employs networks of Gaussian basis function units with adaptive receptive fields. Simulation results show that networks with only a small number of units are capable of learning effective behaviour in realtime control tasks within reasonable time frames. A tactical/strategic split in navigation skills is proposed and it is argued that tactical, local navigation can be performed by reactive, task-specific systems. Acquisition of an adaptive local navigation behaviour is demonstrated within a modular control architecture for a simulated mobile robot. The delayed reinforcement learning system for this task acquires successful, often plan-like strategies for control using only partial state information. The algorithm also demonstrates adaptive exploration using performance related control over local search.
Finally, it is suggested that strategic, way-finding navigation skills require model-based, task-independent knowledge. A method for constructing spatial models based on multiple, quantitative local allocentric frames is described and simulated. This system exploits simple neural network learning, storage and search mechanisms, to support robust way-finding behaviour without the need to construct a unique global model of the environment.
ff
erent computational substrates, both biological and non-biological. At the same time, the rise of the philosophyof embodied modelling is generating a need to deploy biological models as controllers for robots in real-world environments. Fi-nally, robotics engineers are beginning to find value in seconding biomimetic control strategies for use on practical robots. Togetherwith the ubiquitous desire to make good on past software development e
ff
ort, these trends are throwing up new challenges of in-tellectual and technological integration (for example across scales, across disciplines, and even across time)—challenges that areunmet by existing software frameworks. Here, we outline these challenges in detail, and go on to describe a newly developedsoftware framework, BRAHMS, that meets them. BRAHMS is a tool for integrating computational process modules into a viable,computable system; its generality and flexibility facilitate integration across barriers, such as those described above, in a coherentand e
ff
ective way. We go on to describe several cases where BRAHMS has been successfully deployed in practical situations.We also show excellent performance in comparison with a monolithic development approach. Additional benefits of developing inthe framework include source code self-documentation, automatic coarse-grained parallelisation, cross-language integration, datalogging, performance monitoring, and will include dynamic load-balancing and ‘pause & continue’ execution. BRAHMS is builton the nascent, and similarly general purpose, model markup language, SystemML. This will, in future, also facilitate repeatabil-ity and accountability (same answers ten years from now), transparent automatic software distribution, and interfacing with other SystemML tools.
behavior of rats. The key components of the control network are: 1. a Hippocampus inspired module for spatial localization based on associations between sensory inputs and places; 2. an Amygdala inspired module for the association of values with places and sensory stimuli; 3. a Basal Ganglia inspired module for the selection of actions based on the evaluated sensory inputs. By implementing this Hippocampus-Amygdala-Basal Ganglia based control network with a simulated rat embodiment we intend to test not only our understanding of the individual brain areas but especially the interaction between them. Understanding the neural circuits that allows rats to efficiently forage for food will also help
to improve the ability of robots to autonomously evaluate and select navigation targets.