A system for epigenetic concept development through autonomous associative learning
Laura M. Grabowski, Matthew Luciw, Juyang Weng · 2007
In early development, an autonomous agent must learn to understand its sensors. This is thought to be done via exploratory movements. These result in low-level understanding by exploring sensorimotor associations. This paper is concerned with the further development of internal sensors that can sense and convey a concept. A concept is an abstract and compact representation of information from multiple sources. This paper introduces a system for the development of concepts, with the key features of associative learning, internal attention pathways, and exploratory movements. It is shown, within a mobile agent in a simulation environment, to develop an internal sensor that measures the semi-concrete concept of distance traveled. Distance is shown to be understood correctly when the agent is moved, either passively or actively, in different environments and at a set of movement speeds. This system is general, and can be used to develop other concepts for other types of agents.