Cognitive Robotics Resources

IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics Resources

Research Material

Research Issues

Controversies in Cognitive Systems Research

White Papers

• Dynamic Field Theory (DFT): Applications in Cognitive Science and Robotics
• Observing Human Behaviour in Image Sequences: The Video-Hermeneutic Challenge
• Cognitive Ontologies: Mapping Structure and Function of the Brain from a Systemic View
• Coordinating with the Future: the Anticipatory Nature of Representation
• Communication and Distributed Control in Multi-Agent Systems: Preliminary Model of Micro-unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MAV) Swarms
• Enactive Artificial Intelligence
• CoEvolutionary Approaches in Cognitive Robotic Systems Design
• Action Selection for Intelligent Systems

Surveys

• Comparative Repository of Cognitive Architectures Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures Society (BICA)] comparison of 25 cognitive architectures]
• A Survey of Cognitive and Agent Architectures University of Michigan survey of (mostly cognitivist) cognitive architectures
• A Framework for Comparing Agent Architectures Aaron Sloman and Matthias Scheutz, Proceedings UKCI'02, UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, 2002

Robot Platforms

• The iCub is an open source cognitive humanoid robotic platform.

Research Networks

• euCognition This network was the first in a series of three networks, culminating in EUCog III below.
• European Society for Cognitive Systems (originally the European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems, Interaction and Robotics).

Software Resources

• AKIRA is an open source C++ framework for designing distributed, modular agent architectures (e.g., schema-based, behaviour-based, etc.) with support for decentralized, asynchronous and parallel processing with libraries for implementing soft computing algorithms (neural networks, fuzzy logic, fuzzy cognitive maps, etc.).
• AmonI - Artificial Models of Natural Intelligence provides resources for Behavior Oriented Design (BOD), POSH Action Selection, and more. Behaviour oriented design is a methodology for developing intelligent systems. It extends object oriented design to the special problems of proactive systems, including real-time systems for dynamic environments.
• CAST: The CoSy Architecture Schema Toolkit is a software toolkit to support the developments of intelligent systems based on a space of possible architecture designs described by the CoSy Architecture Schema (CAS). The CoSy Architecture Schema Toolkit (CAST) is a software implementation of this schema designed to allow researchers (primarily in the fields of AI and robotics) to develop instantiations of the schema. The toolkit supports C++ and Java, and provides a communication framework for distributing an instantiation across a network. Its primary scientific purpose is to maintain a separation between a system's architecture and the content of its architecture, allowing one to be varied independently of the other.
• YARP: Yet Another Robot Platform is a thin middleware for humanoid robots (and more). YARP supports building a robot control system as a collection of programs communicating in a peer-to-peer way, with an extensible family of connection types (tcp, udp, multicast, local, MPI, mjpg-over-http, XML/RPC, tcpros, ...) that can be swapped in and out to match your needs. It also supports similarly flexible interfacing with hardware devices. The strategic goal is to increase the longevity of robot software projects.

Teaching Resources

Videos

• Elizabeth Spelke's talk on Core Knowledge of Number and Geometry at the Inaugural euCognition Meeting. This is a wide-ranging presentation highlighting the importance of development in natural and artificial cognitive systems and the basis for that development from the perspective of human developmental psychology.

Tutorials

• Tutorial on Embodiment
• Control engineering of autonomous cognitive vehicles - a practical tutorial
• The dynamic neural field approach to cognitive robotics
• Neuronal Dynamics Approaches to Cognitive Robotics

Model Curricula

• euCognition Cognitive Systems Model Curriculum
• University of Skövde MSc in Cognitive Systems Model Curriculum

Courses

• Artificial Cognitive Systems; teaching material for Artificial Cognitive Systems - A Primer, MIT Press, 2014.
• Cognitive Computer Vision
• Cognitive Architectures with special emphasis on production system cognitivist cognitive architectures.

Degrees in Cognitive Systems

The following is a sample of the Master-level degrees that are available in cognitive systems.

• Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain Interdisciplinary Master in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media (60 ECTS)
• Technical University of Munich Robotics, Cognition, and Intelligence
• University of Warwick M.Sc. in Cognitive Systems
• University of Zurich Master of Science in Informatics: Field of study Multimodal and Cognitive Systems
• Jacobs University, Germany Cognitive Systems and Processes