The Playful Machine - Theoretical Foundation and Practical Realization of Self-Organizing Robots
Autonomous robots may become our closest companions in the near future. While the technology for physically building such machines is already available today, a problem lies in the generation of the behavior for such complex machines. Nature proposes a solution: young children and higher animals learn to master their complex brain-body systems by playing. Can this be an option for robots? How can a machine be playful? The book provides answers by developing a general principle---homeokinesis, the dynamical symbiosis between brain, body, and environment---that is shown to drive robots to self-determined, individual development in a playful and obviously embodiment-related way: a dog-like robot starts playing with a barrier, eventually jumping or climbing over it; a snakebot develops coiling and jumping modes; humanoids develop climbing behaviors when fallen into a pit, or engage in wrestling-like scenarios when encountering an opponent. The book also develops guided self-organization, a new method that helps to make the playful machines fit for fulfilling tasks in the real world.
| Author(s): | Der, Ralf and Martius, Georg |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| BibTeX Type: | Book (book) |
| Address: | Berlin Heidelberg |
| URL: | http://playfulmachines.com |
| Electronic Archiving: | grant_archive |
BibTeX
@book{DerMartius11,
title = {{T}he {P}layful {M}achine - {T}heoretical Foundation and Practical Realization of Self-Organizing Robots},
abstract = {Autonomous robots may become our closest companions in the near future. While the technology for physically building such machines is already available today, a problem lies in the generation of the behavior for such complex machines. Nature proposes a solution: young children and higher animals learn to master their complex brain-body systems by playing. Can this be an option for robots? How can a machine be playful? The book provides answers by developing a general principle---homeokinesis, the dynamical symbiosis between brain, body, and environment---that is shown to drive robots to self-determined, individual development in a playful and obviously embodiment-related way: a dog-like robot starts playing with a barrier, eventually jumping or climbing over it; a snakebot develops coiling and jumping modes; humanoids develop climbing behaviors when fallen into a pit, or engage in wrestling-like scenarios when encountering an opponent. The book also develops guided self-organization, a new method that helps to make the playful machines fit for fulfilling tasks in the real world.},
publisher = {Springer},
address = {Berlin Heidelberg},
year = {2012},
author = {Der, Ralf and Martius, Georg},
url = {http://playfulmachines.com}
}