Josh: Thus Tommy. My robotics project discards a major component of robotics
that is apparently dear to the embodiment crowd: Tommy is stationary
and not autonomous
As Daniel Wolpert will tell you, the sea squirt devours its brain as soon as
it stops moving. In the final and the first analysis, the brain is a device
for controlling movement:
"Movement is the only way we have of interacting with the world, whether
foraging for food or attracting a waiter's attention. Indeed, all
communication, including speech, sign language, gestures and writing, is
mediated via the motor system. Taking this viewpoint, the purpose of the
human brain is to use sensory signals to determine future actions. The goal
of our lab is to understand the computational principles underlying human
sensorimotor control."
http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/wolpert/
Computational and Biological Learning Lab
Having written the book, so to speak, aren't you best placed to know that
this is the age of autonomous MOBILE robots?
P.S. The other interesting thing here is that evolutionarily, touch
precedes vision, no? And the two, I suggest, are intertwined in a brain that
works by "common sense" rather than isolated senses. Michael Tye, I think,
(I forget the name of his theory), has pointed out that we have the illusion
that we can isolate our senses - just see things, for example - whereas in
fact our sensory perception of the world is always a common sense one.
(And, thinking aloud as I write, ALL senses are moving senses. Animals,
including the simplest one-celled organisms, move their sensors around to
perceive the world. Touch too, of course - you have to move your body to
get a hold of things ).
P.P.S. Can't resist this - set your robot free::
I'm Free
[TOMMY]
I'm free -- I'm free,
And freedom tastes of reality!
I'm free -- I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.
If I told you what it takes
To reach the highest high,
You'd laugh and say "Nothing's that simple."
But you've been told many times before
Messiahs pointed to the door
And no one had the guts to leave the temple!
I'm free -- I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.
I'm free -- I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.
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