Aldebaran Nao Robot

In this article I aim to provide a comprehensive introduction to the field of cognitive robotics by providing you with some definitions, examples, links to information resources, courses, and research projects. Also, the research motivations of this field are discussed, as well as main application areas and the inspiration in natural cognitive systems.

The field of Cognitive Robotics is very much related with Machine Consciousness (MC). Indeed, I consider MC as a subfield or a specific focus of the research on Cognitive Robotics. Any implementation of the functionality of consciousness has to be framed within a cognitive architecture. Consciousness per se does not make any sense unless it is integrated in a subject able to develop end to end (embodied) processes like perception and behavior.

The ultimate aim of the development of cognitive architectures is the implementation of machines that are able to “know what they are doing”, thus being more robust, adaptive, and flexible. Social robots are significant example of the kind of applications that cognitive robots (and particularly conscious robots) might perform. Interacting with humans is an extremely complex task where all these cognitive capabilities are required.

Future cognitive robots are expected to be able to interact with humans, acting and learning in unpredictable environments.

Introduction to Cognitive Robotics (excerpt taken from [0])

Research in robotics has traditionally emphasized low-level sensing and control tasks including sensory processing, path planning, and manipulator design and control. In contrast, research in cognitive robotics is concerned with endowing robots and software agents with higher level cognitive functions that enable them to reason, act and perceive in changing, incompletely known, and unpredictable environments in a robust manner. Such robots must, for example, be able to reason about goals, actions, resources (linear and/or non-linear, discrete and/or continuous, replinishable or expendable), when to perceive and what to look for, the cognitive states of other agents, time, collaborative task execution, etc. In short, cognitive robotics is concerned with integrating reasoning, perception and action with a uniform theoretical and implementation framework.

The use of both software robots (softbots) and robotic artifacts in everyday life is on the upswing and we are seeing increasingly more examples of their use in society with commercial products around the corner and some already on the market. As interaction with humans increases, so does the demand for sophisticated robotic capabilities associated with deliberation and high-level cognitive functions. Combining results from the traditional robotics discipline with those from AI and cognitive science has and will continue to be central to research in cognitive robotics.

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Microsoft Robotics Group has released the second official version (1.5) of Microsoft Robotics Studio. This version can be downloaded from this link.

For those of you who don't know what Robotics Studio is, let me quote Microsoft: The Microsoft Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. Key features and benefits of the Microsoft Robotics Studio environment include: end-to-end Robotics Development Platform , lightweight services-oriented runtime, and a scalable and extensible platform.  

Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) is a significant update to Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.0). It includes support for Windows CE, greatly improved documentation, runtime optimizations, and many other new features. Optional packages provide support for robot sumo competition and simulated soccer competition.

For more information, please see Tandy Trowers' welcome letter:

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