Introduction: The Third International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics

This paper summarizes the paper and poster contributions to the Third International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics. The focus of this workshop is on the cross-disciplinary interaction of developmental psychology and robotics. Namely, the general goal in this area is to create robotic models of the psychological development of various behaviors. The term "epigenetic" is used in much the same sense as the term "developmental" and while we could call our topic "developmental robotics", developmental robotics can be seen as having a broader interdisciplinary emphasis. Our focus in this workshop is on the interaction of developmental psychology and robotics and we use the phrase "epigenetic robotics" to capture this focus

Beyond Gazing, Pointing, and Reaching: A Survey of Developmental Robotics

Developmental robotics is an emerging field located at the intersection of developmental psychology and robotics, that has lately attracted quite some attention. This paper gives a survey of a variety of research projects dealing with or inspired by developmental issues, and outlines possible future directions

Emulating Human Developmental Stages with Bayesian Neural Networks

We compare the acquisition of knowledge in humans and machines. Research from the field of developmental psychology indicates, that human-employed hypothesis are initially guided by simple rules, before evolving into more complex theories. This observation is shared across many tasks and domains. We investigate whether stages of development in artificial learning systems are based on the same characteristics. We operationalize developmental stages as the size of the data-set, on which the artificial system is trained. For our analysis we look at the developmental progress of Bayesian Neural Networks on three different data-sets, including occlusion, support and quantity comparison tasks. We compare the results with prior research from developmental psychology and find agreement between the family of optimized models and pattern of development observed in infants and children on all three tasks, indicating common principles for the acquisition of knowledge

Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development

Exploratory activities seem to be intrinsically rewarding for children and crucial for their cognitive development. Can a machine be endowed with such an intrinsic motivation system? This is the question we study in this paper, presenting a number of computational systems that try to capture this drive towards novel or curious situations. After discussing related research coming from developmental psychology, neuroscience, developmental robotics, and active learning, this paper presents the mechanism of Intelligent Adaptive Curiosity, an intrinsic motivation system which pushes a robot towards situations in which it maximizes its learning progress. This drive makes the robot focus on situations which are neither too predictable nor too unpredictable, thus permitting autonomous mental development.The complexity of the robot’s activities autonomously increases and complex developmental sequences self-organize without being constructed in a supervised manner. Two experiments are presented illustrating the stage-like organization emerging with this mechanism. In one of them, a physical robot is placed on a baby play mat with objects that it can learn to manipulate. Experimental results show that the robot first spends time in situations which are easy to learn, then shifts its attention progressively to situations of increasing difficulty, avoiding situations in which nothing can be learned. Finally, these various results are discussed in relation to more complex forms of behavioral organization and data coming from developmental psychology. Key words: Active learning, autonomy, behavior, complexity, curiosity, development, developmental trajectory, epigenetic robotics, intrinsic motivation, learning, reinforcement learning, values

Developmental Psychology

BeSt programmi toetusel loodud kursusel käsitletakse inimese psühhosotsiaalset arengut läbi elukaare, sünnist surmani

Using Lower-Division Developmental Education Students as Teaching Assistants

There has been little research on the experiences of undergraduate teaching assistants, and this small body of information is usually tightly focused on traditional disciplinary concerns like sociology, psychology, and communications. Additionally, undergraduate teaching assistant research tends to focus on upper-division students. This article explores the benefits and drawbacks of using lower-division developmental education students as teaching assistants in developmental social science courses. Included are comments from students enrolled in a course staffed by a sophomore as the teaching assistant. Employing developmental education students as teaching assistants can be beneficial to instructors, students, and the teaching assistants themselves

A Review of Recent Developmental THeories

Theorists of developmental psychology have been long caught in the traditional nativist-empiricist controversy. With the aim of exploring new directions in theory construction in the field of developmental psychology, ..

Developmental Robotics from Developmental Psychology

Developmental robotics is concerned with the design of algorithms that promote robot adaptation and learning through qualitative growth of behaviour and increasing levels of competence. This paper uses ideas and inspiration from psychological knowledge of pre-grasping infants (up to 3 months of age) to examine the issues and factors that might produce similar mechanisms for use in robotic systems. The study includes discussion of results from robotic experiments on sensory-motor models and key issues are raised throughout