Embodied Artificial Intelligence through Distributed Adaptive Control: An Integrated Framework

In this paper, we argue that the future of Artificial Intelligence research resides in two keywords: integration and embodiment. We support this claim by analyzing the recent advances of the field. Regarding integration, we note that the most impactful recent contributions have been made possible through the integration of recent Machine Learning methods (based in particular on Deep Learning and Recurrent Neural Networks) with more traditional ones (e.g. Monte-Carlo tree search, goal babbling exploration or addressable memory systems). Regarding embodiment, we note that the traditional benchmark tasks (e.g. visual classification or board games) are becoming obsolete as state-of-the-art learning algorithms approach or even surpass human performance in most of them, having recently encouraged the development of first-person 3D game platforms embedding realistic physics. Building upon this analysis, we first propose an embodied cognitive architecture integrating heterogenous sub-fields of Artificial Intelligence into a unified framework. We demonstrate the utility of our approach by showing how major contributions of the field can be expressed within the proposed framework. We then claim that benchmarking environments need to reproduce ecologically-valid conditions for bootstrapping the acquisition of increasingly complex cognitive skills through the concept of a cognitive arms race between embodied agents.Comment: Updated version of the paper accepted to the ICDL-Epirob 2017 conference (Lisbon, Portugal

An analytical framework for policy engagement: the contested case of 14-19 reform in England

This article attempts to construct an analytical framework to reflect upon the deeply contested area of 14-19 education and training policy in England following the publication of the Government’s White Paper ‘14-19 Education and Skills’. We argue that the evolution of 14-19 policy over the last fifteen years, culminating in the publication of the Tomlinson Final Report on 14-19 reform and then its rejection by the Government, might be better understood by looking at this area through the application of four related conceptual tools - political eras, the education state, the policy process and the operation of political space. These concepts or tools are used here both to narrate historical and recent 14-19 developments, to critique current policy-making in this area, and to identify opportunities and challenges facing researchers seeking to engage with the policy process. We suggest that this analytical framework might not only be applied to reform in the 14-19 phase but also to education policy more widely

Communities of Designers: Transforming a Situation into a Unified Whole

A new player, digital technology, has entered into the already variegated and often contentious world of teaching and teacher education. This new player promises to disrupt existing practices in some as yet undefined way. It is not surprising that its eventual impact on learning or on educational equity is uncertain, when there is still great uncertainty around basic questions such as which digital tools ought to be considered or what they cost. The previous chapters in this book make a major contribution to the conversation about (digital) technology in education. They address three large questions: How should we integrate technology into learning? What happens when we do? How do we learn to do it (possibly better than before)?published or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe