seminars

Filipe Gama presents Goal-directed tactile exploration for body model learning

On 2022-01-18 11:00 at E112, Karlovo náměstí 13, Praha 2
During the seminar, we will present our work on tactile self-exploration on a
humanoid robot with artificial skin, described in this publication:

F. Gama, M. Shcherban, M. Rolf and M. Hoffmann, Goal-directed tactile
exploration for body model learning through self-touch on a humanoid robot, in
IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, doi:
10.1109/TCDS.2021.3104881.

Abstract:
An early integration of tactile sensing into motor coordination is the norm in
animals, but still a challenge for robots. Tactile exploration through touches
on the body gives rise to first body models and bootstraps further development
such as reaching competence. Reaching to one’s own body requires connections
of the tactile and motor space only. Still, the problems of high dimensionality
and motor redundancy persist. Through an embodied computational model for the
learning of self-touch on a simulated humanoid robot with artificial sensitive
skin, we demonstrate that this task can be achieved (i) effectively and (ii)
efficiently at scale by employing the computational frameworks for the learning
of internal models for reaching: intrinsic motivation and goal babbling. We
relate our results to infant studies on spontaneous body exploration as well as
reaching to vibrotactile targets on the body. We analyze the reaching
configurations of one infant followed weekly between 4 and 18 months of age and
derive further requirements for the computational model: accounting for (iii)
continuous rather than sporadic touch and (iv) consistent redundancy
resolution. Results show the general success of the learning models in the
touch domain, but also point out limitations in achieving fully continuous
touch.

Complementary video: https://youtu.be/dnJaffBHf1c

The seminar will be of a short length (20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion).
Responsible person: Petr Pošík