Robots have demonstrated the ability to perform hugely complex tasks when situated in well-structured environments such as a factory floor. However, in more unstructured, complex and unknown environments the capabilities of robots are severely diminished. In contrast, biological organisms are able to thrive in a wide variety of complex and unstructured environments with apparent ease. This is, in part, thanks to their embodied intelligence: the intelligence that emerges from the coupling between the brain, body and environment. Embodied intelligence can equip agents with the physical resilience and low-level computational capabilities, amongst other advantages, required to function in the wider world. As awareness of the influence of embodied intelligence has grown, so have a number of biologically inspired paradigms for implementing these concepts in robotic platforms, for example, morphological computation and sensory-motor coordination. By understanding design principles in biological systems and identifying methods for the design and fabrication of similar techniques for artificial systems, we can forge a path for increasingly capable, resilient, and intelligent robots.
The goal of this Research Topic is to further our understanding of biological mechanisms, materials and intelligence, and also bio-inspired technologies and approaches for robots and embodied systems. In addition, application and demonstration of embodied intelligence for solving otherwise complex tasks. In summary:
? Through the study of nature and biology, identify mechanisms of embodied intelligence
? Identify new design and manufacturing methods and approaches for implementing embodied intelligence in robotic hardware
? Demonstrate and exploit the design of the ‘body’ to simplify control, sensing and learning tasks
? Demonstrate and utilize the role of embodied intelligence in adaption, growth, evolutionary development and cognitive development for robotic systems
? Identify design methodologies and rules for systems with embodied intelligence
Specific themes and Research Topic of interest include, but are not limited to:
? Self-organization and Bio-Inspired Robotics
? Bio-hybrid robotic systems
? Cyborg systems
? Morphological computation and embodied intelligence in soft robots
? Cognitive Developmental Robotics
? Evolutionary robotics
? Brain and body co-development
? Smart materials
? Bio-inspired computational methodologies
? Emergent behaviors of embodied systems