When you get dressed or play ball, your brain is constantly planning ahead so you can move
In a new study published in the journalScience Robotics, the researchers demonstrate how their robot created a kinematic model of itself and then used that model to plan motion, achieve goals and avoid obstacles in a variety of situations. He even automatically recognized and then compensated for damage to his body.
Researchers have placed a robotic arminside a circle of five streaming cameras. The robot watched itself through the cameras, moving freely. Like a baby exploring itself for the first time in a hall of mirrors, the robot writhed and deformed to find out exactly how its body moved in response to various motor commands. After about three hours, the robot stopped. Its internal neural network has finished studying the relationship between the robot's motor actions and the volume it occupies in the environment.
"Self-modeling– it's primitiveform of self-awareness", – explained the authors of the work. "If a robot, animal, or human has an accurate self-model, it can function better in the world, make better decisions, and have an evolutionary advantage."