How Brain Reading Robots Works

 

Introduction:

A team of researchers from Southern California University is making a robot that mimics the human division between the brain and cerebellum, in order to also have control over balance and posture.

The technology used is based on analog circuits, faster than digital ones, and on memristors, electrical components that operate in a similar way to neurons.

Artificial intelligence and humanoid robots refer to two fields of study that increasingly intersect, giving rise to research that pushes towards the development of robots with characteristics and functions very close to those of the human being, both from a physical point of view than cognitive and perceptive.

 

As Giorgio Metta, scientist, scientific director of the Italian Institute of Technology, as well as the "father" of the humanoid robot iCub and professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Playmouth, in the United Kingdom, observes, "building and studying humanoid robots is an activity deeply human ".

 

Scientific Point of View:

From a scientific point of view, precisely because we know man, we are able to build robots. And when we build robots, in reality, we try to get to know the human being more deeply. Observing the interaction between man and machine, then, always has this dual purpose: on the one hand, to be able to build robots that work better and better in the future, on the other hand, to be able to have valuable information on how our perceptual system and our brain, he explains.

 

But University of South California researchers have gone beyond the perceptual system and the human brain. Let's see how.

 

Artificial intelligence and humanoid robots: also functions of the cerebellum for the robot that controls balance and posture

The machine, unlike men, is unable to make generalizations or to appeal to common sense, but relies only on logical criteria.

 

With the Context of Artificial Intelligence:

Yet Artificial Intelligence manages to blend in better and better among people, as did the replicants in the movie "Blade Runner". A cinematic hypothesis made in part concrete by a team of researchers from the oldest private university in California, the University of South California, near Los Angeles.

 

The starting point for their studies was the anatomical division between the brain, responsible for cognitive functions, and the cerebellum, which governs movements, balance and the maintenance of correct posture. In creating the robot, currently still in rudimentary form, the scientists tried to reconcile the need to give it the right energy, with attention to occupy as little space as possible.

 

The Californian researchers' solution for their robot lies in integrating analog circuits that are able to control movement, with digital circuits that govern sensory perception and decision-making capacity.

Inverse Pendulum:

Posture and balance, in particular, are not static characteristics of man, but are obtained by reaching a certain position that scientists trace back to the inverse pendulum, that is to an inverted pendulum where the pivot is placed under the oscillating mass. and, in the case of man, it coincides with the foot joint. The researchers explain in an article recently appeared in Science Robotics:

 

"Through the synergy between the brain and cerebellum, the robot can conduct multiple activities at the same time at a much lower latency and with reduced energy consumption"