Cognitive Systems for Cognitive Assistants - CoSy

Contact:
Dr Jeremy Wyatt and/or Prof Aaron Sloman
School of Computer Science
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Email: informatics-crn-enquiries[at]cs.bham.ac.uk
Website: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cosy/

The main goal of the CoSy project is to advance the science of cognitive systems through a multi-disciplinary investigation of human-like, autonomous, embodied (e.g. robot) systems. The research involves cognitive architectures and methods for perceptual mechanisms, for learning, planning, reasoning and motivation, and for action and communication, using techniques from Artificial Intelligence and other subjects.

The results of the investigation will provide the basis for a succession of increasingly ambitious working robot systems. Devising demanding but achievable test scenarios, including scenarios in which a machine not only performs some task but shows that it understands what it has done, and why, is one of the challenges to be addressed in the project.

Currently, two scenarios are being tackled in parallel across the seven partner sites. The first of these is the Explorer scenario, in which a robot is concerned with finding its way around a complex building, showing others where to go and answering questions about routes and locations. The second is the PlayMate scenario, in which a robot is concerned with manipulation of structured objects on a table top. A simple demonstrator system for the PlayMate scenario has already been completed. These two scenarios require somewhat different physical, perceptual, reasoning, planning and learning capabilities, though both can be combined with natural language capabilities and some social competence.