Cognitive Robotics Research Centre

CyberSavannah project wins IAP prize

torbjorn — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:21:54 +0000

The CyberSavannah project which started out as a final year student project by Megan Goodwin has won the ‘best student project’ prize from the Institution of Analysts and Programmers .

The project has also bee accepted for distribution with the popular Webots robot simulator from Cyberbotics Ltd and has also been supported by the European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems, Interaction and Robotics (EUCog).

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CRRC invited talk: Dr Yulia Sandamirskaya, Sequence Generation in Dynamic Field Theory

torbjorn — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:03:51 +0000

On Wednesday 18th April, Dr Yulia Sandamirskaya from the Institute for Neuroinformatics at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, will give a talk on the invitation of the Cognitive Robotics Research Centre. The talk will take place at 12noon in room D22 in the City Campus.

Title: Sequence Generation in Dynamic Field Theory

Abstract:
Dynamic Field Theory (DFT) is a conceptual and mathematical framework, in which stable states and instabilities in neural dynamics account for traits of elementary cognitive functions in human and robotic behavior. In my talk, I will show how motor and perceptual elementary behaviors are represented in this framework and how they are sequentially organized. I will consider two mechanisms for sequence generation in DFT — a fixed serial order and a flexible behavioral organization. These mechanism may be applied to learn and generate sequences of actions on an autonomous robot.

IIT and CRRC provide new touch-sensitive fingertip for Nao

torbjorn — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:32:09 +0000

We have just received another world first at CRRC. Our collaborators at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have generously provided us with a touch sensitive fingertip. The fingertip is the same model that is used on the iCub robot, but was delivered as a stand-alone prototype. We have integrated it on one of our Nao robots, producing the first ever Nao robot with a touch sensitive finger. This combo will be crucial in completing our work on tactile gesture production for the ROBOSKIN project.