BBC News posted a video demonstrating software designed for robots that allows them to “learn” to move through trial and error. Ralf Der at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences has also applied the software to simulated animals and humans. Professor Der has tried the system on simple wheeled systems.
“I call it a plug-and-play brain,” he said.
“The classic thing in robotics is ‘bring this’ or ‘play this chess game and win’—the task is given,” says Daniel Polani of the University of Hertfordshire. “Ralf Der’s system is only defined by what it perceives and does, but there’s no goal. It’s a very good approach.”
Der and his colleagues are working to create a long-term memory, so that when the robot finds itself in similar situations, it knows what to do.