KI-SI-DR 2020 : German Journal of Artificial Intelligence: Special Issue on Developmental robotics

Human intelligence develops through experience, robot intelligence is engineered -- is it? At least in the mainstream approaches based on classical Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) the robotic engineering approach is pursued and data- or knowledge-based algorithms are designed to improve a robot's problem-solving performance. Based on this engineering perspective of classical AI/ML approaches plenty of valuable application-specific impact has been achieved. Yet, the achievements are often subject to restrictions that involve domain knowledge as well as constraints concerning application domains and computational hardware.

Developmental Robotics seeks to extend this constrained perspective of engineered artificial robotic cognition, by building on inspiration from biological developmental processes to design robots that learn in an open-ended continuous fashion. Developmental Robotics considers cognitive domains that involve problem-solving, self-perception, developmental disorders and embodied cognition.

This perspective helps to improve the performance of intelligent robotic agents, and it has already led to significant contributions that inspired cutting-edge application-oriented Machine Learning technology. In addition, Developmental Robotics also provides functional computational models that help to understand and to investigate embodied cognitive processes.