| Sensory-Motor Coordination at its lowest level is a reflex, a direct motor response to sensory stimulation. It can be argued that in a human-centered environment, a robot must be able to coordinate sensing with action, and that requires Sensory-Motor Coordination.; The Sensory-Motor Coordination (SMC) parameters are the motor actions and concurrent sensory events that characterize a given task. A method for the determination of Sensory-Motor Coordination parameters through the user initialization was developed. A task was performed a number of times for each possible outcome. From the sensory data collected during these trials, an autonomous control system was defined.; The author implemented this work on a humanoid robot, ISAC, using an anthropomorphic hand, PneuHand II. The author developed the software and hardware controller for the PneuHand II.; This work has demonstrated that there are distinguishable characteristic SMC patterns associated with specific task outcomes. Therefore, it is possible for a robot to form its own categories based on its own experiences. This supports the hypothesis that intelligent behavior emerges in an embodied and situated agent over time. Categories can develop through interaction with the environment as the agent acquires sensory-motor coordination while in pursuit of specific goals. It was shown that categories emerged during the experimentation that were not anticipated. In addition, analysis showed the SMC events that were not apparent to the operator could be detected. |
