Robots learn to move themselves

[o({})o]

Originally Posted by waqo

the concept has existed for ages, however the key for me is that this bit of code can be so universally adapted. It's like provide the software with a body and muscles and it shall move.

The memory implementation is a hurdle but I think things like movement are much more difficult for 'intelligent computers' to handle than recognizing verbs and calculus optimization.

Edit: I forgot to mention something that is also quite unique about this, it says that this system takes about a half an hour to optimize towards actions like rolling and jumping, previous incarnations of bipedal movement have required many many generations to arrive at results like that, reducing practicality. If the programmer has found a method of quick evolution for the neural networks rather than honing in on random optimized mutations (all time frames I have previously seen for comparison have been in terms of many hours, days or even months) then I would say it is newsworthy.

I don't see how this is more difficult than learning conjugation or integration... The task of movement can be accomplished very easily when given a strict set of parameters. For the computer to develop those parameters for itself only requires that it be able to test its own freedom of motion.

This would be newsworthy if they were using this technology to program cars without requiring any car specific code... Aside from that, I can't think of many areas that would even require such mobility in electronic devices that couldn't very easily be programmed on a model specific basis.

Originally Posted by Cane_The9lives

Could this be considered self awarness at the most fundemental of levels?

No.

[Marlie]

It begins....

[dragonfrost]

uMMMMMMMMMM .....they better make sure they develop affordable emps before they go any farther.

[Cane_The9lives]

Originally Posted by o({})o

.



No.

It learns about its enviroment and how to move around in it(learning to jump the fence) so yes.

It may not know itself, but its aware of itself by subsequently viewing and analyzing the space around it, until ultimately it can manuever over or around certian objects.

[Gathan]

Originally Posted by o({})o

Neural network programming has been around for ages... if comptuers can learn to conjugate irregular verbs and do advanced calculus, then basic movement is not worthy of being called news.

I would have to disagree, a neural network allows a AI to perform beyond just being giving code to execute, in other words it can adapt and learn from situations and in essence write its own code.
If that isn't news worthy I don't know what is.

[o({})o]

Originally Posted by Cane_The9lives

It learns about its enviroment and how to move around in it(learning to jump the fence) so yes.

It may not know itself, but its aware of itself by subsequently viewing and analyzing the space around it, until ultimately it can manuever over or around certian objects.

My cat can do all of the things you listed. My cat is not self-aware. I think what you are getting at is that it is aware of its own body existing (having size and shape) and of the setting in which it resides. Unfortunately, there are far more specific tests an entity must be able to pass before it can be deemed self-aware.

Originally Posted by Gathan

I would have to disagree, a neural network allows a AI to perform beyond just being giving code to execute, in other words it can adapt and learn from situations and in essence write its own code.
If that isn't news worthy I don't know what is.

This would have been big news if it was the beginning of neural network programming, but it isn't. There is nothing new about this aside from the fact that there is a machine learning to move instead of learning one of the tasks you quoted.

[Cane_The9lives]

Originally Posted by o({})o

My cat can do all of the things you listed. My cat is not self-aware. I think what you are getting at is that it is aware of its own body existing (having size and shape) and of the setting in which it resides. Unfortunately, there are far more specific tests an entity must be able to pass before it can be deemed self-aware.

I beg to differ, i would suggest you actually research what you are talking about.

Animal's Self Awareness


AR-News: Measuring animal self-awareness


By many accounts and theories, your cat does possess a certian self awareness. These "Specific tests" you mention are highly debated, and there is no true consensus overall on what consitutes self awareness, there are merely agreed upon fundemental ideas.

"In his book, "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex," Charles
>Darwin pondered what animals might know about themselves. He wrote: "It may
>be freely admitted that no animal is self-conscious, if by this term it is
>implied that he reflects on such points, as whence he comes or whither he
>will go, or what is life and death, and so forth." Darwin also championed
>the notion of evolutionary continuity and believed that animals had some
>sense of self. In the same book, he wrote, "Nevertheless, the difference in
>mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one
>of degree and not of kind." Thus, there are shades of gray and not
>black-and-white differences between humans and other animals in cognitive
>abilities. So, while animals might not ponder life and death the way humans
>do, they still may have some sense of self."

"After decades of studying animals ranging from coyotes, gray wolves,
>domestic dogs, and Adlie penguins and other birds, I've come to the
>conclusion that not only are some animals self-aware, but also that there
>are degrees of self-awareness. Combined with studies by my colleagues, it's
>wholly plausible to suggest that many animals have a sense of "mine-ness"
>or "body-ness." So, for example, when an experimental treatment, an object,
>or another individual affects an individual, he or she experiences that
>"something is happening to this body." Many primates relax when being
>groomed and individuals of many species actively seek pleasure and avoid
>pain. There's no need to associate "this body" with "my body" or with "me"
>(or "I"). Many animals also know the placement in space of parts of their
>body as they run, jump, perform acrobatics, or move as a coordinated
>hunting unit or flock without running into one another. They know their
>body isn't someone else's body"

Probably the most famous of all self awarness tests is the "animal mirror recognition test" which is primarily used on apes, chimps and gorilla's. But even my dog can recognize himself in a mirror, at some level he is aware of his reflection, this much is true.

There is real scientific presidence for animal self-awarenes, and even evidence that many sentient animals that exist on this earth, who possess a paticular level of intelligence, have a sense of self...regardless of how primitive it might be.

[Apoo]

I have heard that only few animals are capable of self-awareness. Most primeapes, dolphins and elephants among them, not sure about cats.

[Cane_The9lives]

The point is there is no real agreed upon overall definition of what self-awarness actually is. Not only that there are varying levels and degree's on the self awareness theories. An animal could be classified as not intelligently self-aware in comparsion to humans, but at the more primitive level, capable of cognitive understanding of itself and its surrounding...even if its only basic awarenes.

[anurok]

The Matrix, anyone?

Neat shit.

[Holy Cowboy]

So long as we keep them from learning to be FIRIN' THA LAZERS, we may not need to worry about taking over mankind yet.

[keitarokido]

Originally Posted by X2thaU

woah bro we don't need any geth invasions any time soon

Originally Posted by waqo

Mass Effect is an awesome game and really this is potentially a very basic step towards a geth type existence being a realistic possibility.

Awesome thing is that neural networks work on many different levels they can not only optimize a function universally but can find local optimums and then in the next loop utilize the evolved information. This allows them to quickly hone in on a solution similar to how our brain works!

We certainly don't want one of those,
But I do think we should take AI far but not too far.