Qualifications & background
- PhD Cybernetic Intelligence (Developmental Cognitive Robotics), University of Reading (U.K.)
- MEng Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham (U.K.)
Research interests
Following on from my PhD research, my primary interest lies with the principle of memory-based cognition, particularly (but not exclusively) as applied to cognitive robotics. This principle states that cognition is the manipulation and utilisation of memory - the two cannot be dissociated. This has some very interesting implications for cognitive robotics implementations, and it is these that I am interested in investigating. For instance, it results in a commitment to a common substrate for perception, action, cognition, learning (which may be regarded as the adaptation of memory), etc, which is only consistent when applied within the framework of constructivism (the process of development through experience-based construction of 'control' and 'knowledge' structures).
My current work is with the EU
ALIZ-E
project, researching memory systems to support long-term human-robot interactions. I am attempting to incorporate aspects (wherever practicable) of the memory-based cognition principle to this work, resulting in a proposed departure from current models of memory for computational implementation. For example, it is leading to a far more active role for 'memory' than normally ascribed to it, being centrally involved in the coordination and generation of ongoing behaviour, rather than the memory system acting as a passive adjunct to the cognitive processing. Apart from the consequences for the use of memory, it also has profound implications for the nature of cognitive architecture, which I am also exploring.
In addition to this, I cultivate an interest in a wide range of biological cognition and cognitive robotic-related fields, including (in no particular order) morphological computation (especially passive dynamic walkers), theories of embodiment and
grounding (including, but not limited to, symbol grounding)
,
sensorimotor coordination,
motivation/value/emotion systems, and cognitive development.
