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SUMMARY:Morphological Computation - A Potential Solution for the Control P
 roblem in Soft Robotics - Helmut Hauser\, University of Bristol
DTSTART:20190613T130000Z
DTEND:20190613T140000Z
UID:TALK123652@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alberto Padoan
DESCRIPTION:Morphological computation is a concept based on observations i
 n nature that show that morphology plays a crucial role in the emergence o
 f intelligent behaviour. Our work in the context of robotics demonstrates 
 that morphological properties\, such as their dynamic behaviour\, can impl
 ement computational functionality and\, as a result\,  help to embody cont
 rol and/or facilitate sensing.  This means we can outsource control to the
  physical body of robots allowing us to build machines with intelligent mo
 rphologies. One implication of our work is that\, in order to have a compu
 tationally powerful body\,  it needs to have complex nonlinear dynamics\, 
 exhibit a high-dimensional state space\,  and compliance and noise are ben
 eficial. Interestingly\, the exact same properties are unwanted and typica
 lly suppressed in conventional robotic designs as they make it harder to m
 odel and control them. However\, counterintuitively\,  embracing complex d
 ynamics can help us to outsource functionality to the body and therefore s
 implify the underlying control and learning problems. This points to a par
 adigm shift in robot design\, establishes a potential solution for the con
 trol problem of  the recently emerged field of soft robotics\, and it migh
 t provide us with insights into why biological systems are so much more ro
 bust and adaptive than our state-of-the-art robots.\nWe will introduce the
 oretical models for morphological computation and show how they can be use
 d for computation and control in simulations\, as well as in real-world ro
 botic platforms. Furthermore\, we discuss the wide-reaching implication of
  morphological computation and how they point to new and exciting research
  questions leading us from computing octopus arms\, to spider web inspired
  signal processing devices\,  to artificially growing robots.
LOCATION:Cambridge University Engineering Department\, Lecture Theatre 6
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