An Ontogenetic Perspective to Scaling Sensorimotor Intelligence Cynthia B. Ferrell and Charles C. Kemp MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab

Definitions on.tog.e.ny 1: the development or course of development of an individual organism on.tol.o.gy 1: a branch of metaphysics relating to the nature and relations of being 2: a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of existence Woop, we messed up. These are two very different words. I guess this is how we ended up in philosophy Maybe this is because of my bike wreck!

What is Scaling Sensorimotor Intelligence? Goal - design a system which achieves human intelligence Sensorimotor intelligence should scale as it does in humans Human intelligence is very different than rat intelligence We Need a New Design Methodology

The Evolutionary Approach The design path insects reptiles rats dogs dolphins chimpanzees humans The evolutionary design methodology has taught researchers a great deal about intelligence. But the path to human intelligence is not truly incremental or clear. Evolution covers its tracks well. It’s not that nothing can be learned through this approach It’s that it promotes are particular design course to human intelligence Not smooth

The Ontogenetic Approach Piaget’s Stages 1st month (adaptive reflexes) infant begins to descriminate between different perceptual input, and reflexes adapt to these new perceptual states child adapts sucking reflex to fingers and bottle 1st to 4th month (primary circular reactions) infant chains adaptive reflexes together, often tending toward repetition child learns to bring hand to mouth and then suck the hand starts visually guided reaching at the end of the 4th month 4th to 7th month (secondary circular reactions) infant chains primary circular reactions together child may bat overhead toy to see it move and make noise

The Basic Ontogenetic Design Methodology Look at the developmental psychology literature Hypothesize the skills the child is learning Start from the beginning of development Run the system See how far the system gets Start over Redesign the system, try to make it make it through more stages of development

Comparison of Design Paths to Human Intelligence Ontogenetic Path readily observable incremental systems must scale themselves provides a good measure of progress Evolutionary Path well hidden large jumps required systems satisfy an ecological niche provides sporadic and unclear measures of progress not Mutually exclusive, but they imply very different courses of design and engineering ontogenetic is well documented also possible to conduct experiments on infants huge evolutionary jumps are difficult to emulate unclear how to scale a system to the next level of complexity after it has been painstakingly constructed, often scrap and start over many so called low-level animals are very specialized this requires a lot of hacking sporadic and unclear- is this a good mouse? Progress towards mouse intelligence may not be significant pogress towards human intelligence

So What? A researcher needs more than a good path of design goals What insights does this approach yield?

The Learning Path is Important incremental learning (music, sport) what makes a good learning path, more than the algorithm. constrain, bias, complexity match how the developmental learning path is specified embodiment epigenesis, differentiation of input, output, and goals situatedness, the environment is important

Situatedness and the Environment designed for adult supervision controls the infant feed protect clothe locomote regulates environmental complexity provides most of the important stimuli can teach many skills

Embodiment Progressive increase in the degrees of freedom eyes only neck also arms grasp (use pictures) locomotion

Goals, Tasks and Emotions regulate complexity only attempt what is simple to learn through attentional processes boredom frustration excitement through the parent crying smiling

Complexity of Input and Output Representations course to fine large classes of input stimuli to more smaller classes

Body, Environment, and Mind Increase in Complexity Body provides more refined output space, locomotion Enviroment becomes much more complex, less fear to enter into new situations, independence Mind develops more complex goals, and more refined input representations, the expert example All Closely coupled

Overview An ontogenetic approach dictates a distinctive and valuable design path leads to valuable design methodologies provides valuable insights into self-scaling intelligent systems embodiment situatedness goal-oriented action