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

2. 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!

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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

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

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

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

14. 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

15. 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