It is necessary for the robot to use interactions from the environment through the body in order to adaptively move through various environments. When the robot is faced with a narrow path or a space ...with many pillars, it should be able to use its interaction with the environment to thin its own shape, i.e., it should have a flexible body. In contrast, in the case where we want the robot to move forward powerfully on a slope or uneven terrain (small steps), it is preferable for the robot to rigidify its own body and exert a strong propulsive force in response to interactions from the environment. In this paper, we present an idea of a mobile robot that can adjust its body flexibility (stiffness) to realize such adaptive behavior, and furthermore, we demonstrate its validity through experiments. Specifically, we propose a closed-link deformable mobile robot whose stiffness can be adjusted by indirectly driving joints. We design a function that increases the stiffness of the body by controlling the joints to follow the target angle quickly, and a function that decreases the stiffness of the body by controlling the joints to follow the angle slowly. The effectiveness of a robot that can adjust its stiffness is demonstrated through experiments of traversing narrow paths and steps. We also discuss propulsion control that takes advantage of the deformable mobile robot and its applicability to uneven slopes due to the flexibility of the links.
Dynamic locomotion of a quadruped robot emerges from interaction between the robot body and the terrain. When the robot has a soft body, dynamic locomotion can be realized using a simple controller. ...This study investigates dynamic turning of a soft quadruped robot by changing the phase difference among the legs of the robot. We develop a soft quadruped robot driven by McKibben pneumatic artificial muscles. The phase difference between the hind and fore legs is fixed whereas that between the left and right legs is changed to enable the robot to turn dynamically. Since the robot legs are soft, the contact pattern between the legs and the terrain can be varied adaptively by simply changing the phase difference. Experimental results demonstrate that changes in the phase difference lead to changes in the contact time of the hind legs, and as a result, the soft robot can turn dynamically.
The Special Issue contains the selected articles presented at the 15th International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB 2018). The conference took place during August 2018 in ...Frankfurt, Germany. The articles introduce different aspects of closed-loop dynamic computations for adaptive behavior in artificial agents. The aspects cover a range of adaptive behavior research from morphological computation to brain-body-environment interactions, nature-inspired special perception, and closed-loop online learning. SAB is a biennial conference; its next incarnation will be during September 2020, in Paris. If the papers in this issue inspire you, please consider submitting your work to the 2020 conference—who knows, next time it may be your paper in the Special Issue.
Objective: Previous research has shown that people consume less food in the dark compared to normal vision conditions. While this effect is commonly attributed to increased attention to internal ...cues, it could also be caused by increased difficulty to maneuver in a dark setting. This study investigated this potential alternative explanation.
Design: A 2 (dark versus normal vision setting) × 2 (highlighted versus non-highlighted utensils) between-subjects design was employed.
Main outcome measures: Perceived difficulty of maneuvering and consumption of yoghurt were assessed as main outcome measures.
Results: Participants consumed marginally less in dark compared to normal vision conditions, and experienced higher difficulty of maneuvering. Importantly, both effects were qualified by a significant interaction with highlighting, which increased consumption and reduced perceived difficulty compared to no highlights. Difficulty of maneuvering did not mediate the interactive effect of vision and highlighting on consumption.
Conclusion: Difficulty to maneuver should be considered when investigating eating behaviour under dark conditions. In line with an embodied cognition account, results also reveal the necessity of visual information for interaction with objects in the environment and imply that detail-deprived object information may be sufficient for activation of the motor system.
Using "image scheme" and "metaphorical proJection", Lakoff (1987) and Johnson (1987) provlded new insights into the development of concept formation, and showed the importance of the body-environment ...interaction. The present study of children established the psychological validity of the image scheme. In the first experiment there were two conditions : the "regular scheme" and the "reverse scheme". Children's motion images were tested for the two words, toru ("take") and watasu ("give"), which were used to prompt subjects to operate a device. For both words, there were significantly fewer correct responses under the "reverse scheme" condition. To further clarify the influence of a word's image on actual movement, a second experiment compared responses under two other conditions, one using toru/watasu instructions (motion image word) and the other directional ("this way") instructions (non-motion image word). Learning was faster under the motion image word condition. This study showed that the difference between actual movement and verbal "motion image" encourages learning, and indirectly confirmed the psychological validity of the image scheme.
Procesni model primjenjuje nov način mišljenja koji kontinuirano nadilazi dane pojmove i pretpostavke, uključujući i vlastite. Da bi mogao razumjeti Procesni model, čitatelj se mora obratiti izravno ...vlastitom tjelesnom iskustvu u procesu čitanja zato što novi pojmovi označuju implicitnu promjenu koju prave u samoj čitateljskoj interakciji. Mi temeljno ne razdvajamo iskaz od onoga »o čemu« je to iskazano. U novome modelu, iskaz je promjena u onome »o čemu« a također i promjena u onome što se nakon toga može reći. Projekt je, možemo reći, taj da se maknemo od starog pojma jezika kao jedan-na-jedan relacija označavanja, koji krivo pretpostavlja da ono što je »stvarno« već mora imati onu vrstu poretka koju imaju konceptualne formulacije. Umjesto toga, mi obrćemo poredak čineći živuću interakciju primarnom, a konceptualnu strukturu izvedenom. Stvarni su događaji uvijek zamršeniji od njihova mogućeg konceptualnog formuliranja. Izravno se referirajući na ovo iskustveno »više«, na zamršenu gustoću situacije ili pitanja, stječe se ono posebno iz čega se može govoriti, stvarati nove pojmove, te ići onkraj starih logičkih određenosti. Sada mišljenje i filozofija mogu eksplicitno djelovati u više-nego-logičkom odnosu s onim »o čemu jest«, te također na logički način kada god se poželi. Ovaj članak nudi jedan oblik pomoći čitatelju i svima koji žele koristiti novi model u svome radu.
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