Discussion and Perspectives

Abstract

This book started with a question. Now, more than 300 pages and, if you were eager, nearly 30 experiments later, let us try to draw a balance. Have we solved the problem of getting robots into controlled activities without telling them what to do, without giving a task, a goal, or any other external pressure for development? The answer to this question is a clear yes. We have formulated a general principle—homeokinesis—that was seen to provide, in a natural and unbiased way, the desired drive to activity while still “keeping things under control.”