Interacting with the real world: design principles for intelligent systems

Abstract

The last two decades in the field of artificial intelligence have clearly shown that true intelligence always requires the interaction of an agent with a real physical and social environment. The concept of embodiment that has been introduced to designate the modern approach to designing intelligence has far-reaching implications. Rather than studying computation alone, we must consider the interplay between morphology, materials, brain (control), and the environment. A number of case studies are presented, and it is demonstrated how artificial evolution and morphogenesis can be used to systematically investigate this interplay. Taking these ideas into account requires entirely novel ways of thinking, and often leads to surprising results.