Building a conscious robot is a scientific and technological challenge. Debates about the possibility of conscious robots and the related positive outcomes and hazards for human beings are today no longer confined to philosophical circles. Robot consciousness is a research field aimed at a two-part goal: on the one hand, scholars working in robot consciousness take inspiration from biological consciousness to build robots that present forms of experiential and functional consciousness. On the other hand, scholars employ robots as tools to better understand biological consciousness. Thus, part one of the goal concerns the replication of aspects of biological consciousness in robots, by unifying a variety of approaches from AI and robotics, cognitive robotics, epigenetic and affective robotics, situated and embodied robotics, developmental robotics, anticipatory systems, and biomimetic robotics. Part two of the goal is pursued by employing robots to advance and mark progress in the study of consciousness in humans and animals. Notably, neuroscientists involved in the study of consciousness do not exclude the possibility that robots may be conscious. This eBook comprises a collection of thirteen manuscripts and an Editorial published by Frontiers in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, under the section Humanoid Robotics, and Frontiers in Neurorobotics, on the topic “Consciousness in Humanoid Robots.” This compendium aims at collating the most recent theoretical studies, models, and case studies of machine consciousness that take the humanoid robot as a frame of reference. The content in the articles may be applied to many different kinds of robots, and to software agents as well.

This book describes new theories and applications of artificial neural networks, with a special focus on answering questions in neuroscience, biology and biophysics and cognitive research. It covers a wide range of methods and technologies, including deep neural networks, large scale neural models, brain computer interface, signal processing methods, as well as models of perception, studies on emotion recognition, self-organization and many more. The book includes both selected and invited papers presented at the XXIII International Conference on Neuroinformatics, held on October 18-22, 2021, Moscow, Russia.

The current state of the art in cognitive robotics, covering the challenges of building AI-powered intelligent robots inspired by natural cognitive systems. A novel approach to building AI-powered intelligent robots takes inspiration from the way natural cognitive systems—in humans, animals, and biological systems—develop intelligence by exploiting the full power of interactions between body and brain, the physical and social environment in which they live, and phylogenetic, developmental, and learning dynamics. This volume reports on the current state of the art in cognitive robotics, offering the first comprehensive coverage of building robots inspired by natural cognitive systems. Contributors first provide a systematic definition of cognitive robotics and a history of developments in the field. They describe in detail five main approaches: developmental, neuro, evolutionary, swarm, and soft robotics. They go on to consider methodologies and concepts, treating topics that include commonly used cognitive robotics platforms and robot simulators, biomimetic skin as an example of a hardware-based approach, machine-learning methods, and cognitive architecture. Finally, they cover the behavioral and cognitive capabilities of a variety of models, experiments, and applications, looking at issues that range from intrinsic motivation and perception to robot consciousness. Cognitive Robotics is aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, balancing technical details and examples for the computational reader with theoretical and experimental findings for the empirical scientist.

This book addresses the central role played by development in cognition. The focus is on applying our knowledge of development in natural cognitive systems, specifically human infants, to the problem of creating artificial cognitive systems in the guise of humanoid robots. The approach is founded on the three-fold premise that (a) cognition is the process by which an autonomous self-governing agent acts effectively in the world in which it is embedded, (b) the dual purpose of cognition is to increase the agent's repertoire of effective actions and its power to anticipate the need for future actions and their outcomes, and (c) development plays an essential role in the realization of these cognitive capabilities. Our goal in this book is to identify the key design principles for cognitive development. We do this by bringing together insights from four areas: enactive cognitive science, developmental psychology, neurophysiology, and computational modelling. This results in roadmap comprising a set of forty-three guidelines for the design of a cognitive architecture and its deployment in a humanoid robot. The book includes a case study based on the iCub, an open-systems humanoid robot which has been designed specifically as a common platform for research on embodied cognitive systems .

Present-day computers lack well-defined functions to accept various kinds of sensual information such as vision, hearing, and smelling (binding problem). Computers also lack any well-defined mechanisms to coordinate various behaviors in the presence of an object (conscious mechanism). This book serves as a breakthrough that opens a new world. Using the ideas presented in the book, computer systems can be developed to conduct conscious activities like human beings. Human beings will be able to develop mechanisms in which machines will have their own feelings, will behave according to their own consciousness, and will continue to learn for their betterment.

This is the first volume in the Cognitive Computation Trends book series, summarising our understanding on the neural correlate of memory, perception-representation, action, language, emotion and consciousness and their mutual interactions. Integrating research in the field of the Neuroscience, Robotics and Virtual Reality, this book is an original and attainable resource that has not been developed in any other writing. In 5 chapters, the author considers that representations are based on allegorical traces and are consciously and/or unconsciously embrained, and that the creation of robots is the expression of the mind. Whole-body virtual motion is thought of as the archetypal expression of virtual reality. Therefore, visual reality is analysed in a context of visuo-vestibular and somesthetic conflict while mixed and augmented reality are scrutinised in a context of visuo-vestibular and somesthetic interaction. This monograph is an indispensable handbook for students and investigators engaged in history of science, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, engineering and those interested in there interconnections. The ambition of the book is to give students and investigators ideas on which they can build their future research in this new blooming area.

This book includes recent research on climbing and walking robots. CLAWAR 2022 is the twenty-fifth International Conference Series on Climbing and Walking Robots and Mobile Machine Support Technologies. The conference is organized by CLAWAR Association in collaboration with the University of the Azores, S. Miguel, Portugal, during September 12-14, 2022. CLAWAR 2022 provides an updated state of the art on robotics and its use in a diversity of applications and/or simulation scenarios, within the framework “Robotics in Natural Settings”. The topics covered include Bio-Inspired Robotics, Biped Locomotion, Educational Robotics, Human-Machine/Human-Robot Interaction, Innovative Actuators, Inspection, Legged Locomotion, Modeling and Simulation of CLAWAR, Outdoor and Field Robotics, Planning and Control, Wearable Devices and Assistive Robotics, and the Use of A.I. in Robotics. The intended readership includes participants of CLAWAR 2022 conference, international robotic researchers, scientists, and professors of related topics worldwide, and professors and students of postgraduate courses in Robotics and Automation, Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Mechatronics.

This compilation of twenty-six scientific papers and philosophical essays expands the mind-body problem of the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. We expose the nature consciousness; we discuss its origin and manifestations in living organisms. We distinguish it from life and elaborate on human existence on Earth. From there, we solve the ancient enigma posited by Epicurus, the Greek philosopher. In science, we take over Schrodinger’s works on the body’s entropy and use the research of the Japanese Nobel laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi to explain how non-living atoms transition to living molecules, Francis Crick’s faded dream that becomes reality. We delve into the living organisms to explain various losses of consciousness and awareness, including sleep, syncope, and death. We mainly focus on sleep to elucidate this mystery that no living organisms escape.