1- BICA2016 - Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures

This conference took place in New York, it is one of most important in the area that connects Computer Science with Cognition, Brain and Biology. Some good works were present there. Also, the lectures discussed the advances and next steps in the area. Here it is some impressions of what was discussed.

Gary Marcus - Professor of cognitive science at N.Y.U.

He told that nowadays we have a lot of data available, a good capacity of processing and also algorithms that solve specific tasks. I include in the list a huge and rising ecosystem of sensors. So we have resources  and tools. He tells that the next step is becoming our systems more generic, capable of learning by themselves and not limited to specific contexts.

John E. Laird - Professor at University of Michigan

Presented the idea of hierarchical memory. He claims that we have this mechanism and uses it to take decisions. He also showed examples of this mechanism to solve problems. Ex.: robot looking for a stapler .

1.     Visual Memory: what I can see at this exact moment. Can I see the stapler?
2.     Short term memory: where was the last time I saw the stapler?
3.    Episodic Memory: related to past experiences using the stapler
4.     semantic memory: where is the most logic place to find a stapler: office.

To more information see "Soar" and "John Laird"

John F. Sowa - Neuroscientist

The Virtual Reality of the Mind

jfsowa.com/talks/vrmind.pdf

He drew attention to the importance of the cerebellum, responsible for the simulation of situations in our mind. We do that frequently when we have to decide something  or when we dream. This mechanism is little explored in computer science simulations and models of brain. But this is another talk for another post :).

Of course, many other interesting talks occurred, but the post is too short for all.  To finalize I left for you a video of a Robot from hansonrobotics and presented by David Hanson and Ben Goertzel. It responds to commands and reacts with emotion for the situations/talks. It is tackled with many sound sensors in her body and can identify who is talking with her. The internal cognitive system still looks for answers in google/wikipedia, but also has a good engine to keep a conversation, despite does not like to talk about her family. Completely acceptable :). The mechanical part is very good, the skin is not like natural but also not cold and is in the path for mimic nature.

Enjoy the video.