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The Role of Intention in Cognitive Robotics

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Toward Robotic Socially Believable Behaving Systems - Volume I

Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems Reference Library ((ISRL,volume 105))

Abstract

We argue that the development of robots that can interact effectively with people requires a special focus on building systems that can perceive and comprehend intentions in other agents. Such a capability is a prerequisite for all pro-social behaviour and in particular underpins the ability to engage in instrumental helping and mutual collaboration. We explore the prospective and intentional nature of action, highlighting the importance of joint action, shared goals, shared intentions, and joint attention in facilitating social interaction between two or more cognitive agents. We discuss the link between reading intentions and theory of mind, noting the role played by internal simulation, especially when inferring higher-level action-focussed intentions. Finally, we highlight that pro-social behaviour in humans is the result of a developmental process and we note the implications of this for the challenge of creating cognitive robots that can read intentions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an in-depth discussion of a computational approach to intention recognition, see “Towards computational models of intention detection and intention prediction” by Elisheva Bonchek-Dokow and Gal Kaminka [6].

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the European Commission, Project 611391 DREAM: Development of Robot-enhanced Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (www.dream2020.eu). Also supported by the Knowledge Foundation, Stockholm, under SIDUS grant AIR (Action and intention recognition in human interaction with autonomous systems). The authors would like to acknowledge the work of Harold Bekkering, Radboud University Nijmegen, in our characterization of aspects of neonatal development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Informatics, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

    D. Vernon, S. Thill & T. Ziemke

  2. Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    T. Ziemke

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  1. D. Vernon
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  2. S. Thill
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Correspondence to D. Vernon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Seconda Università di Napoli and IIASS, Caserta, Italy

    Anna Esposito

  2. Data Sci. Inst., Faculty of Sci. & Tech., Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom

    Lakhmi C. Jain

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Vernon, D., Thill, S., Ziemke, T. (2016). The Role of Intention in Cognitive Robotics. In: Esposito, A., Jain, L. (eds) Toward Robotic Socially Believable Behaving Systems - Volume I . Intelligent Systems Reference Library, vol 105. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31056-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31056-5_3

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