Poppy: Open source 3D printed robot for experiments in developmental robotics

Abstract

Since the introduction of numerical computers in the robotic field, research on artificial intelligence has been more and more detached from the actual robot body. Eventually, researchers no longer saw the physical incarnation as an essential component of their research leading to algorithms mainly based on symbolic manipulation. In the end of 80's, a novel thought emerged thanks to researchers such as Rodney Brooks [1], Luc Steels [2] or Rolf Pfeifer [3]. In particular, the embodied artificial intelligence rejects the symbolic approach and postulates that it is not possible to have intelligence without the body and the environment [3].