Perceptuo-Motor Primitives in Imitation

Abstract

In this paper we examine the issues involved in selecting a set of perceptuomotor primitives to be used in an imitation learning framework. We advocate a strong link between perception and action in imitation, and based on neurophysiological and psychophysical data, we present a set of primitives for movement imitation. We describe our implementations of these primitives on a humanoid simulator with dynamics, and discuss how learning by imitation can take place in such a framework. 1 Introduction Imitation is one of the most powerful forms of social learning, and one of the techniques frequently employed by human infants in order for them to benefit from the experience of their adult caretakers (Meltzoff, 1996). Given its frequent occurrence in nature, it is not surprising that roboticists (Hayes and Demiris, 1994, Kuniyoshi et al, 1994, Dautenhahn 1995, Demiris et al, 1997) have sought to utilize it in order to equip robots with the ability to imitate and learn from demonstration. Fr...