Working memory and perception

Abstract

The ability to teach a robot new skills and tasks without explicit programming is an important goal in robotics. Such capability tends to imply the ability to learn from experience, much like many biological creatures. Evidence suggests that working memory plays a pivotal role in this learning process, in part by focusing attention on the most relevant data. We describe ongoing research to study the utility of computational neuroscience models of working memory within robotic systems. A system comprised of working memory, short term memory, long term memory, spatial reasoning and perception modules is proposed. The paper focuses on the perceptual module and its interaction with the working memory. Results are given to show the current progress.