November 7, 2003

12 noon

Redwood Neuroscience Institute

 

Title:  "Goal-Directed and Reactive Behavior Circuitry Implemented by

Teleo-Reactive Programs"

 

Nils J. Nilsson

Kumagai Professor of Engineering, Emeritus

Robotics Laboratory

Department of Computer Science

Stanford University

 

Abstract:

A teleo-reactive (T-R) program is a mid-level agent control program that robustly directs an agent toward a goal in a manner that continuously takes into account the agent's changing perceptions of a dynamic environment.  My work on T-R programs was partially inspired by work described in a 1960 book by the neurophysiologist J. A. Deutsch. I will give a brief overview of T-R programs and show how they can be implemented by neural-like circuitry.  The operation of T-R programs will be illustrated by some examples, one of which involves robotic ‘soccer’ players.