This textbook offers a computational framework for the sensorimotor stage of development as applied to robotics. Much work in developmental robotics is based on ad hoc examples, without a full computational basis. This book's comprehensive and complete treatment fills the gap, drawing on the principal mechanisms of development in the first year of life to introduce what is essentially an operating system for developing robots. The goal is to apply principles of development to robot systems that not only achieve new levels of performance but also provide evidence for scientific theories of human development.

Inhalt

Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxi
1 Introduction 1
I MOTOR UNITS 
2 Actuation 17
3 Closed-Loop Control 47
Part I Summary: Muscles, Motors, and Control 76
II STRUCTURE IN KINODYNAMIC SYSTEMS
4 Kinematic Systems
5 Hands and Kinematic Grasp Analysis 119
6 Dynamics of Articulated Systems 147
Part II Summary: The Kinodynamic Affordances of Embodied Systems 165
III STRUCTURE IN SENSORY FEEDBACK
7 Stimuli and Sensation: Organs of Visual and Tactile Perception 169
8 Signals, Signal Processing, and Information 191
Part III Summary: Transducers, Signals, and Perceptual Structure 218
IV SENSORIMOTOR DEVELOPMENT
9 Infant Neurodevelopmental Organization 221
10 A Computational Framework for Experiments in Developmental Learning 251
11 Case Study: Learning to Walk 281
Part IV Summary: Foundations for Hierarchical Skills 298
Appendix A Tools for Linear Analysis 299
Appendix B The Dynamics of Kinematic Chains 331
Appendix C Numerical Methods for Solving Laplace's Equation 351
Bibliography 357
Index 371