Published by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. Penthouse Level, Suntec Tower 3 8 Temasek Boulevard Singapore 038988 Email: editorial@panstanford.com Web: www.panstanford.com British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Creation of a Conscious Robot: Mirror Image Cognition and Self-Awareness Copyright c 2013 Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN 978-981-4364-49-2 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-981-4364-50-8 (ebook) PrintedintheUSA
Dedicated to the memory of my late father
Contents Preface xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Story of Robots 5 3 Story of the Human Brain 19 4 Human Consciousness and the Mind 31 4.1 Human Thought and the Turing Machine 31 4.2 Language and Formal Logic 33 4.3 Language and Chomsky 34 4.4 Mind Body Dualism of Descartes 37 4.5 Behaviorism and Cognitism 39 4.6 Phenomenology and Hermeneutics 42 4.7 Phenomenology of Embodiment 46 4.8 Mechanical Systems Without Representation 53 4.9 Qualia and Mirror Neurons 56 4.10 Affordance and Autopoiesis Theory 58 4.11 Embodied Cognitive Science and Symbol Grounding Problem 58 4.12 More Knowledge about Consciousness and the Mind 64 4.13 Summary and Observations 68 5 Professor Valentino Braitenberg s Vehicles 71 5.1 Braitenberg s Vehicles 1 Through 4 72 5.2 Robot with a Brain 76 5.3 Idea of an Evolutionary Robot 79 5.4 Vehicles 7 Through 10 with Associative Concept 80
viii Contents 5.5 Robot with a Sequential Concept 83 5.6 Vehicle 12 85 5.7 Vehicle 13 87 5.8 Vehicle 14 88 5.9 Summary and Observations 88 6 Professor Rodney Brooks Robots 91 7 Artificial Neural Networks and Machine Evolution 97 7.1 Neural Networks 97 7.1.1 Hebb s Rule 98 7.1.2 Single-Layer Neural Network and Delta Rule 99 7.1.3 Feed-Forward Network and Back Propagation Method 104 7.1.4 Recurrent Neural Networks and Their Functions 108 7.1.5 Summary and Observations 111 7.2 Theory of Robot Evolution 112 7.2.1 Machine Evolution Approach 113 7.2.2 Summary and Observations 124 8 Machine Consciousness 127 8.1 Walter s Turtle 128 8.1.1 Summary and Observations 131 8.2 Kitamura s Robot 131 8.2.1 Summary and Observations 136 8.3 Jun Tani s Robot 139 8.3.1 Summary and Observations 142 8.4 Mitsuo Kawato s Examples 142 8.4.1 Summary and Observations 149 8.5 Cynthia Lynn Breazeal s Kismet 150 8.5.1 Summary and Observations 152 9 New Architecture of Robot Consciousness and the Robot Mind 153 9.1 Introduction 154 9.1.1 Research on Consciousness and Cognitism 156
Contents ix 9.1.2 Husserl s Phenomenology 157 9.1.3 Definition of Consciousness 158 9.1.4 Features of Consciousness 158 9.1.5 Important Research Examples Related to Consciousness 160 9.2 Proposed Concept Model of Consciousness 161 9.2.1 Artificial Consciousness and Design of the Mind 162 9.2.2 Expectations for a New Paradigm 163 9.2.3 Where Does Consciousness Come From? 165 9.2.4 How Do We Define Consciousness? 167 9.2.5 Consciousness Is Generated by Consistency of Cognition and Behavior 172 9.3 My Standpoint 180 9.3.1 New Materialism 180 9.3.2 Connectionism 181 9.3.3 Cognitism and Representation 181 9.3.4 Not Emergent 182 9.3.5 Avoiding Infinite Retreat 182 9.3.6 Quantum Consciousness 183 9.4 Computational Model of the Consciousness Module 184 9.4.1 Overview of Computation Model 184 9.4.2 MoNAD Functions 185 9.4.3 Investigating Husserl s 10 Properties 186 9.5 Discriminating the Self from Others Using the Function of Visual Imitation 188 9.6 Solution of the Symbol Grounding Problem 188 9.7 Consciousness System 189 9.7.1 Subconsciousness and Explicit Consciousness 190 9.7.2 Relationship Between Reason and Feelings 191 9.8 Where Do Qualia Come From? 195 9.9 Problem of Free Will 198 9.10 Summary and Observations 200 10 Physical Demonstration of Successful Mirror Image Cognition by a Robot 203 10.1 Introduction 204
x Contents 10.2 What Is Mirror Image Cognition? 207 10.3 Development of a Robot to Demonstrate Mirror Image Cognition 208 10.4 Stages in the Development of a Conscious Robot 209 10.5 Conscious Robot and Mirror Image Cognition Experiments 211 10.5.1 The Conscious Robot 212 10.5.2 The Experiments 213 10.5.3 Observation of Experiment Results 215 10.6 Why Do Coincidence Rates Differ Depending on the Robot? 215 10.7 Summary and Consideration 217 10.8 Investigations and Prospects 218 10.8.1 An Elucidation 218 10.8.2 Mirror Box Therapy 218 10.8.3 Mirror Stage 219 10.8.4 Can Self Robot Discriminate Itself from Any Other Robots? 220 10.8.5 Mysteries of Illusions of Reality 221 10.8.6 Study of Human Brain Using Mirror Image Cognition Robot 222 11 Observations on Self-Awareness 225 12 Conclusions 227 Afterword 235 Appendix A: Author s Response to Reactions to Discovery News 241 Appendix B: On the Safety and Ethics of Robots 247 Bibliography 251 Index 257
Preface This book introduces the author s current focus on the study of the consciousness and the mind. It also proposes a method for constructing the functions of consciousness and the mind on a machine. The author has been exploring the concept of a conscious robot for nearly 20 years. He has presented his ideas at two international conferences held in Florida, in the summer of 2003: The 7th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003) and the International Conference on Computer, Communication and Control Technologies (CCCT 2003). The paper presented at these conferences received the Best Paper Award in the system sessions at SCI 2003 and in the methodology sessions at CCCT 2003. The same paper again received the Best Paper Prize at the Innovations in Applied Artificial Intelligence section of the 18th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems (IEA/AIE 2005) held in Italy in the summer of 2006. His article titled Mirror Image Cognition of a Robot was honored by the academic society at the 3rd International Conference on Sensing Technology (ICST 2008), held in Taiwan. These peer acknowledgments of the merits of this study provided the impetus for writing this book. This book is expected to be used as a textbook for university students pursuing information technology and mechanical engineering courses and is also suitable for students who are interested in the new areas of research. The content and information herein are also recommended for brain scientists and robot researchers, as well as those in arts who are enthusiastic about philosophical discussions and those who are curious about psychology and sociology. With such readers in mind, the author uses plain language to enable everyone to gain insights into the subject without needing expert
xii Preface knowledge. The initial sections of the book are dedicated to the discussions of basic knowledge about robots and the human brain. These sections intend to familiarize readers with the theme of this book. They are followed by an explanation of the conscious robot developed by the author. Last, experiments are introduced that demonstrate that this conscious robot for the first time in the world successfully recognizes its own reflection in a mirror. The author sincerely hopes that all readers interested in elucidating the mystery of human consciousness and the mind will benefit from reading this book.