Abstract

This talk describes an approach to address the Lifelong Open-ended Learning Autonomy (LOLA) problem in the realm of robotics while, at the same time, seeking how to make cognitive autonomous robots useful to humans. It will present a formalization of the problem and discuss its relation to the general problem of alignment in robotics and AI. To address possible paths to its solution, it will describe the efforts that are currently being made within the PILLAR-Robots European project leveraging the concept of purpose and hierarchical motivational systems as an initial step to explore possible solutions. Several implementation examples will be provided based on a multilevel motivational hierarchy embedded within the e-MDB cognitive architecture in real robots operating in real environments. A discussion of open issues and promising research lines will be provided.

Curriculum Vitae

Richard J. Duro is Full Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Coruña and Coordinator of the Integrated Group for Engineering Research at this university since 1999. His research interests focus on intelligent systems and autonomous robotics, and his current work is related to cognitive mechanisms for autonomous robots operating in harsh environments and in the field of open-ended learning. In these fields he has been Principal Investigator of more than 20 publicly funded research projects at European and national levels, in six of them as coordinator of interuniversity teams, including the PILLAR-Robots project of the European Horizon call, which he currently coordinates. He has also been the Principal Investigator of more than 60 industry contracts and has participated in more than 100. As a result of this work, he has published more than 150 articles in international journals and attended and presented papers at more than 170 international and national scientific conferences. He has published or edited 8 books and 16 book chapters, produced 5 patents (3 international), 35 software registrations, and created two spin-off companies that have resulted from the work of his group.

As for his international positioning, he is a Senior Member of IEEE and INNS (International Neural Network Society). At INNS he has been elected member of the Board of Governors in the periods 2014-2016 and 2017-19 and 2020-2022, having served as Vice President for Conferences and Technical Activities of the INNS for 3 years. He has also served as Chair of the IEEE Computer Society Working Group on Smart Measurement Systems for two years and has been a founding member and Co-Chair of the Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Society. In recent years, he has acted as a plenary or guest speaker in 7 prestigious international conferences. He has participated in more than 200 technical or program committees of international conferences and in the organization of 15.