My colleague Bob Gordon is the originator of the simulation theory, one of the two main theories of folk psychology (the other being the theory theory). Aside from being an influential theory in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, in recent years the simulation theory has had a large impact on social robotics.
Bob is off to a one-day workshop on robotics in Newcastle, where he is the only invited speaker. As Bob pointed out to me, “the simulation theory is now probably the dominant architecture for designing social robots, the C3PO’s of the future, which “mind-read” human intentions, emotions, etc., respond empathetically, and have the potential to become collaborative companions of one sort or another.”
One of the papers submitted to the workshop is by the team at MIT Media Lab that is applying the simulation theory (and Meltzoff’s infant mimicry work) to Leonardo, “the Stradivarius of expressive robots.” If you click on the link and go to “Social Learning,” the part called ” Learning by Imitation” is based on the simulation theory. Leonardo’s body was designed and made in Hollywood by the Jurassic Park/Terminator folks (the Stan Winston Studio) and cost a million dollars. More work along similar lines, though with less sophisticated implementations, is coming out of USC, Imperial College (London), and elsewhere.
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Simulation Theory and Robotics
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