It studies techniques allowing a robot to acquire novel skills or adapt to its environment through learning algorithms.
The embodiment of the robot, situated in a physical embedding, provides at the same time specific difficulties (e.g. high-dimensionality, real time constraints for collecting data and learning) and opportunities for guiding the learning process (e.g. sensorimotor synergies, motor primitives).
[1] RoboBrain is a knowledge engine for robots which can be freely accessed by any device wishing to carry out a task.
The database gathers new information about tasks as robots perform them, by searching the Internet, interpreting natural language text, images, and videos, object recognition as well as interaction.
The project brings together researchers from five major universities in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain and is backed by the European Union.