A review of abstract concept learning in embodied agents and robots.

Journal: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Published Date:

Abstract

This paper reviews computational modelling approaches to the learning of abstract concepts and words in embodied agents such as humanoid robots. This will include a discussion of the learning of abstract words such as 'use' and 'make' in humanoid robot experiments, and the acquisition of numerical concepts via gesture and finger counting strategies. The current approaches share a strong emphasis on embodied cognition aspects for the grounding of abstract concepts, and a continuum, rather than dichotomy, view of concrete/abstract concepts differences.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.

Authors

  • Angelo Cangelosi
    Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
  • Francesca Stramandinoli
    iCub Facility Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genoa, Italy.