Cognitive Robotics

Description

"Cognitive Robotics," edited by Angelo Cangelosi and Minoru Asada, is a comprehensive volume that explores the interdisciplinary field of cognitive robotics, which seeks to endow robots with intelligent behaviors by drawing inspiration from human and animal cognition. The book serves as both a foundational resource and an in-depth reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in robotics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and neuroscience. It presents a synthesis of approaches that integrate perception, action, learning, and reasoning within robotic systems to produce behavior that is adaptive, flexible, and contextually aware. The editors bring together contributions from leading experts in the field, covering a wide range of topics such as sensorimotor learning, developmental robotics, language acquisition, imitation learning, social interaction, and the use of cognitive architectures in robotic platforms. A central theme is the emphasis on embodiment—that cognitive processes emerge through the interaction of the robot’s body with the environment, much like in biological organisms. The book also discusses the importance of learning over time, enabling robots to develop new skills through interaction and experience rather than pre-programmed instructions. Through experimental results, theoretical models, and computational frameworks, the chapters collectively illustrate how cognitive capabilities such as memory, attention, decision-making, and communication can be modeled and implemented in autonomous systems. By bridging engineering and cognitive science, this book highlights the potential of cognitive robotics not only to advance artificial intelligence but also to serve as a tool for understanding human cognition. It provides critical insight into the future of intelligent systems that can learn, adapt, and cooperate in complex real-world environments.