Visuomotor Coordination: Neural Models and Perceptual Robotics

This paper addresses two complementary questions: What is the appropriate set of tools for the study of the networks of animal and human brains, and what are the strategies for building computers with “intelligence”? We argue that there are overall architectural principles which unite both sides of this study, namely, that a computer no longer be thought of as a unitary system but rather as a network of more specialized devices, and that many of these devices be structured as highly parallel arrays of interacting neuron-like components. We illustrate this with a discussion of the architecture of the frog’s brain as revealed in studies of the mechanisms of visuomotor coordination, and of the design of vision and motor conrol systems for robots. The following topics are treated: (1) What is a schema? (2) Schemas for Rana computatrix. (3) Tectal columns (4) Depth perception. (5) Pathplanning and detours. (6) Schemas for hand control. (7) Schemas for vision. (8) Challenges for cooperation.

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