Introduction
Advancements in robotics have gone beyond simple automation, driving efforts to create systems that can learn, adapt, and interact in ways that resemble human cognition. This shift has led to the development of Developmental and Cognitive Robotics, interdisciplinary fields that draw from psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to model cognitive processes. A key approach in this area is the use of cognitive architectures to simulate how intelligence emerges through interaction with the environment.
This tutorial provides a hands-on experience in developing the foundational components of a cognitive system that models the first sensorimotor substage described by Piaget, using the Cognitive Systems Toolkit (CST). During a single day, participants will explore both theoretical principles and practical implementation techniques for key cognitive modules, including sensory processing, perception, and attention. At the end of the tutorial, they will have constructed the foundations of a functional cognitive system leveraging of the cognitive tools of CST to adhere to the principles of early sensorimotor cognition.
The cognitive architecture cycle involves the following steps: acquiring sensory data, processing it through perceptual functions using bottom-up approach, generate a combined feature map for the attentional system, which determines the agent’s focus through the attentional map and the saliency map.
🚼 About the Tutorial
Programming a BabyBot: Foundations for a Newborn Robot
This full-day hands-on tutorial guides participants in building a cognitive system that simulates Piaget’s first sensorimotor substage. Through four sessions, attendees will learn and implement cognitive modules related to sensory processing, perception, and selective attention, using the CST architecture.
Participants will gain practical experience in implementing a biologically inspired cognitive agent that models early intelligence through interaction with its environment. The tutorial is ideal for students and researchers in AI, robotics, and cognitive science.
💼 What You’ll Need
- A laptop with Docker and git installed
- Basic familiarity with Linux command line and programming logic
- An interest in cognitive modeling, robotics, or developmental systems
We will provide all additional resources, including the Docker image, project files, and usage instructions.
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