Developmental robotics is an emerging field located at the intersection of robotics, cognitive science and developmental sciences. This paper elucidates the main reasons and key motivations behind the convergence of fields with seemingly disparate interests, and shows why developmental robotics might prove to be beneficial for all fields involved. The methodology advocated is synthetic and two-pronged: on the one hand, it employs robots to instantiate models originating from developmental sciences; on the other hand, it aims to develop better robotic systems by exploiting insights gained from studies on ontogenetic development. This paper gives a survey of the relevant research issues and points to some future research directions.

Many researchers in embodied cognitive science and AI, and evolutionary robotics in particular, emphasize the interaction of brain, body and environment as crucial to the emergence of intelligent, adaptive behavior. Accordingly, the interaction between agent and environment, as well as the co-adaptation of artificial brains and bodies has been the focus of much research in evolutionary robotics. Hence, there are plenty of studies of robotic agents/species adapting to a given environment. Many animals, on the other hand, in particular humans, to some extent can choose to adapt the environment to their own needs instead of adapting (only) themselves. That alternative has been studied relatively little in robot experiments. This paper therefore presents some simple initial simulation experiments, in a delayed response task setting, that illustrate how the evolution of environment adaptation can serve to provide cognitive scaffolding that reduces the requirements for individual agents. Furthermore, theoretical implications, open questions and future research directions for evolutionary robotics are discussed.

This paper presents the prototype of a new computer simulator for the humanoid robot iCub. The iCub is a new open-source humanoid robot developed as a result of the “RobotCub ” project, a collaborative European project aiming at developing a new open-source cognitive robotics platform. The iCub simulator has been developed as part of a joint effort with the European project “ITALK ” on the integration and transfer of action and language knowledge in cognitive robots. This is available open-source to all researchers interested in cognitive robotics experiments with the iCub humanoid platform.

Abstract — The authors present the prototype of a new computer simulator for the humanoid robot iCub Fig. 1 (a). The iCub is a new open-source humanoid robot developed as a result of the RobotCub project [1], a collaborative European project aiming at developing a new open-source cognitive robotics platform. The iCub simulator has been developed as part of a joint effort with the European project iTalk on the integration and transfer of action and language knowledge in cognitive robots. This is available open-source to all researchers interested in cognitive robotics experiments with the iCub humanoid platform. C I.

The Eleventh International Conference on Artificial Life marks the twenty-first birthday of the conference series, which was founded in 1987 by Chris Langton at the Santa Fe Institute. As you might expect, over twenty-one years the community has grown, matured and stabilised around some key ideas, individuals and questions. However, while artificial life now, as then, continues to investigate the fundamental properties of living systems through simulating and synthesizing biological entities and processes in artificial media, there are signs that the field may be on the cusp of a second wave driven by new developments in molecular, cellular and systems biology, and renewed widespread interest in complex systems of many kinds. The rise of synthetic biology (constructing artificial living cells, engineering with living biological materials, etc.) and systems biology, with its focus on biological organisations above the gene (e.g., proteomics, metabolomics, etc.), means that topics proper to artificial life are becoming key research areas across science and engineering. Additionally, the kinds of agent-based simulations and complex systems methodologies pioneered within artificial life are growing in importance within a large number of fields (ecology, economics, sociology, transport, etc.). This makes AL-IFE XI a potential watershed event at which artificial life has the opportunity to engage with, and