Exploring Robotic Minds

"Jun Tani...has taken neurorobotics (and perhaps neurophilosophy) to the next level; through the creation (or perhaps tutelage) of robots that show true intentionality and can engage with us (through mimicry), much like a small child. This book is a beautifully articulated review of his work and offers some compelling conclusions about the nature of mind. It is both didactic and groundbreaking; covering the fundaments of representation and embodied cognition through to the emergence of mirror neurons and free will in synthetic brains. In brief, Tani creates a 'perfect storm' by combining three key ingredients; namely, embodiment or enactivism, dynamical systems theory and active recognition or inference... In short, this is a carefully crafted survey of deep ideas that are substantiated by ingenious experiments in robotics and machine learning." --Karl J. Friston, Scientific Director: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, UCL "Jun Tani is a computational neuroscientist author of very influential action processing models. In the present book he addresses a fascinating problem: the subjective experience in robots. Specialists and non- specialists alike will enjoy reading this beautiful book." --Giacomo Rizzolatti, MD, Professor of Human Physiology, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma "This important work is a report from the frontline of 'synthetic neurorobotics'. Tani aims to bridge the gap between simple sensorimotor response and the kinds of structured understanding and skill distinctive of higher forms of intelligence. The book combines ground-breaking experimentation with foundational reflection, all the while keeping sight of the phenomenology of subjective experience itself. An instant classic that deserves the very widest audience." --Andy Clark, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, and author of Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind "Overall, the author approaches the question of the mind holistically, includes many important concepts and more interestingly applies it in the real robots. Connectivistic models make a step forward compare to previous approaches, but are far from biological elegance. However, these results and ideas give fruitful thoughts and must be interesting for everyone who is on the same quest as the author." --Cognitive Systems Research