Starfish Self-Modeling Robot Teaches Itself To Walk

Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:34 AM

By Evan Ackerman

At some point, we're going to have to start seriously asking ourselves whether robots will soon become capable of thought. Maybe we're not quite there yet, but the Starfish robot arguably has an active imagination, in that it has the ability to picture itself in different situations and configurations, and then alter its actions based on what it thinks (see, there we go) will work best. This behavior is illustrated as Starfish teaches himself how to walk! Just watch the video below:

Starfish does what humans and animals do every day in innumerable situations: before making a decision, we consciously or subconsciously think through the different scenarios implied by the choices we make. This inherent flexibility helps us to adapt, and it helps Starfish too, which is capable of independently altering its method of movement if damaged.

In simpler terms, Starfish will flail its limbs around and take note of which movements alter its position in space. It'll then learn to keep nothing but those arm movements that propel it in the direction it wants to go. Starfish was developed by Josh Bongard, Victor Zykov, and Hod Lipson, all part of the Computational Synthesis Lab at Cornell University. By the way, is anybody else reminded of a headcrab when they see this thing moving around...? Creepy. Awesome, but creepy.

[ Cornell CCSL ] VIA [ Technology Review ]