Cognitive robotics is the field of creating robots that think, perceive, learn, remember, reason and interact. Biomimetic robotics is the approach of designing robots using principles discovered in nature, including what we can learn from the evolution and development of natural intelligence in animals including humans. This module will explore progress in developing cognitive and biomimetic robots, relating wider progress in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cognitive science to the development of next generation robotic systems. The practical component of the course will focus on programming biomimetic cognitive architectures for robots.

Students should be aware that there are limited places available on this module.

• Exam
• Group Project

• Blackboard
• Unconfirmed practical marks when available
• Exam Papers, past 2 years (where applicable)

This module aims to:

• teach students about the approach of cognitive robotics focusing on cognitive architectures inspired by development, learning and cognition in humans;
• teach students about the approach of biomimetic robotics showing how principles for the design and engineering of robots can be translated from biology into robotic technology;
• provide students with the skills and understanding to implement and test ideas from cognitive and biomimetic robots in robot control systems

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe and discuss the approaches of cognitive and biomimetic robotics
• Describe and understand some specific examples approaches in cognitive and biomimetic robotics at a technical level
• Modify and extend the biomimetic control architecture of an animal-like robot
• Critically reflect on some of the philosophical, societal and ethical issues relating to advances in robotics research