Anticipation in Robotics

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce anticipatory robotic systems. We show how intelligent robots can anticipate the future, by outlining two broad approaches: the first shows how robots can use anticipation to learn how to control their own bodies and the second shows how robots can use anticipation to predict the behavior of themselves interacting with others, and hence demonstrate improved safety, or simple ‘ethical’ behaviors. Both approaches are illustrated with experimental results from recent work. We show that, with practical realizable embedded artificial intelligence, robots can indeed predict the future and that this is a technology with significant potential for improved safety and human-robot interaction.