Trying to grasp a sketch of a brain for grasping

Abstract

Brain-like behavior is intimately connected with the ability to actively manage a rich set of interactions with the environment. Originating with very simple movements in homogeneous domains, the gradual evolution of movement sophistication endowed animals with an increasing ability to control their environment, ultimately advancing from the physical into the mental object domain with the advent of language-based communication and thinking. Appearing at the high complexity end of the physical movement evolution ladder, the ability of dextrous manipulation seems in the role of a "transition technology", leading from movement control into the mental capabilities of language use and thinking. We therefore argue that manual actions and their replication in robots are positioned as a "Rosetta stone" for understanding cognition. Using the example of grasping, we contrast the "clockwork building style" of traditional engineering with more holistic, biologically inspired solutions for grasp synthesis and discuss the potential of the research field of "Manual Intelligence" and its speculative connections with language for making progress towards robots with more brain-like behavior. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.