#soinn

Robot That Can Learn, Think And Act By Itself

A robot manipulating a bunch of objects nearby. Not the most fascinating demonstration, but the technology behind it certainly deserves some attention. As mentioned in the source link, the robot uses Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (SOINN) to act and learn at the same time (online machine learning). SOINN it the type of artificial neural network (ANN), i.e. computational model inspired by cell structures in a brain. ANNs have the ability to learn from experience by adjusting strength of connections between neurons (brain cells). What makes SOINN special is that in addition to learning it is capable of growing, i.e. adding new neurons into the network when new experiences can't be processed correctly with the current structure.

For quick overview of SOINN see this presentation.

The end is nigh? 

"The technology used is known as a self-replicating neural network, or SOINN (Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network). Basically, it will help the robot think in the same manner as that of humans, especially when it makes an attempt at tasks that have never been performed before. To put it in a nutshell, this robot is capable of making educated guesses and decisions based on what it has gone through in the past as well as its knowledge database."