IM CLEVER

Project objectives

The objective of the IM-CLeVeR project (“Intrinsically Motivated Cumulative Learning Versatile Robots") financed within the VII framework program of the European community, was to develop a new methodology for the design of robot control algorithms capable of: (1) learning new skills in a "cumulative" way through 'autonomous exploration driven by "intrinsic motivation"; (2) reuse these skills to complete complex tasks in unstructured contexts.

During the acquisition of skills, the robot had to behave like a child who, while playing, learns autonomously guided by the intrinsic motivation to explore. During the application phase, the robot had to reuse the skills learned to complete tasks that required complex coordination or readjustment of skills.ingole skills. In order to achieve this objective, a multidisciplinary team of neuroscientists, psychologists, robotics and machine learning experts was createding and the problem was attacked by analyzing three scientific and technological aspects:

• The mechanism of abstraction and perception of stimuli
• the mechanism that underlies intrinsic motivation with particular regard to what is called curiosity
• Hierarchical architectures for cumulative learning.

Specific experimental protocols have been defined to study the topic of cumulative learning guided by curiosity on children, adults and monkeys with the aim of testing and refining a computational model capable of providing an explanation. In this context, the Campus has played a fundamental role by defining the protocols and creating the tools that have allowed this investigation necessary for the definition of the model. This model was used to develop the robotic controller which was successfully tested on the iCub humanoid platform using the platforms developed by the Biomedical Robotics and Biomicrosystems Laboratory of the Campus Biomedico University of Rome.

Official Website: www.im-clever.eu

Start and end date

2009 - 2013

Project Manager

Prof. Eugenio Guglielmelli

Coordinating institution of the project

National Research Council

Other Institutions involved

• Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma
• University of Sheffield
• Stiftung Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Ulster
• Aberystwyth University
• University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland
• Italian Institute of Technology Foundation

Funding source(s).

Funded under the VII FP by the European Commission, ICTCognition, Interaction and Robotics programme