Relational cognitive structures for intelligent agent and robot control

Abstract

Based on Brooks' subsumption architecture, we introduce a relational definition of a layered module architecture. We present two straightforward implementations following the declarative and the procedural meaning of such architectures. Based on these representations and the notion of state snapshots we then explain how to learn relational, discrete descriptions of asynchronous and possible non-deterministic behaviour. We conclude with an outlook of how relational learning can be used to optimise module behaviour, how to prune redundant connections and how to induce functionalities of higher level competence.