Morphological computation

The contribution of the body in natural and artificial agents is increasingly described as "off-loading computation from the brain to the body", where the body is said to perform "morphological computation". We (pdf) argue that this contribution is rarely truly computational and distinguish:

1. morphology that facilitates control
2. morphology that facilitates perception
3. (the rare cases of) morphological computation proper, such as "physical reservoir computing".

For engineers, the advances in new materials (e.g., soft, deformable, compliant) pave the way for robots with completely new capabilities. However, the exploitation of this potential is not straightforward and often at odds with classical engineering approaches to modeling and control. Thus, we (preprint-pdf) look at the pros and cons of simple vs. complex bodies, critically reviewing the attractive notion of "soft" bodies automatically taking over control tasks. Finally, we address another key dimension of the design space—whether model-based control should be used and to what extent it is feasible to develop faithful models for different morphologies.

Publications

Müller, V.C. & Hoffmann, M. (2017), 'What is morphological computation? On how the body contributes to cognition and control', Artificial Life 23 (1), 1-24. [Artificial Life][pdf]

Hoffmann, M. & Müller, V. C. (2017), Simple or complex bodies? Trade-offs in exploiting body morphology for control, in G. Dodig-Crnkovic & R. Giovagnoli, ed., 'Representation and Reality in Humans, Other Living Organisms and Intelligent Machines', Springer, pp. 335-345. [final - Springer][preprint-pdf]