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[DPRG] From Bugs to Emergence?
Subject: [DPRG] From Bugs to Emergence?
From: David M Wilson
davidmw at tx.rr.com
Date: Tue Jun 12 22:00:24 CDT 2007
"Must the synergies be perceived/observed in order to qualify as emergent
effects, as some theorists claim? Most emphatically not. The synergies
associated with emergence are real and measurable, even if nobody is there
to observe them." (Corning 2002)
YouTube didn't exist in 2002 and it is now easier than ever to create
observation opportunities.
Is the emergent behavior I've captured on video just a case of 'bugs that
delight?' Random errors in genetic code can occasionally benefit the
organism and here it seems that errors increase the value of this robotic
system. Of course I've grouped three selected clips from a recording
session to make a point in a short amount of time.
But first, some background info. Drifter is in 'ball follow' mode. It will
attempt to center the ball in the camera FOV and maintain a distance of
about 10 inches from it.
Also active is a single IR distance sensor on both the front and back
bumper. The distances reported by the IR sensors can fluctuate by roughly
+/- 9 inches on unusually textured or curved surfaces. The IR sensors are
only used to drive a reflex action for slowing, stopping, or reversing the
robot to help avoid collisions. This reflex action combined with the camera
based distance measurements to the ball should serve to keep the robot well
away from the ball.
The ball is within the height range of the front IR sensor and the ball
happens to be a good size to slip past the robot bumpers and contact the IR
sensor. This can put the ball too close for valid IR sensor readings.
Normally the ball following mode works as designed but on the day of filming
(the video recording is from a digital still camera so I use the term
loosely) the GBA interface was used to tune the color models to reduce
distractions from nearby orange colored objects. The software was not
modified, recompiled or reloaded. Nothing has been added or changed to
encourage contact with or manipulation of the ball and no goals have been
established. The resulting behavior is quite different than previously
demonstrated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpvHwZXf_c
David Wilson
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