Towards a “Brain-Guided” Cognitive Architecture - Bioinspired Approaches for Human-Centric Technologies - page 223

Fig. 7.7 Action-perception loop. Top panel : Shows how lower-level sensorimotor information is
organized and the main subsystems involved in the “identify-localize-reach-grasp” loop used to
generate primitive actions, in the context of creating the tallest possible stack. At the bottom is the
sensory layer that includes the sensors, early visual processing, and associated lower-level
communication protocols. Results of perceptual analysis activate various property-specific neural
maps (property-specific SOM's in layer 1, provincial hubs) ultimately leading to a distributed
representation of the perceived object in the connector hub. Hubs perform the role of integration
between modalities and enable “top-down, bottom-up, and cross-modal” flow of neural activity.
The abstract layer forms the “connector hub” in the action space and consists of single neurons
coding for different actions at an abstract level. Note that these single neurons do not code for the
action itself but instead have the capability to trigger the complete network responsible for
generating the plan to execute the action in the context of the present environment. Finally all
plans have to be executed by coordinating the body. This is accomplished by iCub action
generation system that decomposes the plans to the level of motor commands to be transmitted
to the actuators. Bottom panel : Some snapshots of the working loop