#RoboKind
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willharrisinva.bsky.social
RoboKind? Instant green light.
April 15, 2026 at 11:58 PM
palaeo3d.com
Warum leben auf der aus unerfindlichen Gründen von uns noch unentdeckten Parallelerde, wo es nur Roboter gibt, diese in heteronormativen Familien: Robopapa, Robomama, Robokind?

🤪
April 23, 2024 at 4:51 PM
robokind.bsky.social
👋 Hi there! At RoboKind, we believe every child deserves to shine—academically and socially. Our Phonics and Social Skills curriculum, paired with our lively virtual avatars, helps students ace reading and make new friends.
Join us for some fun, learning, and maybe a robot dance party or two! 😄
November 25, 2024 at 6:51 PM
robokind.bsky.social
We're thrilled to celebrate our expanding partnership with Community Schools of Frankfort, IN. Thank you to everyone at Frankfort for your enthusiasm and commitment! 💙🤖
#RoboKind #SpecialEducation #EdTech
November 25, 2024 at 6:52 PM
mutantsmichael.bsky.social
[me on the beach at Little St. James, megaphone in one hand and leash in the other] HEY! ANYONE WANNA FUCK THE PHILIP K. DICK SEXBOT??
A page of advertising copy for the "Gynoid" being designed by David Hanson, who made that ghoulish and creepy Philip K. Dick android everyone in Wired was jacking off over in the '00s. The advertising copy is INSANE iii. In early days, to accelerate software development for the Gynoid, we will use the low-cost Hanson RoboKind robots and Philip K. Dick androids, which are software-compatible with the Gynoid,, and are currently ready for use.
February 1, 2026 at 12:34 AM
pseudonymble.bsky.social
One small connection for a robot, one giant romance for robokind.
a group of people standing around a robot with a sign that says ' a ' on it
Alt: a group of people standing around a robot named Johnny 5, who leaps in celebration
media.tenor.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:55 PM
vokabrerobotics.bsky.social
"Ada" (InMoov2 based) by Duaa Al Ibrahim of Aleppo University in Syria 🇸🇾 was recently brought to trial out the reactions of youth with mental disabilities to the robot.
www.instagram.com/p/DZVC1H0DPWo
Reminds me how Robokind Zeno is used to help emotional intelligence of autistic kids.
June 8, 2026 at 6:15 PM
robokind.bsky.social
📌 We’re committed to creating inclusive classrooms that empower both students and teachers. 🌟 Follow us for expert tools, proven strategies, and inspiration to help every student succeed!

#RoboKind #SpecialEducation #Neurodiversity #CASEEndorsed #TeachingTools #EveryStudentMatters #Teaching
December 11, 2024 at 5:02 PM
robokind.bsky.social
🌟 At RoboKind, we think every child should shine—academically and socially. Our Phonics and Social Skills curriculum, complete with virtual avatars, makes learning to read and connect as fun as it is effective.

Follow us to join the fun. 😎

#specialeducation #edtech
December 10, 2024 at 8:58 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-3/3 — EFTA01103525.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01103525
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01103525 | EFTA01103525 Creating Intelligent Humanoid Robots Using the OpenCog AGI Architecture Research Proposalfor the Epstein Foundation Ben Goertzel January 16, 2013 Introduction At its inception in the 1950s, the Al field aimed at producing human level general intelligence in computers and robots. Within a decade or so the difficulty of that goal became evident, and the Al field refocused on producing systems displaying intelligence within narrow domains. This focus on "narrow Al" has been strikingly successful in some regards, leading to practical Al applications such as Google's search and ad engines, Deep Blue and other gameplaying Als, IBM's Watson Jeopardy-player, a host of profitable Al financial trading systems, and so forth. Over the past few years, however, there has been a resurgence of research interest in the original goals of AI, often using terminology such as Human-Level Al or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) [1,2,3,4]. The core reason for this resurgence is a feeling that, due to advances in the Al field and in allied areas such as computer and robotic hardware, computer science, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, we are in a far better position to approach these goals today than were the founders of Al in the 1950s. One may ask why, given all the amazing recent developments in applied Al and allied areas, we have not yet seen Al software systems with humanlike general intelligence. We believe there is one key ingredient missing —the effective linkage of subsymbolic Al methods, dealing with raw perceptual and motoric data, with symbolic AI methods, dealing with abstract reasoning and language, and higher level cognition. The Al field now possesses able algorithms and architectures on both the symbolic and subsymbolic sides, but without both aspects working together, human level general intelligence is hard to come by. Some researchers aim to bridge the gap by making subsymbolic Al systems intelligent enough that they can learn symbolic reasoning via experience. After all, they figure, symbolic reasoning originally evolved from subsymbolic thinking — humanity's distant evolutionary ancestors probably didn't do much symbolic reasoning. Others aim to bypass the need for subsymbolic processing, figuring that one can create a human-level Al well enough by communicating with it using text chat, and having it gather knowledge from the Web and structured databases —all sources that are easier to feed directly into a symbolic Al system. Some feel the crux of the Al problem lies on the symbolic side, and if one wants to make an Al system controlling a robot, one can simply bolt some separate perception and motor-control modules onto one's symbolic Al system. The solution we suggest is different, and in a certain sense simpler. We propose to interconnect a highly functional, primarily symbolic AGI architecture (OpenCog [5], an international open source project'), with a highly functional subsymbolic Al system (DeSTIN [6,7], developed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville). We propose to perform this connection, not merely by linking the two systems as separate modules, but by enabling the two systems to exchange deep information regarding their internal states, and provide guidance to each other's thinking. In order to do this, we have designed a unique pattern recognition layer intended to live between DeSTIN and OpenCog, and translate between the languages of the two different systems [8]. The combined OpenCog/DeSTIN system will powerfully display a core principle of AGI called "cognitive synergy," key to the OpenCog architecture, according to which different aspects of an intelligent system are engineered to help each other out of cognitive bottlenecks. Human-level AGI, like human intelligence, is largely about practical interaction with the physical world and other beings in it. Therefore, to refine and test our approach to OpenCog/DeSTIN integration, we will pose the integrated system the task of controlling a Hanson Robokind robot in a robot lab environment — a cognitively enabled robot or "CogBot." We will specifically aim at enabling the Robokind to carry out a variety of preschool-like behaviors, such as playing with blocks and conversing about its play activities. This forms a natural extension of our current work using OpenCog to control animated characters that build things with blocks in a 3D video game world; and of prior work using OpenCog to control a Nao robot in a robot lab in a simpler way, without benefit of hybridization with DeSTIN or any similarly sophisticated perception/action system [9]. The use of a preschool-like setting enables the application of ideas from developmental psychology to guide and assess the AGI's progress [10]. http://opencog.org EFTA01103525
May 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-2/2 — EFTA01909784.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01909784
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01909782 | EFTA01909784 U.S. and China, demonstrate that I can transform ideas by teamwork into disruptive results. My companies Hanson Robotics Inc and Hanson RoboKind LLC successfully deliver product to scientific research, medical, and consumer markets. New leadership at these companies enables my renewed focus on research. However, my ownership of these companies, and relations with many others, offer strong channels to commercially deploy results of GENT-Lab research. I also bring exceptional proficiency in the arts. With a BFA in film from RISD, professional experience as sculptor and designer, and exhibitions at museums around the world, I know the power of aesthetics, narrative, and unbridled creativity. Treated as narrative/figurative art, intelligent characters serve as scaffolds from which to grow social A.I. Diversified creativity explores the poetry as well as principles of intelligent agents, supplying surprise, fueling evolution. 9. My history demonstrates successful transdisciplinary collaborations with distinguished artists, scientists, and businesses, with examples including JPL-physicist Yoseph Bar-Cohen, artist David Byrne, neuroscience researchers Javier Movellan, Alice O'Toole and many others. I cofounded the 2006 European Indigo consortium of cognitive robotics, winning over $6M Euro in EU funding, resulting in ground-breaking robots and opensource software. I founded and directed numerous other teams, for robotics, material science, and Al. I bring these experiences and relations to the GENI-Lab, as well as strong Hong Kong collaborations, including with Ben Goertzel, businessman T.S. Wong and his company Jetta, and many other local scientists and engineers. 10. In general Hong Kong provides an ideal milieu for the GENI-Lab, proven as a world-center in robotics and AI research, robotics manufacturing, philanthropy, and investment, so provides a perfect culture for growing Genius Machines. From here, we will coordinate with research around the globe, to solve problems with an international force of leaders in research. II. Co-founding the GENI-Lab with renowned A.I. researcher Ben Goertzel and roboticist Mark Tilden, provides the proper base for success, as each of us brings global connections for international collaborations, and world class expertise in domains related to the pursuit of Genius Machines. 12. The GENI-Lab will work by series of spectacular sprints towards tangible results, striving for minimum of 4 such sprints per year. Each sprint will seek to demonstrate thrilling results in interactive robots and agents, built with fundamental breakthroughs in science, that additively advance our technology towards ever-more brilliant machines. Using these methods with my brilliant colleagues, the GENI-Lab will unleash great surges in progress towards the most transformative technology in the history of Earth. 13. Eagerly I anticipate realizing Friendly Genius Machines together with you in coming days. Thank you for your consideration. Kind regards, EFTA_R1_00345493 EFTA01909784
March 14, 2026 at 6:14 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-3/3 — EFTA01137423.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01137423
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01137423 | EFTA01137423 Creating Robots with Toddler-Level Intelligence Using the OpenCog AGI Architecture Research Proposalfor the Epstein Foundation Ben Goertzel February, 2013 Introduction At its inception in the 1950s, the Al field aimed at producing human level general intelligence in computers and robots. Within a decade or so the difficulty of that goal became evident, and the Al field refocused on producing systems displaying intelligence within narrow domains. This focus on "narrow Al" has been strikingly successful in some regards, leading to practical Al applications such as Google's search and ad engines, Deep Blue and other gameplaying Als, IBM's Watson Jeopardy-player, a host of profitable Al financial trading systems, and so forth. Over the past few years, however, there has been a resurgence of research interest in the original goals of AI, often using terminology such as Human-Level Al or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) [1,2,3,4]. The core reason for this resurgence is a feeling that, due to advances in the Al field and in allied areas such as computer and robotic hardware, computer science, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, we are in a far better position to approach these goals today than were the founders of Al in the 1950s. One may ask why, given all the amazing recent developments in applied Al and allied areas, we have not yet seen Al software systems with humanlike general intelligence. We believe there is one key ingredient missing —the effective linkage of subsymbolic Al methods, dealing with raw perceptual and motoric data, with symbolic Al methods, dealing with abstract reasoning and language, and higher level cognition. The Al field now possesses able algorithms and architectures on both the symbolic and subsymbolic sides, but without both aspects working together, human level general intelligence is hard to come by. Some researchers aim to bridge the gap by making subsymbolic Al systems intelligent enough that they can learn symbolic reasoning via experience. After all, they figure, symbolic reasoning originally evolved from subsymbolic thinking — humanity's distant evolutionary ancestors probably didn't do much symbolic reasoning. Others aim to bypass the need for subsymbolic processing, figuring that one can create a human-level Al well enough by communicating with it using text chat, and having it gather knowledge from the Web and structured databases — all sources that are easier to feed directly into a symbolic Al system. Some feel the crux of the Al problem lies on the symbolic side, and if one wants to make an Al system controlling a robot, one can simply bolt some separate perception and motor-control modules onto one's symbolic Al system. The solution we suggest is different, and in a certain sense simpler. We propose to interconnect a highly functional, primarily symbolic AGI architecture (OpenCog [5], an international open source project'), with a highly functional subsymbolic Al system (DeSTIN [6,7], developed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville). We propose to perform this connection, not merely by linking the two systems as separate modules, but by enabling the two systems to exchange deep information regarding their internal states, and provide guidance to each other's thinking. In order to do this, we have designed a unique pattern recognition layer intended to live between DeSTIN and OpenCog, and translate between the languages of the two different systems [8]. The combined OpenCog/DeSTIN system will powerfully display a core principle of AGI called "cognitive synergy," key to the OpenCog architecture, according to which different aspects of an intelligent system are engineered to help each other out of cognitive bottlenecks. To refine and test our approach to OpenCog/DeSTIN integration, we will pose the integrated system the task of controlling a Hanson Robokind robot in a robot lab environment — a cognitively enabled robot or "CogBot." We will specifically aim at enabling the Robokind to carry out a variety of preschool-like behaviors, such as playing with blocks, interpreting pictures, drawing with a pencil or marker, answering questions and following instructions. This forms a natural extension of our current work using OpenCog to control animated characters that build things with blocks in a 3D video game world; and of prior work using OpenCog to control a Nao robot in a robot lab in a simpler way, without benefit of hybridization with DeSTIN or any similarly sophisticated perception/action system [9]. The use of a preschool-like setting enables the application of ideas from developmental psychology to guide and assess the AGI's progress [10]. http://opencog.org EFTA01137423
May 10, 2026 at 1:59 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-2/2 — EFTA01103511.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01103511
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01103509 | EFTA01103511 • Dr. David Hanson: Co-Investigator; scientific leader of commercial project sponsor Hanson Robotics. Dr. Hanson's whose interdisciplinary background in arts, design and robotics led him to develop a variety of revolutionary robots including Robot Einstein and Hanson Robokind (the latter to be used in the proposed project) [see Figure 2I. These robots feature novel robot skin enabling humanlike emotional expression, and feature a unique combination of hardware and software features focused on rich emotional interaction with human users. • Dr. Itamar Arel: Scientific Advisor. Al and engineering professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the creator of the DeSTIN (Deep SpatioTemporal Inference Network) software to be used in the project for robot vision and action (to serve as an intermediate layer between OpenCog and the Robokind robot) The project involves three key components, corresponding to these three researchers: • The OpenCog artificial general intelligence architecture [S,8], an open-source software project initiated by Dr. Goertzel and now developed and maintained by a global open-source community led by Goertzel and others • The DeSTIN framework for machine perception (extensible to action as well), developed by Dr. Itamar Arel and his students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; now an open-source software project bundled with OpenCog • Hanson's robotics hardware, the Hanson Robokind, and his open-source software for specifying and maintaining intelligent characters with individual personalities [15], -- integrated in a manner that is inspired by the prior research and thinking of Goertzel, Hanson and Arel, but also has critical novel aspects. The core of the project is a novel approach to bridging the sensation/action domain as embodied in the Robokind's sensors and actuators and recognized via the (subsymbolic) DeSTIN Al software, and the domain of symbolic, abstract Al cognition as embodied in the OpenCog cognitive architecture. OpenCog is the most practically advanced software system explicitly oriented toward Artificial General Intelligence. Compared to other contemporary AGI-oriented software systems=, OpenCog has a more professionally designed and implemented codebase, and a wider range of functionalities. Conceptually, the OpenCog architecture is unique in its integration of a number of powerful learning algorithms within a human-like cognitive architecture. OpenCog has been used in a variety of commercial projects in areas such as natural language processing, financial analysis and bioinformatics. The main thrust of current OpenCog development is the use of the system to control animated characters in a video-game world — which, following a long tradition in the AI field, is a world where most objects are built from small blocks, whose positions and interactions the AI system can fully understand and manipulate. OpenCog guides characters in the world as they explore and try to achieve their goals. This is a follow-up to earlier work using OpenCog to control virtual pets in a simpler virtual world [17I. OpenCog has also previously been used to control a Nao humanoid robot [18]. However, this was merely a prototyping activity, which was not expected to yield dramatic embodied intelligence, due to OpenCog's lack of a serious perception and action module at that time. The core aim of the present proposal is to remedy this lack. 2 Samsonovich [16] has given a good general overview of the various AGI software systems at play in the field currently, including e.g. classic systems like SOAR and ACT-R, and more modern ones like (to name just a few) Stan Franklin's LIDA system, Joscha Bach's MicroPsi and Nick Cassimatis's PolyScheme. 3 EFTA01103511
May 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-3/3 — EFTA01103509.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01103509
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01103509 | EFTA01103509 Creating Robots with Toddler-Level Intelligence Using the OpenCog AGI Architecture Research Proposalfor the Epstein Foundation Ben Goertzel February, 2013 Introduction At its inception in the 1950s, the Al field aimed at producing human level general intelligence in computers and robots. Within a decade or so the difficulty of that goal became evident, and the Al field refocused on producing systems displaying intelligence within narrow domains. This focus on "narrow Al" has been strikingly successful in some regards, leading to practical Al applications such as Google's search and ad engines, Deep Blue and other gameplaying Als, IBM's Watson Jeopardy-player, a host of profitable Al financial trading systems, and so forth. Over the past few years, however, there has been a resurgence of research interest in the original goals of AI, often using terminology such as Human-Level Al or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) [1,2,3,4]. The core reason for this resurgence is a feeling that, due to advances in the Al field and in allied areas such as computer and robotic hardware, computer science, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, we are in a far better position to approach these goals today than were the founders of Al in the 1950s. One may ask why, given all the amazing recent developments in applied Al and allied areas, we have not yet seen Al software systems with humanlike general intelligence. We believe there is one key ingredient missing —the effective linkage of subsymbolic Al methods, dealing with raw perceptual and motoric data, with symbolic Al methods, dealing with abstract reasoning and language, and higher level cognition. The Al field now possesses able algorithms and architectures on both the symbolic and subsymbolic sides, but without both aspects working together, human level general intelligence is hard to come by. Some researchers aim to bridge the gap by making subsymbolic Al systems intelligent enough that they can learn symbolic reasoning via experience. After all, they figure, symbolic reasoning originally evolved from subsymbolic thinking — humanity's distant evolutionary ancestors probably didn't do much symbolic reasoning. Others aim to bypass the need for subsymbolic processing, figuring that one can create a human-level Al well enough by communicating with it using text chat, and having it gather knowledge from the Web and structured databases — all sources that are easier to feed directly into a symbolic Al system. Some feel the crux of the Al problem lies on the symbolic side, and if one wants to make an Al system controlling a robot, one can simply bolt some separate perception and motor-control modules onto one's symbolic Al system. The solution we suggest is different, and in a certain sense simpler. We propose to interconnect a highly functional, primarily symbolic AGI architecture (OpenCog [5], an international open source project), with a highly functional subsymbolic Al system (DeSTIN [6,7], developed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville). We propose to perform this connection, not merely by linking the two systems as separate modules, but by enabling the two systems to exchange deep information regarding their internal states, and provide guidance to each other's thinking. In order to do this, we have designed a unique pattern recognition layer intended to live between DeSTIN and OpenCog, and translate between the languages of the two different systems [B]. The combined OpenCog/DeSTIN system will powerfully display a core principle of AGI called "cognitive synergy," key to the OpenCog architecture, according to which different aspects of an intelligent system are engineered to help each other out of cognitive bottlenecks. To refine and test our approach to OpenCog/DeSTIN integration, we will pose the integrated system the task of controlling a Hanson Robokind robot in a robot lab environment — a cognitively enabled robot or "CogBot." We will specifically aim at enabling the Robokind to carry out a variety of preschool-like behaviors, such as playing with blocks, interpreting pictures, drawing with a pencil or marker, answering questions and following instructions. This forms a natural extension of our current work using OpenCog to control animated characters that build things with blocks in a 3D video game world; and of prior work using OpenCog to control a Nao robot in a robot lab in a simpler way, without benefit of hybridization with DeSTIN or any similarly sophisticated perception/action system [9]. The use of a preschool-like setting enables the application of ideas from developmental psychology to guide and assess the AGI's progress [10]. httu://ovencotora 1 EFTA01103509
May 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-2/2 — EFTA01137425.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01137425
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01137423 | EFTA01137425 • Dr. David Hanson: Co-Investigator; scientific leader of commercial project sponsor Hanson Robotics. Dr. Hanson's whose interdisciplinary background in arts, design and robotics led him to develop a variety of revolutionary robots including Robot Einstein and Hanson Robokind (the latter to be used in the proposed project) [see Figure 2]. These robots feature novel robot skin enabling humanlike emotional expression, and feature a unique combination of hardware and software features focused on rich emotional interaction with human users. Dr. itamar Arel: Scientific Advisor. Al and engineering professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the creator of the DeSTIN (Deep SpatioTemporal Inference Network) software to be used in the project for robot vision and action (to serve as an intermediate layer between OpenCog and the Robokind robot) The project involves three key components, corresponding to these three researchers: • The OpenCog artificial general intelligence architecture [SA, an open-source software project initiated by Dr. Goertzel and now developed and maintained by a global open-source community led by Goertzel and others • The DeSTIN framework for machine perception (extensible to action as well), developed by Dr. Itamar Arel and his students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; now an open-source software project bundled with OpenCog • Hanson's robotics hardware, the Hanson Robokind, and his open-source software for specifying and maintaining intelligent characters with individual personalities [13], -- integrated in a manner that is inspired by the prior research and thinking of Goertzel, Hanson and Arel, but also has critical novel aspects. The core of the project is a novel approach to bridging the sensation/action domain as embodied in the Robokind's sensors and actuators and recognized via the (subsymbolic) DeSTIN Al software, and the domain of symbolic, abstract Al cognition as embodied in the OpenCog cognitive architecture. OpenCog is the most practically advanced software system explicitly oriented toward Artificial General Intelligence. Compared to other contemporary AGI-oriented software systems , OpenCog has a more professionally designed and implemented codebase, and a wider range of functionalities. Conceptually, the OpenCog architecture is unique in its integration of a number of powerful learning algorithms within a human-like cognitive architecture. OpenCog has been used in a variety of commercial projects in areas such as natural language processing, financial analysis and bioinformatics. The main thrust of current OpenCog development is the use of the system to control animated characters in a video-game world — which, following a long tradition in the Al field, is a world where most objects are built from small blocks, whose positions and interactions the Al system can fully understand and manipulate. OpenCog guides characters in the world as they explore and try to achieve their goals. This is a follow-up to earlier work using OpenCog to control virtual pets in a simpler virtual world [17]. OpenCog has also previously been used to control a Nao humanoid robot [1.8]. However, this was merely a prototyping activity, which was not expected to yield dramatic embodied intelligence, due to OpenCog's lack of a serious perception and action module at that time. The core aim of the present proposal is to remedy this lack. 2 Samsonovich [16] has given a good general overview of the various AGI software systems at play in the field currently, including e.g. classic systems like SOAR and ACT-R, and more modern ones like (to name just a few) Stan Franklin's LIDA system, Joscha Bach's MicroPsi and Nick Cassimatis's PolyScheme. 3 EFTA01137425
May 10, 2026 at 1:59 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-2/2 — EFTA01103530.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01103530
https://epsteinweb.org
Available in the iOS app store now!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epstein-web/id6758880661
EFTA01103525 | EFTA01103530 source text-to speech (Festival) and speech-to-text (Sphinx) engines, to enable the system to control a Robokind humanoid robot S. To refine and evaluate this robot's capability to carry out simple "child-like" tasks in a robot lab furnished with appropriate preschool-like equipment Alongside its scientific value, this work has the potential to serve as the starting-point of a variety of commercial applications. Consumer robots are one excellent example of such an application area. Imagine a toy robot that can learn from its experience and reason about its surroundings and the simple intentions and desires of their owner, interpret, process, and express emotions, and communicate in simple English, somewhat like a small child! Such a toy would not have to display perfect, flawless intelligence to be exciting and appealing to its own — since it's just a toy, it's OK if it learns as it goes. The proposed project will develop the underlying software platform to enable such robots, and demonstrate this platform via a "proof-of-concept" demonstration prototype running on Hanson Robokind robots. A toy robot with capabilities closely inspired by those of a young human child would be invaluable for Al and robotics research, and also potentially very compelling as a commercial product, as well as a proof of concept for applications of the underlying technology to other interactive technology applications. Although Robokind is a moderately costly research robotics platform, the technology we develop in this project will be portable to other, more commercially viable toy robots -- as well as a wide variety of other physical devices ranging from home service robots to mobile phones or game consoles. To step back a bit and put it more generally: The goal of this project is to create open-source Al software for robot control, focused on enabling intelligent interaction between the robot and users, in a manner making full use of the physical context in which the robot and the users are embedded. The interaction will include learning, reasoning and emotional interplay. The results will be scientifically revolutionary, and also provide a basis for commercialization in toy robotics and many other areas Strategy and Methodology The fulfillment of the project's aims involvse a significant amount of highly technical software development, which will be carried out by the two proposed new hires, together with the 6 junior members of the current OpenCog Hong Kong team. Figure 3 gives a high-level diagram illustrating the integration of DeSTIN and OpenCog, in the context of humanoid robotics. Figure 4 depicts more of the internals of the OpenCog architecture, as currently being used for animated agent control. From OpenCog's perspective, the robot and game character are essentially the same sort of entity — the difference lying in the critical "symbolic/subsymbolic converter" component that translates between the language of perception/action (DeSTIN states) and the language of abstract cognition (OpenCog's internal Atom representation). Figure S gives a deeper view of OpenCog/DeSTIN integration. Note that in this design, the bulk of the robot's "mind" lives on a laptop or PC assumed to be on the same wifi network as the robot. In a commercial product based on this design, a portion of the robot's mind may also live in the cloud, allowing sharing of knowledge between different robots. The processor on board the robot handles real-time action response, low-level sensory processing, and communication with the rest of the robot's mind via wifi. EFTA01103530
May 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM
epsteinweb.bsky.social
Parts 1-2/2 — EFTA01103500.jpg
#epsteinweb #efta01103500
https://epsteinweb.org
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EFTA01103495 | EFTA01103500 source text-to speech (Festival) and speech-to-text (Sphinx) engines, to enable the system to control a Robokind humanoid robot S. To refine and evaluate this robot's capability to carry out simple "child-like" tasks in a robot lab furnished with appropriate preschool-like equipment Alongside its scientific value, this work has the potential to serve as the starting-point of a variety of commercial applications. Consumer robots are one excellent example of such an application area. Imagine a toy robot that can learn from its experience and reason about its surroundings and the simple intentions and desires of their owner, interpret, process, and express emotions, and communicate in simple English, somewhat like a small child! Such a toy would not have to display perfect, flawless intelligence to be exciting and appealing to its own — since it's just a toy, it's OK if it learns as it goes. The proposed project will develop the underlying software platform to enable such robots, and demonstrate this platform via a "proof-of-concept" demonstration prototype running on Hanson Robokind robots. A toy robot with capabilities closely inspired by those of a young human child would be invaluable for Al and robotics research, and also potentially very compelling as a commercial product, as well as a proof of concept for applications of the underlying technology to other interactive technology applications. Although Robokind is a moderately costly research robotics platform, the technology we develop in this project will be portable to other, more commercially viable toy robots -- as well as a wide variety of other physical devices ranging from home service robots to mobile phones or game consoles. To step back a bit and put it more generally: The goal of this project is to create open-source Al software for robot control, focused on enabling intelligent interaction between the robot and users, in a manner making full use of the physical context in which the robot and the users are embedded. The interaction will include learning, reasoning and emotional interplay. The results will be scientifically revolutionary, and also provide a basis for commercialization in toy robotics and many other areas Strategy and Methodology The fulfillment of the project's aimed involve a significant amount of highly technical software development, which will be carried out by experienced members of the OpenCog and DeSTIN software teams. Figure 3 gives a high-level diagram illustrating the integration of DeSTIN and OpenCog, in the context of humanoid robotics. Figure 4 depicts more of the internals of the OpenCog architecture, as currently being used for animated agent control. From OpenCog's perspective, the robot and game character are essentially the same sort of entity — the difference lying in the critical "symbolic/subsymbolic converter" component that translates between the language of perception/action (DeSTIN states) and the language of abstract cognition (OpenCog's internal Atom representation). Figure S gives a deeper view of OpenCog/DeSTIN integration. Note that in this design, the bulk of the robot's "mind" lives on a laptop or PC assumed to be on the same wifi network as the robot. In a commercial product based on this design, a portion of the robot's mind may also live in the cloud, allowing sharing of knowledge between different robots. The processor on board the robot handles real-time action response, low-level sensory processing, and communication with the rest of the robot's mind via wifi. A EFTA01103500
May 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
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EFTA01103495 | EFTA01103497 human users. Dr. Itamar Mel: Scientific Advisor. Al and engineering professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the creator of the DeSTIN (Deep Spate°Temporal Inference Network) software to be used in the project for robot vision and action (to serve as an intermediate layer between OpenCog and the Robokind robot) The project involves three key components, corresponding to these three researchers: • The OpenCog artificial general intelligence architecture [5,8], an open-source software project initiated by Dr. Goertzel and now developed and maintained by a global open-source community led by Goertzel and others • The DeSTIN framework for machine perception (extensible to action as well), developed by Dr. Itamar Arel and his students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; now an open-source software project bundled with OpenCog • Hanson's robotics hardware, the Hanson Robokind, and his open-source software for specifying and maintaining intelligent characters with individual personalities [15], — integrated in a manner that is inspired by the prior research and thinking of Goertzel, Hanson and Arel, but also has critical novel aspects. The core of the project is a novel approach to bridging the sensation/action domain as embodied in the Robokind's sensors and actuators and recognized via the (subsymbolic) DeSTIN Al software, and the domain of symbolic, abstract Al cognition as embodied in the OpenCog cognitive architecture. OpenCog is the most practically advanced software system explicitly oriented toward Artificial General Intelligence. Compared to other contemporary AGI-oriented software systems , OpenCog has a more professionally designed and implemented codebase, and a wider range of functionalities. Conceptually, the OpenCog architecture is unique in its integration of a number of powerful learning algorithms within a human-like cognitive architecture. OpenCog has been used in a variety of commercial projects in areas such as natural language processing, financial analysis and bioinformatics. The main thrust of current OpenCog development is the use of the system to control animated characters in a video-game world — which, following a long tradition in the Al field, is a world where most objects are built from small blocks, whose positions and interactions the Al system can fully understand and manipulate. OpenCog guides characters in the world as they explore and try to achieve their goals. This is a follow-up to earlier work using OpenCog to control virtual pets in a simpler virtual world [17]. OpenCog has also previously been used to control a Nao humanoid robot [18]. However, this was merely a prototyping activity, which was not expected to yield dramatic embodied intelligence, due to OpenCog's lack of a serious perception and action module at that time. The core aim of the present proposal is to remedy this lack. 2 Samsonovich [16] has given a good general overview of the various AGI software systems at play in the field currently, including e.g. classic systems like SOAR and ACT-R, and more modern ones like (to name just a few) Stan Franklin's LIDA system, Joscha Bach's MicroPsi and Nick Cassimatis's PolyScheme. 1 EFTA01103497
May 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
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Check out how one motto is impacting the special education space..

Step into the world of Michele Sayles Harris, Chief of Student Services at Marietta City Schools and past president of G-CASE.

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March 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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Dive into a day with RoboKind in Tulare City Schools! 📚✨

Check out our virtual avatars! From capturing attention to enhancing engagement, see how these innovative tools are transforming learning experiences for our kids.

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March 10, 2025 at 10:28 PM
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Together, We Can Solve the Reading Crisis!

🔗 Explore how RoboKind Phonics is helping students learn to love reading: www.robokind.com/recess/robok...
🔗 See how RoboKind is empowering teachers with Science of Reading tools: www.robokind.com/science-of-r...

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February 14, 2025 at 7:11 PM
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We had an amazing time yesterday at the Rural Caucus meeting, connecting with the legislators who help bring our program to schools across the state.

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February 13, 2025 at 8:22 PM
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Our first podcast episode is LIVE!

Exceptional Minds with RoboKind is officially out on Spotify and Amazon Music—with more platforms coming soon!

🎧 Listen now:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1bRRGVy...
Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/e2e...

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February 5, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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We're thrilled about Illinois' new legislation mandating that school districts provide essential resources for special education students without guardians.

Read more about it here: www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/illinoi....

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February 4, 2025 at 8:07 PM
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We’re so stoked to be at TCASE and can’t wait to connect with all of you.

Who’s stopping by? Let us know—we’ll be waiting!

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February 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM