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Thursday Morning Talk

Christian Poth (Bielefeld University), “Task-driven phasic alertness: How being ready for action relies on the current task”

Abstract: Humans often must respond quickly to events happening in their environment. To support fast perception and action, the brain has evolved a warning system. Warning stimuli are used to elicit a transient state of readiness for perception and action (phasic alertness) that results in faster perceptual processing and faster decision-making for action. Phasic alertenss

Distinguished Speaker Series

POSTPONED: Onur Güntürkün (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), “The evolution of brain and cognition: A wild hypothesis”

Onur Güntürkün is regarded as a pioneer of biologically based psychology. The aim of his work is to find out how perception, thought and action arise in the brain. He is interested in diverse topics, such as motor learning, fear, risk-taking behavior and even kissing. In his research, Güntürkün combines psychological, biological and neuroanatomical aspects

Distinguished Speaker Series

Michael Beetz (Universität Bremen), “Empowering Robots with Digital Mental Models: Filling the Cognitive Gap for Everyday Tasks”

In this talk I introduce Digital Mental Models (DMMs) as a novel cognitive capability of AI-powered and cognition-enabled robots. By combining digital twin technology with symbolic knowledge representation and embodying this combination into robots, we tackle the challenge of converting vague task requests into specific robot actions, that is robot motions that cause desired physical

Thursday Morning Talk

Fariba Karimi (Graz University of Technology), “Complexity Science for Societal Good”

MAR 2.057

Abstract: Social inequalities -- structured and recurrent patterns of unequal distribution of wealth, opportunities, and rewards -- are on the rise, and quick-fix, top-down approaches are failing. Structural inequality is one of the important manifestations of social inequalities in which institutions, policies, and societies create systems of privilege that are structural barriers to equality and

Thursday Morning Talk

Hector Garcia de Marina (University of Granada), “Practical challenges in formation control and mobile robot swarms”

MAR 2.057

Abstract: Robot swarms have the potential to assist us with simpler logistics in persistent missions involving vast scenarios. Robot swarms also promise added resilience to complete their objectives despite unforeseen difficulties. However, current demonstrations of swarm technology in unstructured environments only count on single-digit individuals. That is farther from what one would expect from the

Thursday Morning Talk

Pavel Němec (Charles University), “Two independent origins of complex brains and intelligent behavior in birds and mammals”

Abstract: Over the last 20 years, it has been shown that birds and mammals are startlingly similar in their cognitive repertoire. Even the most intelligent taxa from each group – great apes and large corvids and parrots – match each other in most domains of cognition. This functional similarity is remarkable considering that birds and

Distinguished Speaker Series

Serge Belongie (University of Copenhagen), “Searching for Structure in Unfalsifiable Claims”

Abstract: While advances in automated fact-checking are critical in the fight against the spread of misinformation in social media, we argue that more attention is needed in the domain of unfalsifiable claims. In this talk, we outline some promising directions for identifying the prevailing narratives in shared content (image & text) and explore how the

For the Public

Girls’ Day 2024

This year, SCIoI is once again delighted to be part of Girls' Day, an event dedicated to offering school-aged girls the opportunity to explore new experiences and gain insights into the realm of STEM related research. This time around, our researchers Palina Bartashevich, Asieh Daneshi, Soledad Traverso, Anna Lange, and David Mezey, with the help

Thursday Morning Talk

Joshua B. Evans, “Creating Multi-Level Skill Hierarchies in Reinforcement Learning”

Abstract: What is a useful skill hierarchy for an autonomous agent? In this talk, we will consider a possible answer based on a graphical representation of how the interaction between an agent and its environment may unfold. The proposed approach uses modularity maximisation as a central organising principle to expose the structure of the interaction