Visual Behavior and Intelligent Agents

Randal C. Nelson, Dana H. Ballard, and Steven D. Whitehead
Department of Computer Science
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627

Abstract: Recent robotic models suggest that many complex representational problems in visual perception are actually simplified in systems with behavioral capabilities that permit them to move and interact with the environment. These studies have shown that some complex behaviors can be reduced to a collection of loosely coordinated agents, greatly reducing the complexity of control protocols. These and many other observations emphasize the importance of behavioral context in models of intelligence, and suggest that the natural coordinates for representing information are in terms of behaviors.