More than sixty contributions in From Animals to Animats2 by researchers in ethology, ecology, cybernetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and related fields investigate behaviors and the underlying mechanisms that allow animals and, potentially, robots to adapt and survive in uncertain environments. Jean-Arcady Meyer is Director of Research, CNRS, Paris. Herbert L. Roitblat is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Stewart W. Wilson is a scientist at The Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Topics covered: The Animat Approach to Adaptive Behavior. Perception and Motor Control. Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences. Cognitive Maps and Internal World Models. Learning. Evolution. Collective Behavior.
About the Editors
Jean-Arcady Meyer is Emeritus Research Director at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and a researcher at the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris.
Herbert L. Roitblat is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Stewart W. Wilson is a scientist at The Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“The animat approach is attractive not just as a way of developing and testing theories of biological systems. It also constitutes an approach to the design of practical artificial systems, in particular robots, which, it is hoped, will overcome many of the limitations of more conventional methods within artificial intelligence and engineering. The interplay between biological and engineering concerns and the commonality between research from both perspectives is one of the most promising aspects of animat research and is an intriguing theme throughout the book.”
—The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (review of the first proceedings volume)