The Design of Procedural, Semantic, and Episodic Memory Systems for a Cognitive Robot

Abstract

The creation of a memory system based on that of humans is detailed for a cognitive robot. Three types of memory systems are outlined and implemented within the framework of the cognitive system being implemented for ISAC, a humanoid robot. These three memory types are those attributed to humans in psychology. These memory systems include a Procedural Memory to allow ISAC to store and retrieve movement behaviors, a Semantic Memory to represent semantic facts in a consistent manner throughout the cognitive system, and an Episodic Memory system to record the state of ISAC's cognitive system through task execution and allow for learning from past episodes. A retrieval technique was developed for the EM system that allowed for the inclusion of several factors important for retrieval of the correct memory into the Episodic Working Memory. The importance of these factors was demonstrated, and the performance of the system was compared with the more traditionally minded method of storing all experiences for future retrieval. It is shown how the decay of memories allows for performance gains in a more domain-specific search. The three systems were implemented, and an adaptive working memory system was created for each. Several tools were developed to aid in memory creation and testing as well as cognitive system debugging, and a sample perceptual agent was created to show how the Semantic Memory can interoperate with perception.