1. INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________ 1
1.1. Motivation ______________________________________________________________ 2
1.2. Report Structure __________________________________________________________ 2
2. BACKGROUND_____________________________________________________________ 3
2.1. Autonomous Robotics _____________________________________________________ 3
2.2. First Efforts _____________________________________________________________ 3
2.3. ‘Engineered’ Robotic Learning Methods ________________________________________ 4
2.4. The Influence of Cognitive Neuroscience_______________________________________ 5
2.5. Bioinspired Neural Paradigms________________________________________________ 7
2.6. Using Neuron Models in Biological Research ___________________________________ 12
2.7. The Nature of Robotic Investigations_________________________________________ 14
2.8. Tools Assisting Theoretical Robotics _________________________________________ 17
3. METHODOLOGY _________________________________________________________ 20
3.1. Requirements ___________________________________________________________ 20
3.2. Program Structure________________________________________________________ 22
3.3. Design Detail ___________________________________________________________ 24
4. IMPLEMENTATION_______________________________________________________ 32
4.1. Interactive Simulation_____________________________________________________ 32
4.2. Batch Mode ____________________________________________________________ 37
5. TESTING _________________________________________________________________ 39
5.1. Code Validation _________________________________________________________ 39
5.2. Research carried out using the simulator_______________________________________ 40
5.3. Conclusions of the Entrainment Study ________________________________________ 45
6. EVALUATION_____________________________________________________________ 47
6.1. Potential Future Work ____________________________________________________ 49
7. REFERENCES ____________________________________________________________ 51
Appendix A REFLECTION____________________________________________________ 53
Appendix B PROJECT SCHEDULE_____________________________________________ 55
B.1. Diary Extract ___________________________________________________________ 56
IV
Appendix C TEST OUTPUT ___________________________________________________ 58
Appendix D EXAMPLE SIMULATION SCREENSHOT____________________________ 61
Appendix E SCRIPTING LANGUAGE STRUCTURE______________________________