

Professor Develops 'Brain' for Robots - Kilo-byte
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130926201114.htm

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MrQuincle
Always good to see research of course!

1.) But why is there a "leader" to begin with? In swarms of birds the older
birds do have some specific roles, but real "leaders" seem to me a brittle
approach.

2.) Reinforcement learning, and an actor-critic system is nothing new. But
what is an "active critique"? Never heard about it...

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lutusp
> But why is there a "leader" to begin with? In swarms of birds the older
> birds do have some specific roles, but real "leaders" seem to me a brittle
> approach.

I agree, and it seems nature agrees. Anyone who think a leader is required
should watch a flight of a thousand starlings maneuver adeptly without
collisions, a swarm of bees or ants carry out their duties without any command
hierarchy, or a modern government rob the people blind with nary a collision
between the overwhelming number of redundant departments.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY)
(starlings in flight)

