The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Faculty of Environment and Technology
Abstract
A profound question that transcends disciplinary boundaries is how can culture emerge and evolve as a novel property in groups of social animals? We can narrow that question by focussing our attention on the very early stages of the emergence and evolution of simple cultural artefacts; the transition, as it were, from nothing recognisable as culture, to something (let us call this proto-culture). This project aims to address and illuminate that question in a radical and hitherto inconceivable new way by building an artificial society of embodied intelligent agents (real robots), creating an environment (artificial ecosystem) and appropriate primitive behaviours for those robots, then free running the artificial society. Even with small populations (a few tens) of relatively simple robots we will, in a short time, see a very large number of interactions between robots. The inherent heterogeneities of real robots, and the noise and uncertainty of the real world, vastly increase the space of possibilities and the scope for unexpected emergence in the interactions between robots. In this project we will aim to create the conditions and primitives in which proto-culture can emerge in a robot society. Robots will, for example, be able to copy each other's behaviours and select which behaviours to copy. Behaviours (memes) will mutate because of the noise and uncertainty in the real robots' sensors and actuators, and successful memes will undergo multiple cycles of copying (heredity), selection and variation (mutation). Furthermore we will introduce a bi-phased approach in which we alternate between real-time (with real physical robots) in which the emergence, selection and refinement of these discrete behavioural artefacts takes place; with evolutionary time, in which we run a genetic algorithm (GA) process to grow and evolve the robots' controllers so that the behaviours and premiums associated with the emerging memes become hard-wired into the robots' (neural) controllers. In this way we hope to see the emergence of interesting behavioural artefacts that, we hope, will be qualitatively and quantitatively distinct from those present at the beginning. Of course the behavioural artefacts that emerge and evolve, that we hope to identify as proto-cultural analogues, will not be human but decidedly robotic. We do not expect these artificial memes to have any meaning in a human cultural context; rather, they will be meaningful only within the closed context of this artificial society (an exo-culture). A significant challenge for this project will therefore be to identify and interpret these patterns of behaviour as evidence for an emerging exo-culture; the challenge is hermeneutic - what means will we be able to develop by which we can identify/recognise meaningful/cultural behaviour; and, then, what means might we go on to develop for interpreting/understanding this behaviour and/or its significance?
Publications
Bhamjee S
(2011)
Human-Robot Personal Relationships
Erbas M
(2013)
Embodied imitation-enhanced reinforcement learning in multi-agent systems
in Adaptive Behavior
Erbas MD
(2015)
On the Evolution of Behaviors through Embodied Imitation.
in Artificial life
Griffiths FE
(2011)
Embodied Simulation of Social Interaction
Guest, A.
(2011)
Promoting Meme diversity and Transmission on Fidelity in Artificial Proto-Cultures
in Proc. 11th European Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ECAL 2011)
Haasdijk E
(2013)
Individual, Social and Evolutionary Adaptation in Collective Systems
Liu W
(2011)
Open-hardware e-puck Linux extension board for experimental swarm robotics research
in Microprocessors and Microsystems
O'Dowd P
(2014)
The distributed co-evolution of an on-board simulator and controller for swarm robot behaviours
in Evolutionary Intelligence
Sutcliffe A
(2013)
Memetic evolution in the development of proto-language
in Memetic Computing
Sutcliffe A
(2012)
Investigating the Relative Influence of Genes and Memes in Healthcare
in Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
Sutcliffe A
(2012)
Memetic reproduction and protolanguage evolution
in Memetic Computing
Tennant Jackson J
(2008)
Towards Understanding Emergence: Ecological approaches between Art and Science
in 4th Organisational Studies Workshop: Embracing Complexity: Advanced Ecological Understanding in Organizational Studies
Tennant Jackson J
(2011)
A Dialogue: On the Complexity of networks between the Arts and the Sciences
Winfield A
(2010)
Towards the Emergence of Artificial Culture in Collective Robot Systems
Winfield A
(2011)
First Steps Toward Artificial Culture in Robot Societies
in Procedia Computer Science
Winfield A
(2011)
On embodied memetic evolution and the emergence of behavioural traditions in Robots
in Memetic Computing
Winfield A
(2018)
Narrating Complexity
Winfield AFT
(2013)
Noisy Social Learning and the Dynamics of Behavioural Evolution
Winfield AFT
(2022)
Experiments in artificial culture: from noisy imitation to storytelling robots.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Winfield AFT
(2011)
First steps toward Artificial Culture in Robot Societies
Winfield, AFT
(2010)
You really need to know what your bot(s) are thinking about you
Description | Three headline achievements: 1. We have identified and experimentally investigated of a set of interacting properties that appear to promote the emergence of (artificial) culture. These include: memory; implicit fitness; physiological factors leading to 'attractors' for emerging or dominant new behavioural patterns (memes); and the huge importance of contingency, ie an early low fidelity imitation followed by (several) high fidelity imitations which inherit novel features of the initial poor quality copy leading to new emerging memes. 2. We have developed a new method of exploring the emergence of culture: an embodied model that exhibits open-ended behavourial (memetic) evolution, together with visualization and analysis tools and methods for interpretation of data collected from the model. 3. We have developed a new method for modelling the social science of micro-interactions. We believe this has potential for modelling and informing intervention strategies by, for instance, introducing individuals with different behaviours and the study of the resulting effect on the group. We believe that the project has made significant progress toward its aims and objectives. The main objectives were: To create a rich experimental environment in which fundamental questions about both the mechanisms of the emergence of 'culture' and the emergent artificial cultural behaviours (patterns of movement or sound) can be studied. This environment will be decidedly artificial, and the emergent artefacts most definitely non-human. However, we aimed for a level of abstraction which allows findings to be generalised from social robot to social animal: 1. Illuminate the processes and mechanisms of the emergence of culture (artificial 'traditions') 2. Create the only known completely characterised system test (explicitly, rigorously) evolutional ecology theory of cultural evolution 3. Investigate and model the dynamics of gene-meme coevolution in social science scenarios 4. Establish methods for engaging non-expert observers for perceiving patterns in the robot society, alongside an open science framework complemented by public engagement 5. Develop approaches for introducing interventions into the artificial society that in some way module potential social interventions in response to intractable real-world problems. |
Exploitation Route | The work will benefit other researchers interested in several areas, including (i) the study of emergence across discipline boundaries; (ii) the study of cultural evolution; (iii) imitation and social learning - including the combination of social and individual learning - in robots, and (iv) the potential for 'embodied simulation' as a tool for modelling and exploring social behaviours, including behavioural interventions, which would be impossible or unethical in human subject experiments. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Healthcare Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Other |
URL | https://sites.google.com/site/artcultproject/ |
Description | The work is likely to benefit and have impact within the fields of: 1. artificial intelligence, swarm robotics and related fields, because the work will represent a significant step forward from the 'minimalist' approaches of current swarm robotics into the new field of 'social' robotics and because a society of robots may provide a signpost toward the understanding and ultimately, development of machine consciousness; 2. evolutionary biology and anthropology, because it's hoped that the work will illuminate the processes and mechanisms of the emergence of cultural artefacts (memes) and the transition from social to cultural animals that must have taken place in hominid evolution, and because study of this robot (exo)-culture might help us recognise and hence study similar behavioural artefacts in other animals; 3. social sciences and philosophy because the work has the potential to develop and explore radically novel conceptual and practical approaches to culture and cultural difference, at a moment in history when the poverty of traditional approaches is becoming more and more evident. However, the impact is still evolving and we will continue to update project outcomes. |
First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Artificial Culture Project consortium |
Organisation | Abertay University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project partners worked closely together to conceive and deliver the project: The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies, under the leadership of Winfield at UWE Bristol. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners all contributed to the project. Major contributions included expertise across several disciplines; PhD and post-doctoral supervision; experiment design and evaluation, and joint publications. |
Impact | All published outcomes are listed elsewhere. This was a multi-disciplinary collaboration including: Art history and cultural theory (Leeds Met), Medicine and social science (Warwick), Systems biology (Abertay), Philosophy (Exeter), Computer Science (Manchester) and Robotics (UWE). |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Artificial Culture Project consortium |
Organisation | Leeds Beckett University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project partners worked closely together to conceive and deliver the project: The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies, under the leadership of Winfield at UWE Bristol. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners all contributed to the project. Major contributions included expertise across several disciplines; PhD and post-doctoral supervision; experiment design and evaluation, and joint publications. |
Impact | All published outcomes are listed elsewhere. This was a multi-disciplinary collaboration including: Art history and cultural theory (Leeds Met), Medicine and social science (Warwick), Systems biology (Abertay), Philosophy (Exeter), Computer Science (Manchester) and Robotics (UWE). |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Artificial Culture Project consortium |
Organisation | University of Exeter |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project partners worked closely together to conceive and deliver the project: The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies, under the leadership of Winfield at UWE Bristol. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners all contributed to the project. Major contributions included expertise across several disciplines; PhD and post-doctoral supervision; experiment design and evaluation, and joint publications. |
Impact | All published outcomes are listed elsewhere. This was a multi-disciplinary collaboration including: Art history and cultural theory (Leeds Met), Medicine and social science (Warwick), Systems biology (Abertay), Philosophy (Exeter), Computer Science (Manchester) and Robotics (UWE). |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Artificial Culture Project consortium |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project partners worked closely together to conceive and deliver the project: The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies, under the leadership of Winfield at UWE Bristol. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners all contributed to the project. Major contributions included expertise across several disciplines; PhD and post-doctoral supervision; experiment design and evaluation, and joint publications. |
Impact | All published outcomes are listed elsewhere. This was a multi-disciplinary collaboration including: Art history and cultural theory (Leeds Met), Medicine and social science (Warwick), Systems biology (Abertay), Philosophy (Exeter), Computer Science (Manchester) and Robotics (UWE). |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Artificial Culture Project consortium |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project partners worked closely together to conceive and deliver the project: The Emergence of Artificial Culture in Robot Societies, under the leadership of Winfield at UWE Bristol. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners all contributed to the project. Major contributions included expertise across several disciplines; PhD and post-doctoral supervision; experiment design and evaluation, and joint publications. |
Impact | All published outcomes are listed elsewhere. This was a multi-disciplinary collaboration including: Art history and cultural theory (Leeds Met), Medicine and social science (Warwick), Systems biology (Abertay), Philosophy (Exeter), Computer Science (Manchester) and Robotics (UWE). |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Dances with Robots, Ignite 20x20 talk, Spike Island, Bristol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The talk sparked a good deal of interest in the EPSRC Artificial Culture project. A number of people, including press and media, contacted me following the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QTEJ1sypKM |
Description | Festival of Ideas, Bristol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The talk asked the question: Can Robots teach us about Culture? And sparked a good deal of discussion. Audience members reported that they had not realised that experiments with robots might reveal something about the evolution of culture. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |