Many of the issues being addressed by researchers in cognitive robotics are also high on the agenda in the blossoming field of machine consciousness.
This talk will outline some ongoing work on visual perception with an upper-torso humanoid robot. The aim of this work is to give the robot equivalent sensory-motor skills to those of a young infant, in particular the ability to perceive, grasp, and manipulate arbitrary objects in a natural environment. The talk will offer some speculation about the relationship between consciousness and the kind of awareness of the world these skills necessitate. We also intend to endow the robot with a form of visual imagination, enabling it to internally simulate the effects of hypothetical actions and events. Accordingly, the talk will will also offer some speculation about the role of the imagination in consciousness.