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CoTeSys –
Cluster of Excellence
“Cognition for Technical Systems”
e are on the verge of a new era when technical sys- Brachmann to turn technical systems into “ones that can reason
tems expand from typical industrial applications with using substantial amounts of appropriately represented knowl-
pre-programmed, hard-wired behaviors into everyday life sit- edge, learn from its experience so that it performs better tomor-
uations where they have to deal with complex and unpredict- row than it did today, explain itself and be told what to do, be
able events. Typical hard-wired automation approaches fail aware of its own capabilities and refl ect on its own behavior, and
in these situations rendering these systems not suitable for respond robustly to surprise.” A technical system that is cognitive
use in everyday scenarios. Technical systems lack the ability in this sense will be more reliable, fl exible, adaptive, and robust.
to cope with unexpected changes and uncertainties which These kinds of systems ease interaction and cooperation with
are easily handled by humans. The newly established clus- humans.
ter of excellence CoTeSys (Cognition for Technical Systems)
investigates the realization of cognitive capabilities such as Interdisciplinary research effort
perception, learning, reasoning, planning, and execution for The cluster supports research in multiple research areas to close
technical systems including fl exible manufacturing systems, the loop between perception and action as a response to events
and autonomous (cognitive) robots and vehicles. from the environment surrounding the cognitive system:
What is our mission? c73c00c32c45c53c45c41c52c43c48c00c4fc4ec00c4ec45c55c52c4fc42c49c4fc4cc4fc47c49c43c41c4cc00c41c4ec44c00c4ec45c55c52c4fc43c4fc47c4ec49c54c49c56c45c00c46c4fc55c4ec44c41c54c49c4fc4ec53
The CoTeSys Cluster of Excellence “Cognition for Technical Sys- of cognition investigates cognition in technical systems by em-
tems” coordinated by the Technische Universität München repre- pirically studying cognitive capabilities of humans and animals
sents a close collaboration between scientists from various disci- at the behavioral and brain level. Attention and perception ca-
plines connecting neurocognitive and neurobiological foundations pabilities of biological systems will help to improve the perform-
to engineering sciences at the leading research institutions in ance of technical systems implemented in the cluster.
Munich. A combined effort of the scientists from Technische c73c00c32c45c53c45c41c52c43c48c00c4fc4ec00c50c45c52c43c45c50c54c55c41c4cc00c4dc45c43c48c41c4ec49c53c4dc53c00c44c45c53c49c47c4ec53
Universität München, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Univer- implements and empirically analyzes perceptual mechanisms
sität der Bundeswehr, the Max-Planck Institute, and the German for cognition in technical systems. It integrates, embeds, and
Aerospace Agency provides a unique combination of expertise specializes the mechanisms for their application in the demon-
to tackle the diffi cult problem of implementing cognitive capa- stration scenarios.
bilities into technical systems. Cognitive technical systems (CTS) c73c00c32c45c53c45c41c52c43c48c00c4fc4ec00c4bc4ec4fc57c4cc45c44c47c45c00c41c4ec44c00c4cc45c41c52c4ec49c4ec47
are information processing units equipped with artifi cial sensors has an ultimate goal in realization of technical systems, which can
and actuators that interact with the physical world. CoTeSys in- assess how well they are doing, and improve themselves based
vestigates the cognition on this knowledge. To this end, research on knowledge and learn-
in technical systems in ing will design and develop a computational model for knowledge
terms of the cognition- processing and learning especially designed to be implemented on
based perception-action computing platforms which are embedded into sensor-equipped
closed loop. All research technical systems acting in physical environments.
within CoTeSys is dedi- c73c00c32c45c53c45c41c52c43c48c00c4fc4ec00c41c43c54c49c4fc4ec00c53c45c4cc45c43c54c49c4fc4ec00c41c4ec44c00c50c4cc41c4ec4ec49c4ec47
cated to real-time per- addresses the action production aspects of cognition in tech-
formance of this loop nical systems. These aspects include the realization of motion
in real world situations. and manipulation skills, the context-specifi c selection of the ap-
The mid- and long-term propriate actions, the commitment to courses of activity based
research goals in CoTe- on foresight, and specifi c action capabilities enabling compe-
Sys are to signifi cantly tent joint human-robot action.
increase the functional c73c00c32c45c53c45c41c52c43c48c00c4fc4ec00c48c55c4dc41c4ec00c46c41c43c54c4fc52c53
eSys
abstraction for robust studies cognitive vehicles, robots, and factories from a human
and rich performance factors and cognitive psychological point of view. Particular em-
of the perception-action phasis is placed on the interpretation of the environment and
photo: CoT
loop. One of our ultimate the communication with humans enabling human-machine col-
Cognitive manufacturing and service robotics goals is according to laboration in unstructured environments.
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