Kyoto Agency Workshop 2008

• Objective of the Workshop
• Homework (answers on this page)
• Special issue
• Schedule
• Access
• Financial Support
• Participants: Organizers, Participants, External collaborators for the special issue

Objective of the Workshop †

The workshop aims at contributing to a better understanding and generation of agency in artificial and natural systems. In the field of artificial life and robotics, agency is externally defined by a designer (or a fitness in the case of a genetic algorithm). We can also take the agency as an observer/frame problem only a system with agency can detects the agency in the other system. Agency indicates the interactive and relational aspects of the processes of self-construction in a living system. Regarding those aspects, we would like to discuss the issue of agency from various perspectives, from philosophy, brain sciences to dynamical systems modeling. Our goal here is to propose new widely applicable principles for the design of agency in artificial creatures

Homework †

We put up a quick comment on the following three questions This is to clarify positions and expectations of each participants. Please take a look at the participant's replies:

• What is the notion of agency most appropriate to your field of work? What does agency imply, ie what sort of systems does it make sense to treat as agents and why, and what can we expect of such systems
• Can you provide 2-3 references you find particulary important or inspiring with respect to the workshop theme
• How do you see the relation between time/temporality and agency? Do you think time matters in defining, studying or modelling agency and if yes, how and why

We also mentioned that we would like to publish a special issue (e.g., Artificial Life) about /principles for the design of agency in artificial creatures/ as outcome of this workshop. Even though not a strict requirement, we would like for the contributions to be cross-disciplinary, i.e. for participants to collaborate with researchers from other laboratories, nationality, scientific background or stage of their career to encourage the synthesis of new ideas from different perspectives meeting.

For administrative purposes, we would also like to know

• Are you at all interested in contributing to this issue
• If yes, can you please comment on areas of interest or questions you would like to study

None of this is a binding commitment, we just want to get an idea of the expectations and motivations to work with!

Schedule †

Thursday: †

Get Together (around 6pm)

Friday: †

10-12: Introduction (of the workshop and each participant) + participatory activity (e.g. everyone expresses what they expect) †

12-13: lunch †

13-14.45: Session 1: Philosophy †

30 min. presentation Ezequiel Di Paolo (chair: Eric Silverman).

Discussion.

15-16:35: Session 2: Biology †

30 min. resentation Hiroaki Wagatsuma (chair: Marieke Rohde).

Discussion.

17:20-18:30: Participatory activity †

Saturday: †

9-10:45: Session 3: Artificial Approaches †

30 min. Presentation Jun Tani (chair: Takashi Ikegami).

Discussion.

11-12:45: Social Agency and Communication †

30 min. Presentation Jean-Julien Aucouturier (chair: Ryoko Uno).

Discussion.

12:45-13:45: Lunch †

13:45-16: Group activity, planning of collaborative papers, visiting of the famous shrine on the site †

16-17: Communication of the outcome of group activity; closing of the workshop †

Venue †

• Kyoto Kansai Seminar House

Access †

• how to get

Financial Support †

The organisers want to thank the Riken Brain Science Institute (BSI) for financial support. We also want to thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS), who have helped realising this meeting through a postdoctoral fellowship.

Organizers †

Takashi Ikegami †

University of Tokyo, Director of Ikegami Laboratory: Complex Systems and Artificial Life.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Marieke Rohde †

University of Tokyo (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Ezequiel Di Paolo †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Reader in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Jun Tani †

RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Director Lab. for Behavior and Dynamic Cognition.

Answers question 1, question 2. Special issue: yes (interests)

Participants †

Jean-Julien Aucouturier †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Chris Buckley †

Indiana University/University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Fellow.

Paul Chorley †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student. Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

daboo †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Visiting Researcher/artist in residence.

Anwers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Matthew Egbert †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Jose Fernandez-Leon †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Peter Fine †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: no

Tom Froese †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes ((interests)

Yukio Pegio Gunji †

University of Kobe, Department of Earth & Planetary Science, Professor

Hiroyuki Iizuka †

Osaka University, Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Georg Martius †

INSTITUTE FOR NONLINEAR DYNAMICS, Georg-August-University Göttingen

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Ken Mogi †

Sony CSL, Senior researcher. Tokyo Institute of Technology, external faculty member.

Kohei Nakajima †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), PhD Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Jun Namikawa †

BSI (Riken), Tani Laboratory, Research Fellow.

Yuta Ogai †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Rolf Pfeifer †

Prof. of Computer Science, Director AI Lab, University of Zurich.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3.

Yuki Sato †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Student.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3.

Eric Silverman †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Yuya Sugita †

BSI (Riken), Tani Laboratory, Research Fellow.

Keisuke Suzuki †

BSI (Riken), Fujii Laboratory, Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Ryoko Uno †

Tokyo University (Ikegami Laboratory), Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

Hiroaki Wagatsuma †

Lab. for Dynamics of Emergent Intelligence, RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI).

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3.

External collaborators for the special issue (not present in Kyoto) †

Eduardo Izquierdo †

University of Sussex (CCNR), Research Student.

University of Birmingham (CSB), Research Fellow.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)

John Stewart †

Université de Technologie de Compiègne (COSTECH), Research Scientist.

Answers question 1, question 2, question 3. Special issue: yes (interests)