Strong Spatial Cognition - a new paradigm for spatial problem solving

Abstract:

Computational problem solving requires (1) the formal representation of the problem; (2) the solution of the formalized problem; and (3) the interpretation of the solution in terms of the problem domain. In the case of spatial problems this involves two transformations between the spatial and the formal domain. Natural cognitive agents (humans and animals) avoid these transformations; they employ spatial affordances to solve problems directly in the spatial domain, whenever possible. In my talk I will present the Strong Spatial Cognition paradigm. This paradigm makes direct use of spatial structures and spatial affordances (‘knowledge in the world’) in the physical or conceptual spatial domain. Computation shifts from object-level reasoning (spatial calculi) to meta-level reasoning about spatial reference systems, spatial perception, and spatial operations. I will provide examples of spatial problems that can be solved in the strong spatial cognition paradigm and discuss crucial properties of space that help avoid the computational complexity trap in spatial reasoning. I will argue that the new paradigm is suitable for today’s autonomous robotic systems and may have uses well beyond the spatial domain.

Short Bio:

Christian Freksa is a Research Professor of Cognitive Systems at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Bremen. He directs the Bremen Spatial Cognition Center. His research concerns representation and reasoning with incomplete, imprecise, lean, coarse, approximate, fuzzy, and conflicting knowledge about physical environments. Particular emphasis is on qualitative spatial and temporal reasoning and on spatial cognition. Freksa received a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from UC Berkeley. Before joining the University of Bremen he carried out research at the Max Planck Institute forPsychiatry and the Technical University of Munich, the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, and the University of Hamburg. From 1996 to 2014 he directed a DFG priority program and the SFB/Transregio Spatial Cognition supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Freksa is a Fellow of the European AI society EurAI.