One Powerful Environment and Testbed
for Human-Level AGI
Would Be a “Virtual School”
in an Open Source Virtual World
Enhanced with Robot Simulation and Bead
Physics
Ben Goertzel & Stephan Vladimir Bugaj
Hypothesis 1: Human-like AGI reflects, in large
part, an adaptation to the “everyday world”
humans interact with (including social and
physical interactions)
Hypothesis 2: A reasonably rich “virtual school”
environment can encapsulate the AGI-critical
aspects of the everyday world
OpenSim
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Croquet
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Current virtual world platforms have some fairly severe
limitations, which fortunately can be remedied with effort
Object-object
interactions are
oversimplified, making
tool use difficult
Agent control relies on animations
and other simplified mechanisms,
rather than having virtual
servomotors associated with each
joint of an agent’s skeleton
Partial solution: Integration of a robot
simulator with a virtual world engine
+
Player / Gazebo: 3D
robot control + simulation
framework
OpenSim, Croquet, etc.:
open-source virtual world
It seems feasible to replace OpenSim or Croquet’s physics engine with appropriate
components of Player/Gazebo, and make coordinated client & protocol modifications
Current Virtual Worlds lack fluids, powders,
pastes, fabrics … they don’t completely
implement “naïve physics”
One likely solution:
bead physics
Spherical beads with
specially designed
adhesion properties can
emulate fluids, fabrics,
pastes, strings, rubber
bands, etc.
Bead physics can be
added to virtual world
physics engines
Virtual School (VIRTUS)
Proposal
Create enhanced version of current
OSS virtual world to support
Virtual School requirements
•Modify server, client for more flexible
interaction with physics engine and
external software
•Integrate virtual world with Player
robot simulator
•Add bead physics to ODE or other
physics engine
•Add special Environment Control
user interface and server plugin to
enable flexible configuration and
control of environment
•Make VIRTUS servers open for
use by all AI researchers
•AI systems communicate with
virtual world proxy via XML
•Multiple AIs and humans may
flexibly interact
•Researchers may also run their
own VIRTUS servers
•Pre-fab bodies available or
researchers may create their
own
•Objects may be scripted inworld or controlled by external
scripts
Example “Early Preschool Level”
VIRTUS Tasks
Task-set name
Objec t permane nce
Theory of mind (firstorder)
Identif ying novel objects
withi n familiar categories,
based o n function
Describing functions of
objects
Identi fication of
individualsΥ emotions
based o n their actions
Unde rstandin g
arrang ements of obj ects
Unde rstandin g movements
of objects
Obtai ning and cleaning up
objects
Brief Description
The AI is exposed to object and individuals, and then they are obscured
from it, and it mu st answer questions or make judgments based on whether
it understands that the entities still exist and have the same properties even
when obscured. For instance, a block can be placed behind a room divider,
and then a ball rolled behind the divider, and questions can be asked to
probe whether the AI understands there is a possibility of the ball hitting the
block
The AI is placed in situations where it observes other agents and objects,
and it must then ask questions or ma ke judgments based on its
understanding of what the other agents know (based on what they have
seen). For instance, if the agent observes that Bob has seen where the red
ball is hidden but Jim has not, if itΥs asked who will find the red ball first, it
should answer Bob.Σ
For instance, if th e AI sees an agent playing with several objects and is told
these objects are called toysΣ, then if it sees another agent playing with a
differen t object, it should know that this new object is potentially called a
Σ as well.
After watching human-controlled agents use an object, the AI is asked what
each object is used for
For instance, if th e AI knows that in many instances when agents have
spontaneously danced, they have been labeled
Σ, it should generalize
this and infer that spontaneous dancing often indicates happiness.
The AI should be able to answer questions regarding basic prepositional
relationships among objects, such as
ofΣ
t toΣ, underneathΣ,
rΣ and so forth.
The AI should be able to answer questions regarding basic movement
relationships of among objects, such a
dΣ, away fromΣ, fastΣ,
wΣ, etc.
When instructed to obtain or put awayobjects fitting certain descriptions,
the agent should be able to do so (this is a very simple case of
llowing
instructionsΣ
Example
“Advanced
Preschool Level”
VIRTUS Tasks
Example
“Elementary
and Middle
School Level”
VIRTUS Tasks
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