The State Space Formulation of Active Inference

The State Space Formulation of Active Inference: Towards Brain-Inspired Robot Control

Grimbergen, Sherin (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering; TU Delft Delft Center for Systems and Control; TU Delft Cognitive Robotics)

Wisse, M. (mentor)
Mohajerin Esfahani, P. (mentor)
Baldi, S. (graduation committee)
Oliehoek, F.A. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Mechanical Engineering | Systems and Control

2019-01-29

This thesis provides an exposition of the theory of Active Inference in a control theoretic context. Active Inference is a remarkably powerful neuroscientific theory that unifies many characteristics of the biological brain. As such, Active Inference provides a valid inspiration in search of improvements in bio-inspired robot control algorithms. The literature on Active Inference however is narrow and complex. The goal of this thesis is to open the door research of Active Inference
in robotics, by applying the theory to linear state space systems and exposing the relations and differences with established engineering paradigms. We provide a detailed account of several critical details, mainly the concept of generalized motions, that are commonly not understood from the scientific literature. A start in the performance analysis of the algorithm is made, by studying the effect of changes in several tuning parameters. Additionally, with Active Inference reformulated as a state space control system, it is shown that standard behavior
such as stabilization and tracking can be achieved.

Active Inference
Free Energy Principle
State Space Model
Brain-Inspired
Robot Control

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0f56c37c-d22b-478b-8a85-dca615a8f419

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Sherin Grimbergen