Theory Grounding in Embodied Artificially Intelligent Systems

Theory grounding is suggested as a way to address the unresolved cognitive science issues of systematicity and productivity. Theory grounding involves grounding the theory skills and knowledge of an embodied artificially intelligent (AI) system by developing theory skills and knowledge from the bottom up. It is proposed that theory grounded AI systems should be patterned after the psychological developmental stages that infants and young children go through in acquiring naïve theories. Systematicity and productivity are properties of certain representational systems indicating the range of representations the systems can form. Systematicity and productivity are likely outcomes of theory grounded AI systems because systematicity and productivity are theoretical concepts. Theory grounded systems should be well oriented to acquire and develop these theoretical concepts.