Using Slow Feature Analysis to Improve the Reactivity of a Humanoid Robot's Sensorimotor Gait Pattern

This paper presents an approach for increasing the reactivity of a humanoid robot’s gait, incorporating Slow Feature Analysis (SFA), an unsupervised learning algorithm issuing from the domain of theoretical biology. The main objective of this work is to find a means to detect disturbances in the gait pattern at an early stage without losing stability. Another goal is to investigate the general potential of SFA for using it within sensorimotor loops which to our knowledge has not been considered until now. The application of SFA within sensorimotor loops is motivated by pointing out its relation to second-order Volterra filters. Our experiments show that the overall reactivity of the gait pattern increases without any profound loss in stability, and that SFA appears to be suitable for the usage even at such levels of sensorimotor control that are directly involved into motor activity regulation.