Robopsychology, Perceptual Control Theory, and Braitenberg’s Vehicles, Dr Steve Battle FCybS

Dr Steve Battle FCybS speaks of experimental robot-psychology — applying the Test for the Controlled Variable to a class of robot known as Braitenberg’s Vehicles. Valentino Braitenberg was a cybernetician, a neuroanatomist, and a musician. His book, ‘Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology’, inspired many to explore its strange intersection of cybernetics and artistry. The simplest among these robots can be understood as operating by Stimulus-Response; their outputs simply a function of the inputs. But put them in an environment and we see the emergence of behaviour—the control of perception. Can we speak about these curious creatures as having a purpose, and if so what is it? Perceptual Control Theory is a theory of brain architecture that emerges from the key insight that the brain is fundamentally a control system. What it strives to control are its inputs, the perception of its environment. PCT has been practically applied in experimental psychology where the Test for the Controlled V