Object recognition by a robotic agent: the purposive approach

Studies the problem of object recognition by considering it in the context of an agent operating in an environment, where the agent´s intentions translate into a set of behaviors. In this context, an object can fulfil a function; if the agent recognizes this, it has in effect recognized the object. To perform this type of recognition one needs on one hand a definition of the desired function, and on the other the means of determining whether the object can fulfil that function. To illustrate this approach the authors describe the visual recognition abilities that might be needed by an autonomous cleaning robot