{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T10:29:20Z","timestamp":1773829760342,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,2]],"date-time":"2023-02-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675296000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MCIN\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"]}]},{"name":"MCIN\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["EDC431C-2021\/39"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EDC431C-2021\/39"]}]},{"name":"MCIN\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["ED431G 2019\/01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ED431G 2019\/01"]}]},{"name":"MCIN\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["GA 101070381"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GA 101070381"]}]},{"name":"\u201cERDF A way of making Europe\u201d, Xunta de Galicia","award":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"]}]},{"name":"\u201cERDF A way of making Europe\u201d, Xunta de Galicia","award":["EDC431C-2021\/39"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EDC431C-2021\/39"]}]},{"name":"\u201cERDF A way of making Europe\u201d, Xunta de Galicia","award":["ED431G 2019\/01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ED431G 2019\/01"]}]},{"name":"\u201cERDF A way of making Europe\u201d, Xunta de Galicia","award":["GA 101070381"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GA 101070381"]}]},{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Galicia \u201cCITIC\u201d","award":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"]}]},{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Galicia \u201cCITIC\u201d","award":["EDC431C-2021\/39"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EDC431C-2021\/39"]}]},{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Galicia \u201cCITIC\u201d","award":["ED431G 2019\/01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ED431G 2019\/01"]}]},{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Galicia \u201cCITIC\u201d","award":["GA 101070381"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GA 101070381"]}]},{"name":"Horizon Europe","award":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2021-126220OB-I00"]}]},{"name":"Horizon Europe","award":["EDC431C-2021\/39"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EDC431C-2021\/39"]}]},{"name":"Horizon Europe","award":["ED431G 2019\/01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ED431G 2019\/01"]}]},{"name":"Horizon Europe","award":["GA 101070381"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GA 101070381"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper addresses the problem of achieving lifelong open-ended learning autonomy in robotics, and how different cognitive architectures provide functionalities that support it. To this end, we analyze a set of well-known cognitive architectures in the literature considering the different components they address and how they implement them. Among the main functionalities that are taken as relevant for lifelong open-ended learning autonomy are the fact that architectures must contemplate learning, and the availability of contextual memory systems, motivations or attention. Additionally, we try to establish which of them were actually applied to real robot scenarios. It transpires that in their current form, none of them are completely ready to address this challenge, but some of them do provide some indications on the paths to follow in some of the aspects they contemplate. It can be gleaned that for lifelong open-ended learning autonomy, motivational systems that allow finding domain-dependent goals from general internal drives, contextual long-term memory systems that all allow for associative learning and retrieval of knowledge, and robust learning systems would be the main components required. Nevertheless, other components, such as attention mechanisms or representation management systems, would greatly facilitate operation in complex domains.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23031611","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,2]],"date-time":"2023-02-02T01:53:54Z","timestamp":1675302834000},"page":"1611","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["A Perspective on Lifelong Open-Ended Learning Autonomy for Robotics through Cognitive Architectures"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0507-8320","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alejandro","family":"Romero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrated Group for Engineering Research, CITIC Research Center, Universidade da Coru\u00f1a, 15403 Ferrol, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6043-1468","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Bellas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrated Group for Engineering Research, CITIC Research Center, Universidade da Coru\u00f1a, 15403 Ferrol, Spain"}]},{"given":"Richard J.","family":"Duro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrated Group for Engineering Research, CITIC Research Center, Universidade da Coru\u00f1a, 15403 Ferrol, Spain"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"13","article-title":"A Standard Model of the Mind: Toward a Common Computational Framework across Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Robotics","volume":"38","author":"Laird","year":"2017","journal-title":"AI Mag."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.3389\/fnbot.2018.00059","article-title":"Open-Ended Learning: A Conceptual Framework Based on Representational Redescription","volume":"12","author":"Doncieux","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Neurorobot."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/0921-8890(95)00004-Y","article-title":"Lifelong Robot Learning","volume":"15","author":"Thrun","year":"1995","journal-title":"Robot. Auton. Syst."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Kotseruba, I., and Tsotsos, J.K. (2016). A Review of 40 Years of Cognitive Architecture Research: Core Cognitive Abilities and Practical Applications. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Vernon, D. (2014). Artificial Cognitive Systems: A Primer, MIT Press."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Lebiere, C., and Anderson, J.R. (1993, January 18\u201321). A Connectionist Implementation of the ACT-R Production System. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Boulder, CO, USA."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"159","DOI":"10.1080\/09528130701191560","article-title":"The Importance of Cognitive Architectures: An Analysis Based on CLARION","volume":"19","author":"Sun","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Exp. Theor. Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Varma, S., and Just, M.A. (2006, January 27\u201329). 4CAPS: An Adaptive Architecture for Human Information Processing. Proceedings of the AAAI Spring Symposium: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Cognitive Science Principles Meet AI-Hard Problems, Stanford, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0004-3702(87)90050-6","article-title":"SOAR: An Architecture for General Intelligence","volume":"33","author":"Laird","year":"1987","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1111\/tops.12180","article-title":"Modeling Two-Channel Speech Processing With the EPIC Cognitive Architecture","volume":"8","author":"Kieras","year":"2016","journal-title":"Top. Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Langley, P., and Choi, D. (2006, January 16\u201320). A Unified Cognitive Architecture for Physical Agents. Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Boston, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.1109\/TAMD.2009.2021702","article-title":"Cognitive Developmental Robotics: A Survey","volume":"1","author":"Asada","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Auton. Ment. Dev."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1142\/S0219843604000149","article-title":"Developmental Robotics: Theory and Experiments","volume":"1","author":"Weng","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Hum. Robot"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"340","DOI":"10.1109\/TAMD.2010.2086453","article-title":"Multilevel Darwinist Brain (MDB): Artificial Evolution in a Cognitive Architecture for Real Robots","volume":"2","author":"Bellas","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Auton. Ment. Dev."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"214","DOI":"10.1109\/TCDS.2016.2538961","article-title":"Grail: A Goal-Discovering Robotic Architecture for Intrinsically-Motivated Learning","volume":"8","author":"Santucci","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Cogn. Dev. Syst."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Santucci, V.G., Baldassarre, G., and Cartoni, E. (2019, January 19\u201322). Autonomous Reinforcement Learning of Multiple Interrelated Tasks. Proceedings of the 2019 Joint IEEE 9th International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob), Olso, Norway.","DOI":"10.1109\/DEVLRN.2019.8850713"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Santucci, V.G., Montella, D., and Baldassarre, G. (2022). C-GRAIL: Autonomous Reinforcement Learning of Multiple, Context-Dependent Goals. IEEE Trans. Cogn. Dev. Syst.","DOI":"10.1109\/TCDS.2022.3152081"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Romero, A., Baldassarre, G., Duro, R.J., and Santucci, V.G. (2022, January 12\u201315). Autonomous Learning of Multiple Curricula with Non-Stationary Interdependencies. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning, ICDL, London, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICDL53763.2022.9962200"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bach, J. (2012, January 8\u201311). MicroPsi 2: The next Generation of the MicroPsi Framework. Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial General Intelligence, Oxford, UK.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-35506-6_2"},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"242","article-title":"Toward Cognitive Robotics","volume":"7332","author":"Laird","year":"2009","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Goertzel, B. (2009, January 15\u201317). OpenCogPrime: A Cognitive Synergy Based Architecture for Artificial General Intelligence. Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics, Hong Kong, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/COGINF.2009.5250807"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1272","DOI":"10.1109\/JSYST.2015.2442995","article-title":"MLECOG: Motivated Learning Embodied Cognitive Architecture","volume":"11","author":"Starzyk","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Syst. J."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Benjamin, D.P., Lyons, D.M., and Lonsdale, D.W. (August, January 30). ADAPT: A Cognitive Architecture for Robotics. Proceedings of the ICCM, Pittsburgh, PA, USA."},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"137","article-title":"LIDA and a Theory of Mind","volume":"171","author":"Friedlander","year":"2008","journal-title":"Front. Artif. Intell. Appl."},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"1","article-title":"Towards Active Vision in the Dual Cognitive Architecture","volume":"11","author":"Nestor","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. ITA"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Oddi, A., Rasconi, R., Santucci, V.G., Sartor, G., Cartoni, E., Mannella, F., and Baldassarre, G. (2020). ECAI 2020, IOS Press."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1151","DOI":"10.1163\/156855307781389419","article-title":"ICub: The Design and Realization of an Open Humanoid Platform for Cognitive and Neuroscience Research","volume":"21","author":"Tsagarakis","year":"2007","journal-title":"Adv. Robot."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1036","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.111.4.1036","article-title":"An Integrated Theory of the Mind","volume":"111","author":"Anderson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.3233\/ICA-180578","article-title":"Introducing Separable Utility Regions in a Motivational Engine for Cognitive Developmental Robotics","volume":"26","author":"Prieto","year":"2019","journal-title":"Integr. Comput. Aided. Eng."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sanjurjo Gonz\u00e1lez, H., Pastor L\u00f3pez, I., Garc\u00eda Bringas, P., Quinti\u00e1n, H., and Corchado, E. (2021). Open-Ended Learning of Reactive Knowledge in Cognitive Robotics Based on Neuroevolution BT\u2014Hybrid Artificial Intelligent Systems, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-86271-8"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"639","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn_a_00746","article-title":"Past Makes Future: Role of PFC in Prediction","volume":"27","author":"Fuster","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Cogn. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2015.00019","article-title":"Prospection in Cognition: The Case for Joint Episodic-Procedural Memory in Cognitive Robotics","volume":"2","author":"Vernon","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.84.2.127","article-title":"Controlled and Automatic Human Information Processing: II. Perceptual Learning, Automatic Attending and a General Theory","volume":"84","author":"Shiffrin","year":"1977","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1177\/1059712311421219","article-title":"A Review of Long-Term Memory in Natural and Synthetic Systems","volume":"20","author":"Wood","year":"2012","journal-title":"Adapt. Behav."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2047","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2009.21280","article-title":"Cortex and Memory: Emergence of a New Paradigm","volume":"21","author":"Fuster","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Cogn. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.1111\/cogs.12032","article-title":"Integration and Reuse in Cognitive Skill Acquisition","volume":"37","author":"Salvucci","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Bellemare, M., Srinivasan, S., Ostrovski, G., Schaul, T., Saxton, D., and Munos, R. (2016). Unifying Count-Based Exploration and Intrinsic Motivation. Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst., 29. Available online: https:\/\/proceedings.neurips.cc\/paper\/2016\/hash\/afda332245e2af431fb7b672a68b659d-Abstract.html."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1177\/1059712320922916","article-title":"Intrinsic Motivation and Episodic Memories for Robot Exploration of High-Dimensional Sensory Spaces","volume":"29","author":"Schillaci","year":"2021","journal-title":"Adapt. Behav."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nehmzow, U., Gatsoulis, Y., Kerr, E., Condell, J., Siddique, N., and McGuinnity, T.M. (2013). Novelty Detection as an Intrinsic Motivation for Cumulative Learning Robots. Intrinsically Motiv. Learn. Nat. Artif. Syst., 185\u2013207.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-32375-1_8"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1109\/TAMD.2010.2056368","article-title":"Formal Theory of Creativity, Fun, and Intrinsic Motivation (1990\u20132010)","volume":"2","author":"Schmidhuber","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Auton. Ment. Dev."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"170","DOI":"10.1016\/j.artint.2015.05.002","article-title":"Intrinsically Motivated Model Learning for Developing Curious Robots","volume":"247","author":"Hester","year":"2017","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Oudeyer, P.-Y., Baranes, A., and Kaplan, F. (2013). Intrinsically Motivated Learning in Natural and Artificial Systems, Springer."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"Colas, C., Fournier, P., Chetouani, M., Sigaud, O., and Oudeyer, P.-Y. (2019, January 10\u201315). Curious: Intrinsically Motivated Modular Multi-Goal Reinforcement Learning. Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Learning, Long Beach, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Romero, A., Baldassarre, G., Duro, R.J., and Santucci, V.G. (2021, January 6\u201310). Analysing Autonomous Open-Ended Learning of Skills with Different Interdependent Subgoals in Robots. Proceedings of the 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), Ljubljana, Slovenia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICAR53236.2021.9659371"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.3233\/ICA-200633","article-title":"Motivation as a Tool for Designing Lifelong Learning Robots","volume":"27","author":"Romero","year":"2020","journal-title":"Integr. Comput. Aided. Eng."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1186\/s40537-016-0043-6","article-title":"A Survey of Transfer Learning","volume":"3","author":"Weiss","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Big Data"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1016\/j.inffus.2019.12.004","article-title":"Continual Learning for Robotics: Definition, Framework, Learning Strategies, Opportunities and Challenges","volume":"58","author":"Lesort","year":"2020","journal-title":"Inf. Fusion"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/S0079-7421(08)60536-8","article-title":"Catastrophic Interference in Connectionist Networks: The Sequential Learning Problem","volume":"Volume 24","author":"McCloskey","year":"1989","journal-title":"Psychology of Learning and Motivation"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"128","DOI":"10.1016\/S1364-6613(99)01294-2","article-title":"Catastrophic Forgetting in Connectionist Networks","volume":"3","author":"French","year":"1999","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/3\/1611\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T18:21:38Z","timestamp":1760120498000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/3\/1611"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,2]]},"references-count":49,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2]]}},"alternative-id":["s23031611"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s23031611","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,2]]}}}