The roboticists I know don't claim to know how to build AGI. Why would they?
Because they read up on artificial intelligence, study philosophy of mind, and build systems that exhibit intelligent behavior. And unlike many people that claim to be AI researchers, they actually build working systems that seem to be engaging in learning, communication, and other intelligent behaviors.
And unlike many people that claim to be AI researchers, they actually build working systems that seem to be engaging in learning, communication, and other intelligent behaviors.
Anecdotally, in my experience, artificial intelligence is something of a God of the Gaps for computer science--techniques that work are appropriated by others, relabelled, and put to work. Someone who claims to be an AI researcher is essentially saying "I am studying things that don't actually work yet".
This is probably related to the long "AI winter" caused by the collapse of hype.
I recently saw this Reuters article on Yahoo News. In typical science reporting fashion, the headline seems to be pure hyperbole - does anyone here know enough to clarify what the groups referenced have actually achieved?
This links represent what I could find:
Homepage of the "Robot Scientist" project:http://www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/Research/bio/robotsci/
Homepage of Hod Lipson: http://www.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/
Hod Lipson's 2007 paper "Automated reverse engineering of nonlinear dynamical systems" (pdf)