The Leaf (AI) Project

The Leaf Project is a group robot development program whose objective is to develop a robot platform that supports experiments with artificial intelligence, vision, navigation, etc.

Leaf was created by Bruce Weimer, Alex Brown and Robin Hewitt. It is an artificial life program, inspired by Steve Grand's computer game Creatures, in which artificial beings hatch, develop, and interact in a simulated environment.

Overview
Leaf:
 * has an artificial personality
 * is an open source project
 * responds to spoken commands
 * responds to visual information
 * can be used with just a PC
 * can be interfaced to a robot through his own circuit board
 * is programmed in LISP
 * can use a CSLU Toolkit animated face
 * uses Robin Hewitt's webcam implementation for vision
 * can be completely customized and users are encouraged to customize and improve him
 * software is currently used in an R2-D2 replica
 * has a hardware/ electronic platform created by Alex Brown that supports basic mobility, sensing and control from an on-board PC

Three Leaf robots were completed in 2004 and four more were built in 2006.