This retrospective describes the overall research project that gave rise to the authors’ paper “Neuronlike adaptive elements that can solve difficult learning control problems” that was published in the 1983 Neural and Sensory Information Processing special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. This look back explains how this project came about, presents the ideas and previous publications that influenced it, and describes our most closely related subsequent research. It concludes by pointing out some noteworthy aspects of this article that have been eclipsed by its main contributions, followed by commenting on some of the directions and cautions that should inform future research.

The Sixth International Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) Meeting was held 30 May–3 June 2016 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California, USA. The conference included 28 workshops covering topics in BCI and brain–machine interface research. Topics included BCI for specific populations or applications, advancing BCI research through use of specific signals or technological advances, and translational and commercial issues to bring both implanted and non-invasive BCIs to market. BCI research is growing and expanding in the breadth of its applications, the depth of knowledge it can produce, and the practical benefit it can provide both for those with physical impairments and the general public. Here we provide summaries of each workshop, illustrating the breadth and depth of BCI research and highlighting important issues and calls for action to support future research and development.

Robots in a swarm are programmed with individual behaviors but then interactions with the environment and other robots produce more complex, emergent swarm behaviors. One discriminating feature of the emergent behavior is the local distribution of robots in any given region. In this work, we show how local observations of the robot distribution can be correlated to the environment being explored and hence the location of openings or obstructions can be inferred. The correlation is achieved here with a simple, single-layer neural network that generates physically intuitive weights and provides a degree of robustness by allowing for variation in the environment and number of robots in the swarm. The robots are simulated assuming random motion with no communication, a minimalist model in robot sophistication, to explore the viability of cooperative sensing. We culminate our work with a demonstration of how the local distribution of robots in an unknown, office-like environment can be used to locate unobstructed exits.