Journal of Pioneering Artificial Intelligence Research

Abstract

Robotic autonomy, independent goal generation, and innovation are often treated as equivalent capabilities, although they represent distinct operational mechanisms. An autonomous robot executes or selects actions for an externally assigned goal. A fully independent robot can generate and select a goal without a present command or assigned mission. An innovative robot constructs a new functional strategy when its active library contains no adequate complete solution. This paper proposes a bounded modular architecture that formally separates these three capabilities.

The architecture operates within a four-dimensional context comprising internal state, external conditions, time, and applicable constraints. In command-free operation, internal and external segments generate candidate goals, which are evaluated through multidimensional supporting, opposing, and bounded stochastic contributions. Feasibility, competence, safety, installed facilities, and governing authority determine the admissible candidate set. In mission- or cue-driven operation, valid external instructions govern goal selection, and internal preference segments do not alter the assigned objective. When an admissible goal cannot be satisfied by any complete action in the active Action Library, the SPARK mechanism searches for compatible action segments, assembles a candidate strategy, validates it against functional and safety constraints, and admits it to the library only after successful evaluation.

Tennis, cue-driven dance, mission-governed execution, scientific problem solving, tactical coaching, and choreography are used to distinguish goal selection, prescribed execution, and innovative strategy construction. Innovation is defined operationally as the validated production of a useful strategy Sₙ such that Sₙ ∉ L₀, where L₀ denotes the robot’s active pre-existing library. The proposed framework therefore extends robotic autonomy while preserving bounded competence, traceability, safety, and human-defined authority.