The Right Direction for Embodied Intelligence: Build the "Self" First, Then the "Doing"

Current embodied AI research has fallen into a fundamental misconception: attempting to stack intelligence by having robots learn countless specific actions. This paper proposes a new framework: the prerequisite for intelligence is the existence of a "self." We provide an engineering definition of consciousness—a never-stopping, self-referential, goal-oriented system—and argue that this is the only viable path to embodied intelligence. We present a realizable system architecture for the "self," clarify the essential difference between simulated consciousness and real consciousness, and provide a triple safety mechanism. Finally, we call for: build the "self" first, then the "doing."