Modular-functional decomposition is a fundamental tenet of computer sc
ience. Cognitive robotics, with strong roots in cognitive science and
biology, replaces modular-functional decomposition with a more opportu
nistic approach. Nonetheless, we can extract heuristics with both anal
ytic and synthetic power: architectural principles for postmodular sys
tems. This paper describes three postmodular principles: imagination,
shared grounding, and incremental adaptation. It briefly discusses exa
mples of each drawn from existing systems. The paper concludes with an
illustration of these three principles used in concert to build a sys
tem that progresses first to hand-eye coordination, then to planned co
mplex reaching, and finally to shared attention.