Control systems theory and architecture can provide valuable insights into the architecture of consciousness and cognition. The quest for the universal controller technology -a technology for building machine minds for any purpose- has advanced by small, both practical and theoretical steps but without a clear convergence into a unified view. However, recent developments in search of improvements in open-environment robustness for autonomous systems –fundamentally in robotics but also in other domains of automatic control- have produced a reactivation of the quest for the very essence of the mental -from a systemic/cybernetic perspective. This talk will present an architecture-centric proposal for a fundamental, model-based control structure that fulfills a basic set of requirements for being an explanation of a functional mind from an access-consciousness and self-consciousness perspective (including associated concepts such as perception, knowledge, thinking, action, etc.). This structure is grounded on systemic, embodied control systems concepts beyond computationalism so as to be realizable in machines and serve as explanation of natural consciousness. This proposal goes from the elementary aspects of sensing and perception to the higher aspects of knowledge, meaning and consciousness. This general approach is captured in the form of general design rules for cognitive architectures. The proposed ten design rules will provide a basic stance for understanding access consciousness and self-consciousness and a catalogue of design features needed both for the engineering of a conscious system of technological and economical value and for the explanation of natural consciousness.

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