When robots talk to each other, they’re not generally using language as we think of it, with words to communicate both concrete and abstract concepts. Now Australian researchers are teaching a pair of robots to communicate linguistically like humans by inventing new spoken words, a lexicon that the roboticists can teach to other robots to generate an entirely new language.
Ruth Schulz and her colleagues at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology call their robots the Lingodroids. The robots consist of a mobile platform equipped with a camera, laser range finder, and sonar for mapping and obstacle avoidance. The robots also carry a microphone and speakers for audible communication between them.
To understand the concept behind the project, consider a simplified case of how language might have developed. Let’s say that all of a sudden you wake up somewhere with your memory completely wiped, not knowing English, Klingon, or any other language. And then you meet some other person who’s in the exact same situation as you. What do you do?
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The robots are Pioneer 3-DX robots with panoramic cameras, sonar, laser rangefinder (looks like a Hokuyo) and microphone and speakers to play and hear the tones.
Cut it out, guys. This is how SkyNet happened.
self learning language for robots, awesome project
here is a video where you can hear the sounds they make in order to speak… with English subtitles 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhUOUaSNP3w
more info from the researcher: http://itee.uq.edu.au/~ruth/Lingodroids.htm
the paper presented at ICRA: http://itee.uq.edu.au/~ruth/schulz-etal-ICRA2011.pdf
The robots are Pioneer 3-DX robots with panoramic cameras, sonar, laser rangefinder (looks like a Hokuyo) and microphone and speakers to play and hear the tones.