iCub, a one metre-high baby robot which will be used
to study how a robot could quickly pick up language skills, will be available next year.
Professor Chrystopher Nehaniv and Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn at the University of Hertfordshire’s School of Computer
Science are working with an international consortium led by the University of Plymouth on ITALK (Integration and Transfer
of Action and Language Knowledge in Robots), which begins on 1 March.
ITALK aims to teach the robot to speak by employing the same methods used by parents to teach their children. Professor
Nehaniv and Professor Dautenhahn, who are European leaders in Artificial Intelligence and Human Robot Interaction, will
conduct experiments in human and robot language interaction to enable the robot to converse with humans.
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Typical experiments with the iCub robot will include activities such as inserting objects of various shapes into the
corresponding holes in a box, serialising nested cups and stacking wooden blocks. Next, the iCub
will be asked to name objects and actions so that it acquires basic phrases such as "robot puts stick on cube".
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iCub, a one meter-high baby robot which will be used to study how a robot could quickly pick up
language skills, will be available next year.
(Credit: Image courtesy of University of Hertfordshire)
Professor Nehaniv said: “Our approach is that robot will use what it learns individually and socially from others to
bootstrap the acquisition of language, and will use its language abilities in turn to drive its learning of social and
manipulative abilities. This creates a positive feedback cycle between using language and developing other cognitive
abilities. Like a child learning by imitation of its parents and interacting with the environment around it,
the robot will master basic principles of structured grammar, like negation, by using these abilities in context.”
The scientific and technological research developed during the project will have a significant impact on the future
generation of interactive robotic systems within the next ten years and the leadership role of Europe in this area.
Speaking about the research, Professor Dautenhahn said: “iCub will take us a stage forward in developing robots as
social companions. We have studied issues such as how robots should look and how close people will want them to approach
and now, within a year, we will have the first humanoid robot capable to developing language skills.”
Note: This story was issued by University of Hertfordshire
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