Lingodroids
By Daniel Taylor on June 13, 2011 04:41
Its one thing for a robot to be programmed to understand Japanese or English or any other language that already exists. But it quite a feat for two robots to develop their own language and be able to communicate with each other like these two have.
Created by Ruth Shultz and her colleagues at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these Lingodroids have developed a specialized language for the sole purpose of navigating their way around obstacles and recognizing where they are.
It's one thing for a robot to be programmed to understand Japanese, English or any other language that already exists. But it is quite a feat for two robots to develop their own language and be able to communicate with each other like these two have.
Created by Ruth Shultz and her colleagues at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these Lingodroids have developed a specialized language for the sole purpose of navigating their way around obstacles and recognizing where they are.
As these droids move through the maze, each robot creates a spacial map of its surroundings using a combination of cameras, laser range finders, and sonar equipment. When the robot finds itself in an unfamiliar location, it will make up a word based on a database of syllables to describe the location and communicate it to the other Lingodroid.
After the mapping of the maze is complete, the two robots would play a game. The object of the game is to find a given location. At the beginning of the race, one of the robots says a word through its on-board speakers, say "pize," and both robots would go off and try to find "pize." If both robots end up in the same spot, they would agree that the title of that location is indeed "pize." From there, the robots can ask each other where they just came from resulting in more complex and abstract words.
Shultz is looking to develop the vocabulary of the robots by enabling them to explain how to get to a place or the state of accessibility of a location. More information about Lingodroids can be found here.