Communications of the ACM
Robot Learns Language By Babbling with a Human
Joe Saunders (left) helped the iCub robot transition from babbling to forming its first words.
Credit: Pete Stevens / University of Hertfordshire
Can a robot learn to understand and speak a human language? New results from researchers from the University of Hertfordshire's School of Computer Science show it can begin to develop basic language skills through conversation with a human.
In the same way that an infant picks up the frequency of sounds in speech, the childlike iCub humanoid robot called DeeChee has learnt some simple word forms. Experiments carried out with DeeChee by Caroline Lyon, Professor Chrystopher Nehaniv, and Joe Saunders as part of the iTalk project have shown how language learning might emerge. Their research paper, "Interactive Language Learning by Robots: The Transition from Babbling to WordForms," is published in PloS ONE.
Like an infant, DeeChee can only babble and perceives speech as a string of sounds. But after humans speak to DeeChee as if it was a small child, the robot adapts its output to the most frequently heard syllables. It "speaks" word forms such as the names of simple shapes and colors.
Although DeeChee is learning to produce word forms, it does not know their meaning — and learning meanings is another part of the iTalk project's research.
Teaching DeeChee to speak using methods similar to those used to teach children is a key part of the learning process of the human-robot interaction which could have a significant impact on the future generation of interactive robot systems.
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