Lingodroids

Lingodroids are language learning robots that play location language games to construct shared lexicons for places, distances, and directions.

They invent their own words for space and time through structured conversations:

• Toponymic lexicon - the robots play where-are-we games, in which they name the current location, to form a typonymic lexicon, where toponyms are names for places.
• Testing a toponymic lexicon - they can test their toponymic lexicon by playing go-to games, in which they attempt to meet at a distant location
• Generative games - once they have a toponymic lexicon, they can expand their concepts by playing generative games to form concepts for distances and directions.

The Lingodroids project was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project "Talking with Robots: Evolving Grounded Language for Embodied Agents" (Wyeth and Wiles, 2009-2011)

Lingodroids playing a location language game

Publications

• Heath, S., Hensby, K., Boden, M., Taufatofua, J., Weigel, J. and Wiles J. (2016) Lingodroids: Investigating grounded color relations using a social robot for children, Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, Christchurch, 2016
• Heath S., Ball D. and Wiles J. (2015) Lingodroids: Cross-Situational Learning for Episodic Elements, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 8(1), 3-14
• Heath S., Ball D., Schulz R., and Wiles J. (2013) Communication between Lingodroids with different cognitive capabilities, Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Karlsruhe, May 6 - 10, 2013
• Ball, D., Heath, S., Wiles, J., Wyeth, G., Corke, P., and Milford, M., (2013). OpenRatSLAM: an open source brain-based SLAM system, Autonomous Robots, 34(3), 149-176
• Heath, S., Schulz, R., Ball, D., and Wiles, J. (2012). Long summer days: Grounded learning of words for the uneven cycles of real world events, IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 4(3), 192-203
• Schulz, R., Wyeth, G., and Wiles, J., (2012). Beyond here-and-now: Extending shared physical experiences to shared conceptual experiences, Adaptive Behavior, 20(5), 360-387
• Heath, S., Schulz, R., Ball, D., and Wiles, J. (2012) Lingodroids: Learning terms for time, ICRA 2012, The International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Saint Paul, MN, May 2012
• Schulz, R., Whittington, M., & Wiles, J. (2012). Language change in socially structured populations, In: 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Kyoto, Japan, (312-319). World Scientific, 13 - 16 March 2012
• Schulz, R., Wyeth, G., Wiles, J. (2011). Lingodroids: Socially grounding place names in privately grounded cognitive maps, Adaptive Behavior, ​19 6: 409-424
• Schulz, R., Wyeth, G., Wiles, J. (2011) Are we there yet? Grounding temporal concepts in shared journeys, IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 3(2), 163-175
• Schulz, R., Glover, A., Milford, M., Wyeth, G., and Wiles, J. (2011) Lingodroids: Studies in Spatial Cognition and Language, ICRA 2011, The International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Shanghai, China, May 2011
• Schulz, R., Wyeth, G., Milford, and Wiles, J. (2010) Language Change across Generations for Robots using Cognitive Maps, The Twelfth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (ALife XII), Odense, Denmark, Aug 2010
• Milford, M., Schulz, R., Prasser, D., Wyeth, G., Wiles, J. (2007) Learning spatial concepts from RatSLAM representations, Robotics and Autonomous Systems - From Sensors to Human Spatial Concepts, 55(5), 403-410

In the news

• Robots develop language to 'talk' to each other (BBC Technology News, 24 May 2011) 
• Lingodroid Robots Invent New Words for Time (IEEE Spectrum, 23 May 2012)
• Robots Invent Their Own Language (Plato on-line, 19 May 2011) 
• Lingodroid Robots Invent Their Own Spoken Language (IEEE Spectrum, 17 may 2011) 

Get in touch 

For more information about this project, please get in touch 

Professor Janet Wiles 
e:  j.wiles@uq.edu.au