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Robots make up their own language

Source: The Washington Post

Scientists in Australia have created robots that can make up their own language to describe new places — even ones they haven’t physically experienced. Called Lingodroids, the robots “can develop coherent symbols for places, distances and directions, and can use those symbols to refer to novel places beyond the limit of their cognitive maps — imaginary places,” the University of Queensland scientists write in a 2011 paper cited by Discover magazine. Here’s a video showing two Lingodroid robots finding a new location in their environment. One robot invents the word “pize” to describe the spot and teaches it to the other robot: The University of Queensland scientists claim it’s the first demonstration of robots who’ve been able to generate “an evolved language” and use it to accomplish concrete tasks. The scientists’ ultimate goal? To create robots that can serve as “caregivers, companions and butlers,” one scientist tells Discover.