UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM presents "Language Learning in Robots - the ITALK project" Dr. Joe Saunders (Adaptive Systems Research Group, University of Hertfordshire) 29 October 2008 (Wednesday) Lecture Theatre E350 Hatfield, College Lane Campus 3 - 4 pm Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available. [Catering Permitting] Everyone is Welcome to Attend [Space Permitting] Abstract: The Adaptive Systems Research Group at UH are part of a new European project called 'ITALK' which aims to study how language could be acquired by robots. The focus of the project is to develop artificial embodied agents that are able to acquire complex behavioural, cognitive and linguistic/communication skills though individual and social learning. The main theoretical hypothesis behind the project is that the parallel development of action and social interaction permits the bootstrapping of language capabilities, which on their part enhance cognitive development. In this seminar I will explain UH's role within ITALK project, the theoretical reasoning behind the project, and relate this to how human infants are thought to acquire language. Furthermore, I will present our proposed experimental framework and present some examples of studies to be carried out over the next few months. Web Resources: Dr. Joe Saunders' homepage: http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~sj2ay/ ITALK project homepage: http://www.italkproject.org -------------------------------------------------- Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq