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Developmental Robotics for Embodied Language Learning

Angelo Cangelosi

Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems, School of Computing and Mathematics

University of Plymouth

Growing theoretical and experimental research on action and language processing and on number learning and gestures clearly demonstrates the role of embodiment in cognition and language processing. In psychology and neuroscience this evidence constitutes the basis of embodied cognition, also known as grounded cognition (Pezzulo et al. 2012; Borghi & Cangelosi 2014). In robotics, these studies have important implications for the design of linguistic capabilities in cognitive agents and robots for human-robot communication, and have led to the new interdisciplinary approach of Developmental Robotics (Cangelosi & Schlesinger 2015). During the talk we will present examples of developmental robotics models and experimental results from iCub experiments on the embodiment biases in early word acquisition and grammar learning (Morse et al. 2015), experiment on the pointing and finger counting in number learning (De La Cruz et al. 2014) and on mental imagery and rotation (Seepanomwan et al. 2015). The presentation will also discuss the implications for the symbol grounding problem (Cangelosi, 2012) and how embodied robots can help addressing the issue of embodied cognition and the grounding of symbol manipulation use on sensorimotor intelligence.

References

Cangelosi A, Schlesinger M (2015). Developmental Robotics: From Babies to Robots. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Cangelosi A. (2012). Solutions and open challenges for the symbol grounding problem. International Journal of Signs and Semiotic Systems, 1(1), 49-54 (with commentaries)

De La Cruz V., Di Nuovo A., Cangelosi A., Di Nuovo S. (2014). Making fingers and words count in a cognitive robot. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 13 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00013

Morse A., Belpaeme T, Smith L, Cangelosi A. (2015). Posture affects how robots and infants map words to objects PLoS ONE, 10(3) 10.1371/journal.pone.0116012

Borghi A.M., Cangelosi A. (2014). Action and language integration: From humans to cognitive robots. Topics in Cognitive Science, 6, 344–358. 10.1111/tops.12103

Pezzulo G., Barsalou L.W., Cangelosi A., Fischer M.H., McRae K., Spivey M. (2013). Computational grounded cognition: A new alliance between grounded cognition and computational modelling. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(612), 1-11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00612

Seepanomwan K., Caligiore D., Cangelosi A., Baldassarre G. (2015). Generalization, decision making, and embodiment effects in mental rotation: A neurorobotic architecture tested with a humanoid robot. Neural Networks, 7:31-47 doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2015.09.010

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