Sony CSL Paris

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@INPROCEEDINGS { van trijp:17a, ADDRESS="Stanford", AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", BOOKTITLE="The AAAI 2017 Spring Symposium on Computational Construction Grammar and Natural Language Understanding Technical Report", NUMBER="SS-17-02", PAGES="266--273", PUBLISHER="Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence", TITLE="A Computational Construction Grammar for English", YEAR="2017", }

Sony CSL authors: Peter Hanappe, Luc Steels

Abstract

Agroecology – the science of sustainable agriculture – offers a new and positive perspective for the creation of sustainable food systems. We argue that, from the outset, it is important to involve citizens in this development to create the necessary, bottom-up support for change in agriculture and to re-establish the ties between food production and consumption. Human Computation and Citizen Science offer opportunities to include citizens in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of agro-ecosystems. In the P2P Food Lab project, we also seek new ways to engage them more creatively by setting up a shared online/offline platform in which they can learn, practice, innovate, and share observations on agroecological techniques. This paper gives a description and the underlying motivations of our ongoing work.

Type: article

Keywords: sustainability, agroecology, human-computation, citizen-science

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@ARTICLE { hanappe:16a, AUTHOR="Hanappe P. and Dunlop R. and Maes A. and Steels L. and Duval N.", JOURNAL="Human Computation Journal", TITLE="Agroecology: A Fertile Field for Human Computation", YEAR="2016", }

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@INPROCEEDINGS { vantrijp:15a, ADDRESS="Turin", AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the EuroAsianPacific Joint Conference on Cognitive Science", EDITOR="Airenti, Gabriella and Bara, Bruni G. and Sandini, Giulio", PAGES="668--673", PUBLISHER="University of Torino", TITLE="Towards Bidirectional Processing Models of Sign Language: A Constructional Approach in Fluid Construction Grammar", YEAR="2015", }

Sony CSL authors: Remi van Trijp

Type: article

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@ARTICLE { vantrijp:15b, AUTHOR="van Trijp, Remi", JOURNAL="Cognitive Linguistics", NUMBER="4", PAGES="613--632", TITLE="Cognitive Vs. Generative Construction Grammar: The Case of Coercion and Argument Structure", VOLUME="26", YEAR="2015", }

Sony CSL authors: Peter Hanappe, Luc Steels

Abstract

We established a Complex Systems Digital Campus(CS-DC) e-laboratory 'Open Systems Exploration for Ecosystems Leveraging' in view of redesigning sustainable social-ecological systems related to food production ranging over food, health, community, economy, and environment. 6 projects have begun to collaborate in e-laboratory, namely Synecoculture, P2P Food Lab, Open Systems Data Analytics, The Bee Laboratory, Open Systems Simulation and One-Health Food Lab. As a transversal methodology we apply open systems science to deepen scientific understanding and for a continuous amelioration of the management. The projects involve scientists, engineers, artists, citizens and are open to collaboration inside and outside of the e-laboratory. This article summarizes foundational principles of these projects and reports initial steps in operation.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: sustainability, food production, agriculture, health, community, ecology, environmental problems, open systems, citizen science

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@INPROCEEDINGS { funabashi:15a, ADDRESS="Phoenix, Arizona (USA)", AUTHOR="Funabashi, M. and Hanappe, P. and Isozaki, T. and Maes A. and Sasaki, T. and Steels, L. and Yoshida, K.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Complex Systems Digital Campus '15 (CS-DC'15)", MONTH="Sept. 28-Oct. 2", TITLE="Foundation of CS-DC e-laboratory: Open Systems Exploration for Ecosystems Leveraging", YEAR="2015", }

Sony CSL authors: Remi van Trijp

Abstract

Long-distance dependencies are notoriously diffi cult to analyze in a formally explicit way because they involve constituents that seem to have been extracted from their canonical position in an utterance. The most widespread solution is to identify a GAP at an EXTRACTION SITE and to communicate information about that gap to its FILLER, as in What_FILLER did you see_GAP? This paper rejects the filler−gap solution and proposes a cognitive-functional alternative in which long-distance dependencies spontaneously emerge as a side eff ect of how grammatical constructions interact with each other for expressing diff erent conceptualizations. The proposal is supported by a computational implementation in Fluid Construction Grammar that works for both parsing and production.

Type: article

Keywords: Long-distance dependencies, displacement, cognitive-functional language processing, language formalization, computational modeling

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@ARTICLE { vantrijp2013ldc, AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", JOURNAL="Language Dynamics and Change", PAGES="105--132", TITLE="Linguistic Assessment Criteria for Explaining Language Change: A Case Study on Syncretism in German Definite Articles", VOLUME="3", YEAR="2013", }

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@INCOLLECTION { beuls:12a, ADDRESS="New York", AUTHOR="Beuls, K. and van Trijp, R. and Wellens, P.", BOOKTITLE="Language Grounding in Robots", CHAPTER="11", EDITOR="Steels, L. and Hild, M.", PAGES="215--234", PUBLISHER="Springer", TITLE="Diagnostics and Repairs in Fluid Construction Grammar", YEAR="2012", }

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:12d, ADDRESS="New York", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and De Beule, J. and Wellens, P.", BOOKTITLE="Language Grounding in Robots", EDITOR="Steels, L. and Hild, M.", PAGES="195--213", PUBLISHER="Springer", TITLE="Fluid Construction Grammar on Real Robots", YEAR="2012", }

Sony CSL authors: Martin Loetzsch, Simon Pauw, Michael Spranger, Luc Steels

Abstract

This chapter introduces the computational infrastructure that is used to bridge the gap between results from sensorimotor processing and language. It consists of a system called Incremental Recruitment Language (IRL) that is able to configure a network of cognitive operations to achieve a particular communicative goal. IRL contains mechanisms for finding such networks, chunking subnetworks for more efficient later reuse, and completing partial networks (as possibly derived from incomplete or only partially understood sentences).

Type: incollection

Keywords: grounding, robots, irl

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@INCOLLECTION { spranger:12g, ADDRESS="New York", AUTHOR="Spranger, M. and Pauw, S. and Loetzsch, M. and Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Language Grounding in Robots", EDITOR="Steels, L. and Hild, M.", PAGES="153--172", PUBLISHER="Springer", TITLE="Open-ended Procedural Semantics", YEAR="2012", }

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:12h, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Loetzsch, M.", BOOKTITLE="Experiments in Cultural Language Evolution", EDITOR="Steels, L.", PAGES="41--59", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins", TITLE="The Grounded Naming Game", YEAR="2012", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger, Luc Steels

Abstract

This chapter explores a semantics-oriented approach to the origins of syntactic structure. It reports on preliminary experiments whereby speakers introduce hierarchical constructions and grammatical markers to express which conceptualization strategy hearers are supposed to invoke. This grammatical information helps hearers to avoid semantic ambiguity or errors in interpretation. A simulation study is performed for spatial grammar using robotic agents that play language games about objects in their shared world. The chapter uses a reconstruction of a fragment of German spatial language to identify the niche of spatial grammar, and then reports on acquisition and formation experiments in which agents seeded with a `pidgin German' without grammar are made to interact until rudiments of hierarchical structure and grammatical marking emerge.

Type: incollection

Keywords: spatial language, grammar, functional grammar, frames of reference

@BOOK { steels:12e, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", EDITOR="Steels, L.", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins", SERIES="Advances in Interaction Studies", TITLE="Experiments in Cultural Language Evolution", VOLUME="3", YEAR="2012", }

Sony CSL authors: Manfred Hild, Luc Steels

Type: book

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { steels:12f, ADDRESS="New York", EDITOR="Steels, L. and Hild, M.", PUBLISHER="Springer", TITLE="Language Grounding in Robots", YEAR="2012", }

Sony CSL authors: Simon Pauw, Michael Spranger

Type: incollection

BibTeX entry

@INCOLLECTION { pauw:12a, AUTHOR="Pauw, S. and Spranger, M.", BOOKTITLE="New Directions in Logic, Language, and Computation", EDITOR="Slavkovik, M. and Lassiter, D.", PUBLISHER="Springer", TITLE="Embodied Quantifiers", YEAR="2012", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger

Abstract

All languages of the world have a way to talk about space and spatial relations of objects. Cross-culturally, immense variation in how people conceptualize space for language has been attested. Different spatial conceptualization strategies such as proximal, projective and absolute have been identified to underlie peoples conception of spatial reality. This paper argues that spatial conceptualization strategies are negotiated in a cultural process of linguistic selection. Conceptualization strategies originate in the cognitive capabilities of agents. The ecological conditions and the structure of the environment influence the conceptualization strategy agents invent and which corresponding system of lexicon and ontology of spatial relations is selected for. The validity of these claims is explored using populations of humanoid robots.

Type: incollection

Keywords: irl, evolution of language, embodiment, spatial language

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@INCOLLECTION { spranger:11a, AUTHOR="Spranger, M.", BOOKTITLE="Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2011", CHAPTER="116", EDITOR="Lenaerts, T. and Giacobini, M. and Bersini, H. and Bourgine, P. and Dorigo, M. and Doursat, R.", PAGES="771--778", PUBLISHER="MIT Press", TITLE="Recruitment, Selection and Alignment of Spatial Language Strategies", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Anthony Beurivé, Peter Hanappe, Florence Laguzet, Luc Steels

Abstract

We have optimised the atmospheric radiation algorithm of the FAMOUS climate model on several hardware platforms. The optimisation involved translating the Fortran code to C and restructuring the algorithm around the computation of a single air column. Instead of the existing MPI-based domain decomposition, we used a task queue and a thread pool to schedule the computation of individual columns on the available processors. Finally, four air columns are packed together in a single data structure and computed simultaneously using Single Instruction Multiple Data operations. The modified algorithm runs more than 50 times faster on the CELL's Synergistic Processing Element than on its main PowerPC processing element. On Intel-compatible processors, the new radiation code runs 4 times faster. On the tested graphics processor, using OpenCL, we find a speed-up of more than 2.5 times as compared to the original code on the main CPU. Because the radiation code takes more than 60 % of the total CPU time, FAMOUS executes more than twice as fast. Our version of the algorithm returns bit-wise identical results, which demonstrates the robustness of our approach. We estimate that this project required around two and a half man-years of work.

Type: article

Keywords: volunteer-computing, scientific-modelling, climateprediction.net, sustainability

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@ARTICLE { hanappe:11a, AUTHOR="Hanappe, P. and Beurivé, A. and Laguzet, F. and Steels, L. and Bellouin, N. and Boucher, O. and Yamazaki, Y.H. and Aina, T. and Allen, M.", JOURNAL="Geoscientific Model Development", NUMBER="3", PAGES="835--844", TITLE="FAMOUS, faster: using parallel computing techniques to accelerate the FAMOUS/HadCM3 climate model with a focus on the radiative transfer algorithm", VOLUME="4", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Remi van Trijp

Type: inproceedings

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@INPROCEEDINGS { vantrijp:11a, ADDRESS="Ghent", AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 23rd Benelux Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC 2011)", EDITOR="De Causmaecker, P. and Maervoet, J. and Messelis, T. and Verbeeck, K. and Vermeulen, T.", PAGES="288--295", PUBLISHER="KAHO Sint-Lieven", TITLE="Can Iterated Learning Explain the Emergence of Case Marking in Language?", YEAR="2011", }

@INCOLLECTION { steels:11i, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Design Patterns in Fluid Construction Grammar", EDITOR="Steels, L.", PAGES="71--145", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins", TITLE="A Design Pattern for Phrasal Constructions", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Martin Loetzsch, Michael Spranger

Abstract

This chapter presents an operational grammar for German spatial language, in particular German locative phrases, as a case study for processing distributed information. It investigates the complex interplay of syntactic phenomena and spatial semantics, with a specific emphasis on efficient processing of syntactic indeterminacy and semantic ambiguity. Since FCG applies constructions in a sequence one after the other, the main challenge lies in mutual dependencies between constructions, that is, some constructions require pieces of information in order to make decisions that are only later on provided by other constructions. We present solutions and design patterns for dealing with these processing issues, which all have in common the strategy of postponing decisions as long as possible in processing until all the necessary information for making the decision is available.

Type: incollection

Keywords: spatial language, German locative phrase, grammar, fcg, frames of reference, semantic ambiguity, syntactic indeterminacy

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@INCOLLECTION { spranger:11c, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Spranger, M. and Loetzsch, M.", BOOKTITLE="Design Patterns in Fluid Construction Grammar", EDITOR="Steels, L.", PAGES="265--298", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins", SERIES="Constructional Approaches to Language", TITLE="Syntactic indeterminacy and semantic ambiguity - A case study for German spatial phrases", VOLUME="11", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger

Abstract

This thesis contributes to our understanding of the origins of spatial language by carrying out language game experiments with artificial agents instantiated as humanoid robots. It tests the theory of language evolution by linguistic selection, which states that language emerges through a cultural process based on the recruitment of various cognitive capacities in the service of language. Agents generate possible paradigmatic choices in their language systems and explore different language strategies. Which ones survive and dominate depends on linguistic selection criteria, such as expressive adequacy with respect to the ecological challenges and conditions in the environment, minimization of cognitive effort, and communicative success. To anchor this case study in empirical phenomena, the thesis reconstructs the syntax and semantics of German spatial language, in particular German locative phrases. Syntactic processing is organized using Fluid Construction Grammar (FCG), a computational formalism for representing linguistic knowledge. For the semantics the thesis focusses in particular on proximal, projective and absolute spatial categories as well as perspective, perspective reversal and frame of reference. The semantic investigations use the perspective of Embodied Cognitive Semantics. The spatial semantics is grounded in the sensorimotor experiences of the robot and made compositional by using the Incremental Recruitment Language (IRL) developed for this purpose. The complete reconstructed system allows humanoid robots to communicate successfully and efficiently using the German locative system and provides a performance base line. The reconstruction shows that the computational formalisms, i.e. FCG and IRL, are sufficient for tackling complex natural language phenomena. Moreover, the reconstruction efforts reveal the tight interaction of syntax and semantics in German locative phrases. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the evolution of spatial language. First the focus is on the formation and acquisition of spatial language by proposing strategies in the form of invention, adoption, and alignment operators. The thesis shows the adequacy of these strategies in acquisition experiments in which some agents act as learners and others as tutors. It shows next in language formation experiments that these strategies are sufficient to allow a population to self-organize a spatial language system from scratch. The thesis continues by studying the origins and competition of language strategies. Different conceptual strategies are considered and studied systematically, particularly in relation to the properties of the environment, for example, whether a global landmark is available. Different linguistic strategies are studied as well, for instance, the problem of choosing a particular reference object on the scene can be solved by the invention of markers, which allows many different reference objects, or by converging to a standard single reference object, such as a global landmark. The thesis demonstrates that the theory of language evolution by linguistic selection leads to operational experiments in which artificial agents self-organize semantically rich and syntactically complex language. Moreover, many issues in cognitive science, ranging from perception and conceptualization to language processing, had to be dealt with to instantiate this theory, so that this thesis contributes not only to the study of language evolution but to the investigation of the cognitive bases of spatial language as well.

Type: phdthesis

BibTeX entry

@PHDTHESIS { spranger:11b, ADDRESS="Brussels, Belgium", AUTHOR="Spranger, M.", SCHOOL="Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)", TITLE="The Evolution of Grounded Spatial Language", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: book

Keywords: grammar, FCG, design pattern, language, processing

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { steels:11c, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", EDITOR="Steels, L.", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins", SERIES="Constructional Approaches to Language", TITLE="Design Patterns in Fluid Construction Grammar", VOLUME="11", YEAR="2011", }

Sony CSL authors: Kateryna Gerasymova

Type: inproceedings

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@INPROCEEDINGS { beuls:10a, AUTHOR="Beuls, K. and Gerasymova, K. and van Trijp, R.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 19th Annual Machine Learning Conference of Belgium and The Netherlands (BeNeLearn)", TITLE="Situated Learning through the Use of Language Games", YEAR="2010", }

Sony CSL authors: Martin Loetzsch, Michael Spranger

Abstract

In this paper we offer arguments for why modeling in the field of artificial language evolution can benefit from the use of real robots. We will propose that robotic experimental setups lead to more realistic and robust models, that real-word perception can provide the basis for richer semantics and that embodiment itself can be a driving force in language evolution. We will discuss these proposals by reviewing a variety of robotic experiments that have been carried out in our group and try to argue for the relevance of the approach.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: embodiment, evolutionary linguistics, language games

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@INPROCEEDINGS { loetzsch:10a, ADDRESS="Singapore", AUTHOR="M. Loetzsch and M. Spranger", BOOKTITLE="The Evolution of Language (EVOLANG 8)", EDITOR="Smith, A.D.M. and Schouwstra, M. and de Boer, B. and Smith, K.", PAGES="222--229", PUBLISHER="World Scientific", TITLE="Why robots?", YEAR="2010", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: article

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@ARTICLE { sole:10a, AUTHOR="Solé, R.V. and Corominas-Murtra, B. and Valverde, S. and Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Complexity", NUMBER="6", PAGES="20--26", TITLE="Language Networks: Their Structure, Function, and Evolution", VOLUME="15", YEAR="2010", }

Sony CSL authors: Simon Pauw, Michael Spranger

Abstract

In this paper we test the dominant paradigm for modeling the semantics of determined noun phrases called Generalized Quantifier Theory in embodied interactions with robots. We contrast the traditional approach with a new approach, called Clustering Determination, which is heavily inspired by research on grounding of sensorimotor categories, and we show that our approach performs better in noisy, real world, referential communication.

Type: inproceedings

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Type: inproceedings

Keywords: cognitive semantics, image schemas, metaphor, autonomous robots, lexicon acquistion, language games

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@INPROCEEDINGS { spranger:09a, ADDRESS="Austin, TX", AUTHOR="Spranger, M. and Loetzsch, M.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 31th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (Cogsci09)", EDITOR="Taatgen, N.A. and van Rijn, H.", ORGANIZATION="Cognitive Science Society", PAGES="2546-2552", TITLE="The Semantics of SIT, STAND, and LIE Embodied in Robots", YEAR="2009", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger

Abstract

This paper presents a biologically inspired approach to posture recognition and posture change detection for a biped robot. Slow Feature Analysis, an algorithm developed by theoretical biologists for extracting slowly changing signals from signals varying on a fast time scale, is applied to the problem of recognizing the posture of biped humanoid robots over time and successively on the recognition of the change of posture. Both the recognition of basic static postures, like lying and standing, of peer robots via visual sensory information and the recognition of the same postures via internal proprioceptive sensors are considered. Given promising results in this domain we extend the application of the method onto the dynamic domain of detecting the change of posture, specifically we show the utility of the algorithm for detecting when a robot falls.

Type: inproceedings

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@INPROCEEDINGS { spranger:09b, AUTHOR="Spranger, M. and Hoefer, S. and Hild, M.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of ROBIO’09: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics.", ORGANIZATION="IEEE", PAGES="562--567", TITLE="Biologically Inspired Posture Recognition and Posture Change Detection for Humanoid Robots", YEAR="2009", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger, Luc Steels

Abstract

Open-ended language communication remains an enormous challenge for autonomous robots. This paper argues that the notion of a language strategy is the appropriate vehicle for addressing this challenge. A language strategy packages all the procedures that are necessary for playing a language game. We present a specific example of a language strategy for playing an Action Game in which one robot asks another robot to take on a body posture (such as stand or sit), and show how it effectively allows a population of agents to self-organise a perceptually grounded ontology and a lexicon from scratch, without any human intervention. Next, we show how a new language strategy can arise by exaptation from an existing one, concretely, how the body posture strategy can be exapted to a strategy for playing language games about the spatial position of objects (as in “the bottle stands on the table”).

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: language games, embodiment, spatial language

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:09f, ADDRESS="San Francisco", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Spranger, M.", BOOKTITLE="IJCAI'09: Proceedings of the 21st international joint conference on Artifical intelligence", PAGES="14--19", PUBLISHER="Morgan Kaufmann", TITLE="How Experience of the Body Shapes Language about Space", YEAR="2009", }

Sony CSL authors: Martin Loetzsch, Michael Spranger, Luc Steels

Abstract

Colour naming games are idealised communicative interactions within a population of artificial agents in which a speaker uses a single colour term to draw the attention of a hearer to a particular object in a shared context. Through a series of such games, a colour lexicon can be developed that is sufficiently shared to allow for successful communication, even when the agents start out without any predefined categories. In previous models of colour naming games, the shared context was typically artificially generated from a set of colour stimuli and both agents in the interaction perceive this environment in an identical way. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of the colour naming game in a robotic setup in which humanoid robots perceive a set of colourful objects from their own perspective. We compare the resulting colour ontologies to those found in human languages and show how these ontologies reflect the environment in which they were developed.

Type: inproceedings

@INPROCEEDINGS { loetzsch:08a, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Loetzsch, M. and van Trijp, R. and Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Modeling Communication with Robots and Virtual Humans", EDITOR="Wachsmuth, I. and Knoblich, G.", PAGES="125--142", PUBLISHER="Springer", SERIES="LNCS", TITLE="Typological and Computational Investigations of Spatial Perspective", VOLUME="4930", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Wouter Van den Broeck

Type: inproceedings

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@INPROCEEDINGS { vandenbroeck:08a, AUTHOR="Van den Broeck, Wouter", BOOKTITLE="The Evolution of Language: Evolang 7", EDITOR="Andrew D. M. Smith and Kenny Smith and Ramon Ferrer i Chancho", PUBLISHER="World Scientific", TITLE="Constraint-based Compositional Semantics", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Remi van Trijp

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: language, emergence, origins of language, semantic roles, grammar

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@INPROCEEDINGS { vantrijp:08a, ADDRESS="Singapore", AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", BOOKTITLE="The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference (EVOLANG 7)", EDITOR="Smith, Andrew, Smith, Kenny and Ferrer i Cancho, Ramon", PAGES="346--353", PUBLISHER="World Scientific Publishing", TITLE="The Emergence of Semantic Roles in Fluid Construction Grammar", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, François Pachet, Pierre Roy

@PHDTHESIS { vantrijp:08c, ADDRESS="Antwerp", AUTHOR="van Trijp, R.", SCHOOL="University of Antwerp", TITLE="Analogy and Multi-level Selection in the Formation of a Case Grammar. A Case Study in Fluid Construction Grammar", YEAR="2008", }

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@ARTICLE { wellens:08a, AUTHOR="Wellens, P. and Loetzsch, M. and Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Connection Science", NUMBER="2-3", PAGES="173--191", TITLE="Flexible Word Meanings in Embodied Agents", VOLUME="20", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Michael Spranger, Luc Steels

Abstract

Humans maintain a body image of themselves, which plays a central role in controlling bodily movement, planning action, recognising and naming actions performed by others, and requesting or executing commands. This paper explores through experiments with autonomous humanoid robots how such a body image could form. Robots play a situated embodied language game called the Action Game in which they ask each other to perform bodily actions. They start without any prior inventory of names, without categories for visually recognising body movements of others, and without knowing the relation between visual images of motor behaviors carried out by others and their own motor behaviors. Through diagnostic and repair strategies carried out within the context of action games, they progressively self-organise an effective lexicon as well as bi-directional mappings between the visual and the motor domain. The agents thus establish and continuously adapt networks linking perception, body representation, action, and language.

Type: article

Keywords: language games, embodiment, lexicon formation, action language, mirror systems, body language

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@ARTICLE { steels:08c, AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Spranger, M.", JOURNAL="Connection Science", NUMBER="4", PAGES="337-358", TITLE="The Robot in the Mirror", VOLUME="20", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: incollection

Keywords: symbol grounding, language evolution

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:08d, ADDRESS="Oxford", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Symbols and Embodiment: Debates on Meaning and Cognition", CHAPTER="12", EDITOR="de Vega, M.", PUBLISHER="Oxford University Press", TITLE="The Symbol Grounding Problem Has Been Solved. So What's Next?", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: incollection

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Keywords: language games, embodiment, vision

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@MASTERSTHESIS { spranger:08a, AUTHOR="Spranger, M.", MONTH="March", SCHOOL="Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin", TITLE="World Models for Grounded Language Games", TYPE="German Diplom (Master) Thesis", YEAR="2008", }

Sony CSL authors: Verena Hafner, Frédéric Kaplan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

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@ARTICLE { steels:07f, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Behavioral and Brain Sciences", NOTE="Open peer commentary", NUMBER="4", PAGES="376--377", TITLE="Is Symbolic Inheritance Similar to Genetic Inheritance?", VOLUME="30", YEAR="2007", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: article

BibTeX entry

@ARTICLE { loreto:07a, AUTHOR="Loreto, V. and Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Nature Physics", NUMBER="11", PAGES="758--760", TITLE="Social Dynamics: Emergence of Language", VOLUME="3", YEAR="2007", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: incollection

BibTeX entry

@INCOLLECTION { steels:07g, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Social Brain Matters: Stances of Neurobiology of Social Cognition", CHAPTER="9", EDITOR="Vilarroya, O. and Forn i Argimon, F.", PAGES="223--242", PUBLISHER="Editions Rodopi", TITLE="Language Originated in Social Brains", YEAR="2007", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:06e, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and P. Wellens", BOOKTITLE="Symbol Grounding and Beyond: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on the Emergence and Evolution of Linguistic Commun", EDITOR="Vogt, P., Sugita, Y., Tuci, E. and Nehaniv, C.", PAGES="76--88", PUBLISHER="Springer-Verlag", SERIES="LNAI 4211", TITLE="How Grammar Emerges to Dampen Combinatorial Search in Parsing", YEAR="2006", }

Sony CSL authors: Peter Hanappe, Luc Steels

Type: inbook

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@INBOOK { steels:06f, AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Hanappe, P.", BOOKTITLE="Journal on Data Semantics VI", PAGES="143--167", PUBLISHER="Springer Berlin / Heidelberg", SERIES="Lecture Notes in Computer Science", TITLE="Interoperability Through Emergent Semantics A Semiotic Dynamics Approach.", YEAR="2006", }

Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of joint attention and the different skills underlying its development. We argue that joint attention is much more than simultaneous looking because it implies a shared intentional relation to the world. This requires skills for attention detection, attention manipulation, social coordination and intentional understanding. The current state-of-the-art in robotic and computational models of the different prerequisites of joint attention is discussed in relation with a developmental timeline drawn from results in child studies. From this survey, we identify open issues and challenges that still need to be addressed to understand the development of all aspects of joint attention.

Type: article

Keywords: joint attention, joint intention, goal-direction actions

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:05c, ADDRESS="Berlin, Germany", AUTHOR="De Beule, J. and Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 28th Annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence", EDITOR="Furbach, U.", PAGES="1-15", PUBLISHER="Springer Verlag", SERIES="Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence", TITLE="Hierarchy in Fluid Construction Grammar", TYPE="Technical Report", VOLUME="3698", YEAR="2005", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Sound is a medium used by humans to carry information. The existence of this kind of medium is a pre-requisite for language. It is organized into a code, called speech, which provides a repertoire of forms that is shared in each language community. This code is necessary to support the linguistic interactions that allow humans to communicate. How then may a speech code be formed prior to the existence of linguistic interactions? Moreover, the human speech code is characterized by several properties: speech is digital and compositional (vocalizations are made of units re-used systematically in other syllables); phoneme inventories have precise regularities as well as great diversity in human languages; all the speakers of a language community categorize sounds in the same manner, but each language has its own system of categorization, possibly very different from every other. How can a speech code with these properties form? These are the questions we will approach in the paper. We will study them using the method of the artificial. We will build a society of artificial agents, and study what mechanisms may provide answers. This will not prove directly what mechanisms were used for humans, but rather give ideas about what kind of mechanism may have been used. This allows us to shape the search space of possible answers, in particular by showing what is sufficient and what is not necessary. The mechanism we present is based on a low-level model of sensorymotor interactions. We show that the integration of certain very simple and non language-specific neural devices allows a population of agents to build a speech code that has the properties mentioned above. The originality is that it pre-supposes neither a functional pressure for communication, nor the ability to have coordinated social interactions (they do not play language or imitation games). It relies on the self-organizing properties of a generic coupling between perception and production both within agents, and on the interactions between agents.

Type: inbook

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:04a, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F. and Hafner, V.V.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic System", EDITOR="Berthouze, L. and Kozima, H. and Prince, C. and Sandini, G. and Stojanov, G. and Metta, G. and Balkenius, C.", PAGES="67-74", PUBLISHER="Lund University Cognitive Studies 117", TITLE="The Challenges of Joint Attention", YEAR="2004", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Abstract

The use of animal-like autonomous robots might offer new possibilities in the study of animal interactions, if the subject recognises it as a social partner. In this paper we investigate whether AIBO, a dog-like robot of the Sony Corp. can be used for this purpose. Twenty-four adult and sixteen 4–5 months old pet dogs were tested in two situations where subjects encountered one of four different test-partners: (1) a remote controlled car; (2) an AIBO robot; (3) AIBO with a puppy-scented furry cover; and (4) a 2-month-old puppy. In the neutral situation the dog could interact freely with one of the partners for 1 min in a closed arena in the presence of its owner. In the feeding situation the encounters were started while the dog was eating food. Our results show that age and context influence the social behaviour of dogs. Further, we have found that although both age groups differentiated the living and non-living test-partners for some extent, the furry AIBO evoked significantly increased responses in comparison to the car. These experiments show the first steps towards the application of robots in behavioural studies, notwithstanding that at present AIBO’s limited ability to move constrains its effectiveness as social partner for dogs.

Type: article

Keywords: aibo, dog, ethology, social behaviour

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@ARTICLE { kubinyi:04a, AUTHOR="Kubinyi, E. and Miklosi, A. and Kaplan, F. and Gacsi, M. and Topal, J. and Csanyi, V.", JOURNAL="Behavioural processes", PAGES="231--239", TITLE="Social behaviour of dogs encoutering AIBO, an animal-like robot in a neutral and in a feeding situation", VOLUME="65", YEAR="2004", }

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:04d, ADDRESS="Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.", AUTHOR="Kaplan, F. and Oudeyer, P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Third International Conference on Development and Learning: Developing social brains", TITLE="Neuromodulation and open-ended development", YEAR="2004", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:04e, ADDRESS="Cambridge, MA", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Artificial Life IX: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems", EDITOR="Pollck, J. et al.", PAGES="200--207", PUBLISHER="The MIT Press", TITLE="Analogies between Genome and Language Evolution", YEAR="2004", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: book

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { fumiya:04a, ADDRESS="Berlin", EDITOR="Fumiya, I. and Pfeifer, R. and Steels, L. and Kunyoshi, K.", PUBLISHER="Springer Verlag", TITLE="Embodied Artificial Intelligence: Lecture Notes in AI", VOLUME="3139", YEAR="2004", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: book

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { tokoro:04a, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", EDITOR="Tokoro, M. and Steels, L.", PUBLISHER="IOS Press", TITLE="A Learning Zone of One's Own: Sharing Representations ans Flow in Collaborative Learning Environments", YEAR="2004", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

What dynamics can enable a robot to continuously develop new visual know-how? We present a first experimental investigation where an AIBO robot develops visual competences from scratch driven only by internal motivations. The motivational principles used by the robot are independent of any particular task. As a consequence, they can constitute the basis for a general approach to sensory-motor development.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: development robotics, aibo, active vision, motivations, awareness

@ARTICLE { steels:03d, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Journal of Consciousness Studies", NUMBER="4-5", PAGES="173-185", TITLE="Language-reentrance and the \'Inner Voice\'", VOLUME="10", YEAR="2003", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: article

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@ARTICLE { steels:03h, AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Baillie, J.-C.", JOURNAL="Robotics and Autonomous Systems", NUMBER="2-3", PAGES="163--173", TITLE="Shared grounding of event descriptions by autonomous robots", VOLUME="43", YEAR="2003", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: imitation, aibo, self-developing robots

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:03b, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Second International Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts", EDITOR="Dautenhan, K. and Nehaniv, C.", TITLE="Bootstrapping awareness", YEAR="2003", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: article

@ARTICLE { steels:03g, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Vie Artificielle: Technique et sciences informatiques RSTI série TSI", NUMBER="2", PAGES="197--219", TITLE="Linguistique évolutionaire et vie artificielle", VOLUME="22", YEAR="2003", }

Sony CSL authors: Remi van Trijp

Type: mastersthesis

Keywords: origins of language, evolution of syntax, computational modeling

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Keywords: grounding, semantics, language evolution, Talking Heads

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:99g, ADDRESS="Cambridge, UK", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Linguistic evolution through language acquisition: formal and computational models", EDITOR="Briscoe, T.", PAGES="53--74", PUBLISHER="Cambridge University Press", TITLE="Bootstrapping grounded word semantics", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Joris Bleys, Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre, Luc Steels, Joris Van Looveren

Abstract

We have been conducting large-scale public experiments with artificial robotic agents to explore what the necessary and sufficient prerequisites are for word-meaning pairs to evolve autonomously in a population of agents through a self-organized process. We focus not so much on the question of why language has evolved but rather on how. Our hypothesis is that when agents engage in particular interactive behaviors which in turn require specific cognitive structures, they automatically arrive at a language system. We study this topic by performing experiments based on artificial systems. One such experiment, known as the Talking Heads Experiment, employs a set of visually grounded autonomous robots into which agents can install themselves to play language games with each other.

Type: incollection

Keywords: evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads, language evolution

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:01a, ADDRESS="Oxford, UK", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F. and McIntyre, A. and Van Looveren, J.", BOOKTITLE="The Transition to Language", CHAPTER="12", EDITOR="Wray, A.", PAGES="252--271", PUBLISHER="Oxford University Press", TITLE="Crucial factors in the origins of word-meaning", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Human sound systems are invariably phone- mically coded. Furthermore, phoneme invento- ries follow very particular tendancies. To ex- plain these phenomena, there existed so far three kinds of approaches : Chomskyan"/cognitive innatism, morpho-perceptual innatism and the more recent approach of language as a com- plex cultural system which adapts under the pres- sure of eÆcient communication". The two first approaches are clearly not satisfying, while the third, even if much more convincing, makes a lot of speculative assumptions and did not really bring answers to the question of phonemic cod- ing. We propose here a new hypothesis based on a low-level model of sensory-motor interac- tions. We show that certain very simple and non language-specific neural devices allow a popula- tion of agents to build signalling systems without any functional pressure. Moreover, these systems are phonemically coded. Using a realistic vowel articulatory synthesizer, we show that the inven- tories of vowels have striking similarities with hu- man vowel systems.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: phonemic, coding, sensory-motor, coupling, dynamics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:02a, AUTHOR="Oudeyer, P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior", EDITOR="B. Hallam, D. Floreano, J. Hallam, G. Hayes, J-A. Meyer", PAGES="406-416", PUBLISHER="MIT Press", TITLE="Phonemic coding might be a result of sensory-motor coupling dynamics", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Recent years have been marked by the development of robotic pets or partners such as small animals or humanoids. People interact with them using natural human social cues, in particu lar emotional expressions. It is crucial that robot can detect the emotional information contained in speech using only prosodic features, since this is often the only information that they can measure. We present here the first large scale experiment in which a large feature set space and a large machine learning al gorithm space are searched concurrently. We describe new fea tures which prove to be much more efficient than the traditional features used in the litterature.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: emotions, speech, recognition

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@INPROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:02c, ADDRESS="Aix-en-Provence, France", AUTHOR="Oudeyer P-Y", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Prosody", EDITOR="Bel", PAGES="547-550", TITLE="Novel Useful Features and Algorithms for the Recognition of Emotions in Speech", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Human sound systems are invariably phonemically coded, which means that there are parts of syl- lables that are re-used in other syllables. It is one of the most primitive compositional system in language. To explain this phenomenon, there ex- isted so far three kinds of approaches : Chom- skyan"/cognitive innatism, morpho-perceptual in- natism and the more recent approach of language as a complex cultural system which adapts under the pressure of efficient communication". We pro- posed in (Oudeyer 2002) a new hypothesis based on a low-level model of sensory-motor interactions, characterized by the absence of functional pressure and the use of very generic neural devices. This paper presents a united model of the origins of syl- lable systems which does allow a comparison of the different hypothesis on the same ground. We show that our hypothesis is the only one to be suÆcient, and that all others are not necesary. Moreover, the model we present the first that shows how a popula- tion of agents can build culturally a complex sound systems without the assumption that they already share a phonemic repertoire.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: origins, syllables, phonemically

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@INPROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:02d, AUTHOR="Oudeyer P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society", EDITOR="Laurence Erlbaum Associates", TITLE="A Unified Model for the Origins of Phonemically Coded Syllables Systems", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Recent years have been marked by the increasing develop ment of personal robots such as small pets or humanoids, of ten having young and cartoon like personalities. A key feature they currently lack is the ability to speak in a emotional lifelike manner. We present here a technology that makes this possible by using concatenative speech synthesis.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: cartoon, emotion, speech

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@INPROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:02e, ADDRESS="Aix-en-Provence", AUTHOR="Oudeyer P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Prosody", EDITOR="Bel", TITLE="The Synthesis of Cartoon Emotional Speech", YEAR="2002", }

@ARTICLE { steels:02d, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="IEE Intelligent Systems", NUMBER="1", PAGES="83--85", TITLE="Emergent Semantics", VOLUME="17", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Abstract

Since 1999, more than 100 000 families – most Japanese - have become the happy owners of an Aibo dog. This quadruped robot was designed to share their social existence, in somewhat the same way as any pet. It took nearly six years to design the robot’s visual, tactile and auditory sensors, and to fine-tune its software and hardware architectures.

Type: article

Keywords: aibo, learning, autonomy

BibTeX entry

@ARTICLE { kaplan:02a, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F. and Fujita, M. and Doi, T.", JOURNAL="La recherche 350 : special issue Les Nouveaux Robots", MONTH="February", PAGES="84--86", TITLE="Dans les entrailles du chien AIBO", YEAR="2002", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:01h, ADDRESS="London", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Simulating the evolution of language", EDITOR="Cangelosi, A. and Parisi, D.", PAGES="211--226", PUBLISHER="Springer Verlag", TITLE="Grounding symbols through evolutionary language games", YEAR="2001", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Many models, computational or not, exist that describe the acquisition of speech: they all rely on the pre-existence of some sort of linguistic structure in the input, i.e. speech itself. Very few address the question of how this coherence and structure appeared. We try here to give a solution concerning syllable systems. We propose an operational model that shows how a society of robotic agents, endowed with a set of non-linguistically specific motor, perceptual, cognitive and social constraints (some of them are obstacles whereas others are opportunities), can collectively build a coherent and structured syllable system from scratch. As opposed to many existing abstract models of the origins of language, as few shortcuts as possible were taken in the way the constraints are implemented. The structural properties of the produced sound systems are extensively studied under the light of phonetics and phonology and more broadly language theory. The model brings more plausibility in favor of theories of language that defend the idea that there needs no innate linguistic specific abilities to explain observed regularities in world languages.

Type: proceedings

Keywords: origins of languages, sound systems, sound systems, adaptation, embodiment, embodiment, communication

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@PROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:01b, SERIES="to appear in proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive science, COGSCI\'2001, Edinburgh, Scotland.", TITLE="The Origins Of Syllable Systems : an Operational Model", YEAR="2001", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: ethology, clicker training, aibo, actions

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:01e, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F. and Oudeyer, P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 2001", TITLE="A method for teaching actions to an autonomous robot", YEAR="2001", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: humanoid, attachment, aibo, ainsworth, imprinting

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:01f, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Humanoids 2001 : IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots", EDITOR="Hashimoto, S.", PAGES="125--132", TITLE="Artificial Attachment : Will a robot ever pass Ainsworth s Strange Situation Test ?", YEAR="2001", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

In this paper we present a system for representing protocols called POS which has universal power and determines a complete semantics of protocols. This work is inspired by the Structured Operational Semantics of programming languages. We precisely define POSand illustrate its power on an extended example.

Type: article

Keywords: interaction protocols, operational semantics, operational semantics, collaboration, ACL, ACL

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:01b, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Presented at the workshop on Social Robotics, Spain", MONTH="July", TITLE="Social learning and language acquisition", YEAR="2001", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Luc Steels

Type: article

Keywords: aibo, language games, social learning

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@ARTICLE { steels:02a, AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", JOURNAL="Evolution of Communication", NUMBER="1", PAGES="3--32", TITLE="AIBO's first words: The social learning of language and meaning", VOLUME="4", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Luc Steels

Abstract

Lorsqu'un Français dit "rouge", nous le comprenons. Pourtant nous ne serons jamais capables de voir par ses yeux. Nous ne serons jamais capable de savoir ce que ce mot veut vraiment dire pour lui. Un mot peut être apparemment compris par tous sans que, pour autant, nous ne puissions le définir exactement. Nous nous bornons à constater que derrière le mot "rouge" se cache une notion apparemment commune, suffisamment partagée pour qu'en pratique nous nous comprenions. Comment une catégorie sensorielle comme rouge, qui par essence est indéfinissable, peut-elle être partagée ? Si elle est innée, cela ne pose, bien sûr pas de problème. Si par contre elle est d'une manière ou d'une autre construite, il nous faut expliquer par quel processus des catégories potentiellement diffèrentes entre les personnes deviennent des notions partagèes.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: evolution, categorisation, grounding

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:00f, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Steels, Luc", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature", EDITOR="Schoenauer, M. and Deb, K. and Rudolph, G. and Yao, X. and Lutton, E. and Merelo, J.J. and Schwefel, H-P.", MONTH="September", PAGES="17-26", PUBLISHER="Springer-Verlag", SERIES="Lecture Notes in Computer Science", TITLE="Language as a Complex Adaptive System", VOLUME="1917", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: aibo, grounding, categorisation

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:00c, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F. and Oudeyer, P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 2000", TITLE="From Talking AIBO to Talking Head: Morphing sensory spaces between two robotic bodies", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Abstract

Over the past five years, the topic of the origins of language is gaining prominence as one of the big unresolved questions of cognitive science. Artificial Intelligence can make a major contribution to this problem by working out precise, testable models using grounded robotic agents which interact with a real world environment and communicate among themselves or with humans about this environment. A potential side effect op this basic research are new technologies for man-machine interaction based on the negotiation of shared conventions.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: grammar, language evolution, robotics, communication

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:00e, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Steels, Luc", BOOKTITLE="ECAI 2000: Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Artificial Life", EDITOR="Horn, W.", MONTH="August", PAGES="764--769", PUBLISHER="IOS Publishing", TITLE="The Emergence of Grammar in Communicating Autonomous Robotic Agents", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Straightforward approaches to team coordination with the expressive power of finite state automata are doomed to fail under a wide range of heterogeneity due to the combinatorial explosion of states. In this paper we propose a coordination scheme based on operational semantics, which allows an extremely compact and modular way of specifying soccer-robot team behaviors. The capabilities of our approach are demonstrated on two examples, which, though just being simple demo implementations, perform very well in a simulator tournament.

Type: article

Keywords: protocols, operational semantics, multi-agent systems, coordination, conversation policies, conversation policies, conversation policies

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@ARTICLE { oudeyer:00b, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Oudeyer, P-Y. and Koning, J-L.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of ASAIMA 2000", JOURNAL="Agent systems, Mobile Agents and Applications, Lectures Notes in Computer Science, 1882, Springer.", NUMBER="1882", PAGES="249-261", PUBLISHER="Springer-Verlag", TITLE="Modeling soccer-robots strategies through conversation policies", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: semantics, grounding, evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads, syntax

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:00d, ADDRESS="Paris", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 3rd Sony CSL Paris Symposium: The ecological brain", TITLE="A brain for language", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Joris Bleys, Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre, Luc Steels, Joris Van Looveren

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: semantics, grounding, evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads, meaning, categorization

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:00a, ADDRESS="Paris", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F. and McIntyre, A. and van Looveren, J.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of The 3rd Evolution of Language Conference", EDITOR="Dessalles, J-L. and Ghadakpour, L.", PAGES="214--217", PUBLISHER="ENST 2000 S 002", TITLE="Crucial factors in the origins of word-meaning", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Type: misc

BibTeX entry

@MISC { oudeyer:00a, AUTHOR="Oudeyer, P-Y.", NOTE="submitted for publication", TITLE="Cultural emergence of realistic sound communication systems with simple cognitive abilities", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Luc Steels

Type: article

Keywords: semantics, grounding, evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads

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@ARTICLE { steels:00c, AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", JOURNAL="Revue du Palais de la D\'ecouverte", MONTH="May", PAGES="63--67", TITLE="Origine et \'evolution du langage : exp\'eriences robotiques", VOLUME="278", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Jelle Zuidema

Type: misc

BibTeX entry

@MISC { zuidema:00a, AUTHOR="Zuidema, W.H. and Hogeweg, P.", NOTE="submitted", TITLE="It takes two to talk: the relevance of the social aspect of language for modeling its evolution", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Luc Steels

Abstract

The paper reports on an experiment in which a group of autonomous agents self-organises through cultural evolution constraints on the combination of the individual sounds (phonemes) in their repertoires. We use a selectionist approach whereby a repertoire evolves by mutations of patterns, constrained by functional pressures from perception and production and the need to conform to the group.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: evolutionary linguistics, phonology, syntactic constraints, agents, agents, embodiment

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@ARTICLE { steels:99f, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Kognitionswissenschaft", NUMBER="4", PAGES="143-150", TITLE="The puzzle of language evolution", VOLUME="8", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: mirror neurons, evolutionary linguistics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:00g, AUTHOR="Steels, Luc", BOOKTITLE="Architectures of the Mind, Architectures of the Brain", MONTH="September", TITLE="Mirror Neurons and the Action Theory of Language Origins", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Type: article

Keywords: agents, interaction protocols, operational semantics, collaboration, protocol verification, protocol verification

BibTeX entry

@ARTICLE { oudeyer:00e, AUTHOR="Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves and Koning, J-l.", JOURNAL="Proceedings of the Conference on Communications in Computing, (CIC\\\'2000), Las Vegas, Nevada.", TITLE="Modeling conversation policies using POS", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: incollection

BibTeX entry

@INCOLLECTION { steels:00h, ADDRESS="Köln", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Weltwissen Wissenwelt: Das globale Netz von Text und Bild", EDITOR="Maar, Ch. and Obrist, H.U. and Pöpel, E.", PAGES="175--184", PUBLISHER="Dumont-Verlag", TITLE="Kognitive Roboter und Teleportation: Artefacte reagieren auf ihre Umwelt und erfinden sich eine Sprache", YEAR="2000", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: multi-agent systems, lexicon, simulation, language games, evolutionary linguistics, naming games, agents

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:99b, ADDRESS="Soulac", AUTHOR="Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Actes du IIIe Colloque des Jenes Chercheurs en Sciences Cognitives: Interdisciplinarit\'e et cognition. Les multiples approches", EDITOR="Vivorsci, B.", PAGES="122--128", TITLE="La d\'erive naturelle du lexique", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: simulation, evolutionary linguistics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:99a, AUTHOR="Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Conflits des interpr\'etations et interpr\'etation des conflits. Journ\'ees de Rochebrune 1999: Rencontres interdisciplinaires s", MONTH="Janvier", PAGES="155--168", PUBLISHER="ENST 99 S 001", TITLE="La simulation pour alimenter et organiser le d\'ebat sur l'origine du langage humain", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre, Luc Steels

Abstract

The Talking Heads experiment currently being conducted at Sony CSL Paris implements a network of mobile cognitive agents. Each node consists of a workstation with two cameras through which the agents can perceive the world. When embodied on a node, agents construct classifications of what they 'see' through the cameras and interact to develop a simple language for communicating their representations to each other. Agents travel between nodes via the Internet, using standard communications protocols.

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: teleportation, multi-agent systems, agents, Talking Heads

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@INPROCEEDINGS { mcintyre:99a, ADDRESS="Tokyo", AUTHOR="McIntyre, A. and Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 1999", TITLE="Net-mobile embodied agents", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: incollection

Keywords: self-organization, evolutionary linguistics, language games

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@INCOLLECTION { steels:99x, ADDRESS="Oxford", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Machine Intelligence 15", EDITOR="Muggleton, S.", PAGES="205--224", PUBLISHER="Oxford University Press", TITLE="The Spontaneous Self-organization of an Adaptive Language", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: semantics, grounding, evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads, semiotics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steelskaplan:99b, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Advances in Artificial Life: 5th European Conference (ECAL 99)", EDITOR="Floreano, D. and Nicoud, J-D and Mondada, F.", PAGES="679--688", PUBLISHER="Springer-Verlag", SERIES="Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1674", TITLE="Collective learning and semiotic dynamics", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: book

Keywords: semantics, grounding, evolutionary linguistics, Talking Heads

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { steels:99e, ADDRESS="Antwerpen", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", HOWPUBLISHED="Special pre-edition for LABORATORIUM", PUBLISHER="Laboratorium", TITLE="The Talking Heads Experiment. Volume 1. Words and Meanings", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Angus McIntyre, Luc Steels

Abstract

The paper investigates the dynamical properties of spatially distributed naming games. Naming games are interactions between two agents, a speaker and a hearer, in which the speaker identifies an object using a name. Adaptive naming games imply that speaker and hearer update their lexicons to become better in future games. By engaging in adaptive naming games, a coherent shared vocabulary arises through self-organisation in a population of distributed agents. When the agents are spatially distributed, diversity can be shown to arise, and changes in population contact lead to language changes.

Type: article

Keywords: language contact, language games, naming games, simulation, Babel, agents, evolutionary linguistics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:99c, ADDRESS="San Francisco", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence IJCAI 99", EDITOR="Dean, T.", PAGES="862-867", PUBLISHER="Morgan Kaufmann Publishers", TITLE="Situated Grounded Word Semantics", VOLUME="2", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:99a, ADDRESS="Braunschweig", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="KogWis \'99: Proceedings der 4. Fachtagung der Gesellschaft für Kognitionswissenschaft", EDITOR="Wachsmutt, I. and Jung, B.", PAGES="1--3", PUBLISHER="Infix", TITLE="How language bootstraps cognition", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: self-organization, agents, simulation, multi-agent systems, lexicon, evolutionary linguistics

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { oudeyer:99a, ADDRESS="Berlin", AUTHOR="Oudeyer, P-Y.", BOOKTITLE="Advances in Artificial Life (ECAL 99)", EDITOR="Floreano, D. and Nicoud, J-D and Mondada, F.", PAGES="726--729", PUBLISHER="Springer-Verlag", SERIES="Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1674", TITLE="Self-organisation of a lexicon in a structured society of agents", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Type: misc

Keywords: self-organization, language games, phonetics, evolutionary linguistics

BibTeX entry

@MISC { oudeyer:99b, AUTHOR="Oudeyer, P-Y.", HOWPUBLISHED="Rapport de stage de deuxième année, Magistère informatique et mo", TITLE="Experiment in emergent phonetics", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: book

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { steels l.:99a, AUTHOR="steels L.", PUBLISHER="laboratorium", TITLE="the talking heads experiment", YEAR="1999", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre, Luc Steels

@ARTICLE { steels:98b, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Journal of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems", NUMBER="2", PAGES="169--194", TITLE="The Origins of Ontologies and Communication Conventions in Multi-Agent Systems", VOLUME="1", YEAR="1998", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: class formation, multi-agent systems, evolutionary linguistics, agents, language games

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@INPROCEEDINGS { kaplan:98a, ADDRESS="Los Alamitos, CA", AUTHOR="Kaplan, F.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the third international conference on multi-agent systems (ICMAS 98)", EDITOR="Demazeau, Y.", PAGES="158--165", PUBLISHER="IEEE Computer Society", TITLE="A New Approach to Class Formation in Multi-Agent Simulations of Language Evolution", YEAR="1998", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre, Chisato Numaoka

@ARTICLE { steels:98c, AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Artificial Intelligence", NUMBER="1-2", PAGES="133-156", TITLE="The origins of syntax in visually grounded robotic agents.", VOLUME="103", YEAR="1998", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: coupling, language games, evolutionary linguistics, agents, simulation

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@ARTICLE { steels:97e, ADDRESS="Amsterdam", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", JOURNAL="Evolution of Communication Journal", NUMBER="1", PAGES="1--34", PUBLISHER="John Benjamins Publishing Company", TITLE="The Synthetic Modeling of Language Origins", VOLUME="1", YEAR="1997", }

Sony CSL authors: Frédéric Kaplan

Type: misc

BibTeX entry

@MISC { picault:97a, AUTHOR="Picault, S. and Servat, D. and Kaplan, F.", HOWPUBLISHED="Publication interne ENST ISSN: 0751-1345", TITLE="EDEN: un systeme evolutif endosemantique", YEAR="1997", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

Keywords: syntax, grounding, perception, categorization, robotic agents, language games, evolutionary linguistics

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@INPROCEEDINGS { steels:97c, ADDRESS="San Francisco, CA", AUTHOR="Steels, L.", BOOKTITLE="Proceedings of the 15th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence", EDITOR="Pollack, M.", PAGES="1632--1641", PUBLISHER="Morgan Kauffman Publishers", TITLE="The Origins of Syntax in Visually Grounded Robotic Agents", YEAR="1997", }

Sony CSL authors: Luc Steels

Type: inproceedings

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Type: book

BibTeX entry

@BOOK { steels:94b, ADDRESS="New Haven", AUTHOR="Steels, L. and Brooks, R.", PUBLISHER="Lawrence Erlbaum Ass", TITLE="The `artificial life' route to `artificial intelligence'. Building Situated Embodied Agents.", YEAR="1994", }

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