Software could allow humans to ‘talk’ with robots
A new generation of software that could allow humans to 'talk' with autonomous systems such as robots is being developed at the University of Aberdeen.
The team behind the development, which is being funded by a £1.1million grant from the EPSRC, believes the system could provide benefits to the aerospace, aviation, defence and energy industries, by increasing efficiency both operationally and financially.
"Autonomous systems such as robots are an integral part of modern industry, used to carry out tasks without continuous human guidance," said Dr Wamberto Vasconcelos from the University of Aberdeen's School of Natural and Computing Sciences. "Employed across a variety of sectors, these systems can quickly process huge amounts of information when deciding how to act. However, in doing so, they can make mistakes which are not obvious to them or to a human.
"What we are creating is a new generation of autonomous systems, which are able to carry out a two-way communication with humans. The ability to converse with such systems will provide us with a novel tool to quickly understand, and if necessary correct, the actions of an automated system, increasing confidence in, and the usefulness of, such systems."
The new systems use technology called Natural Language Generation - where complex information and data are translated into simple text summaries.
"Information and data created by the system, originally represented as symbols of mathematical logic is automatically transformed into a simple text which can be easily understood by humans," explained Dr Vasconcelos. "This enables the system and a human to discuss a plan before a task is undertaken."
The team is hoping to have prototypes ready within a year. Industrial partners on the project include BAE Systems, Sellafield, the National Nuclear Laboratory and Network Rail.
