Anchoring symbols to sensorimotor control

Abstract

This paper investigates how robots may emerge a lexicon to communicate complex meanings about actions such as `I am going to the red target' using simple (one-word) utterances. The main issue of the paper concerns the way these complex meanings represent the actions that are performed. It is argued that the meaning of these utterances may be represented without the need for categorising a complex flow of sensorimotor data. To illustrate the point, a simulation is presented in which robots develop such a communication system. The paper concludes by confirming that it is well possible to construct such a lexicon once robots have a number of basic sensorimotor skills available.