The PlayMate System

Abstract

The work described here on the PlayMate scenario is concerned with un- derstanding at a systems level the problems that an intelligent system must face if it must interact with humans in an ob ject rich environment. In par- ticular the goal is to understand how a robot can interact with a human in a space in which they both manipulate ob jects, and in which they can talk about those ob jects. This requires many abilities. The robot must be able to understand and generate references to ob jects, actions with them, their properties and spatial relationships. It must understand how actions alter the relationships between ob jects, be able to recognise actions the human per- forms with ob jects, and it must be able to learn about the effects of actions on ob jects, both by discovery and by watching others. If there are several opportunities for action it must choose between a number of potential goals at any one time. Finally, since it is working with a human, the human may change the world while the robot is acting.