Robots + children

The nature of cognition is at the center of this research project. In particular, our research attempts to understand the cognitive mechanism of language acquisition using computational models. However, the application of these models for understanding these mechanism must be against theories within cognitive science.

Cognitive science is a very large domain as it encompasses a lot (arguably, being human is a lot). Being human requires the management of various complex systems like language use and digestion. These complex systems guide in through our daily lives and help with reasoning about world. As an engineering student I find these theories insightful and have been using them to better understand how to build systems that can interact with humans in a consistent and pleasing manner.

I envision human computer interaction as the application of cognitive science. In fact, the field of Social robotics has been increasingly interesting to me as systems like Amazon Alexa and more stereotypical robots are becoming prevalent in human daily life. So, I wonder about the increasingly complex relationships between these social robots and children:

NAO robot created by SoftBank Robotics

The NAO robot has the ability to recognize speech, faces, and sense it’s surrounding

Typical child (toddler)

Children also have the capability to recognize speech, faces, and sense their surroundings.

So, I’m particular interested in how we describe interactions between two sensory-based pattern recognition systems.

Best,
EO