Scientists in the Westcountry are preparing to teach a baby robot how to talk.
Robotics experts at the University of Plymouth will work with a 1m-high (3ft) humanoid baby robot called iCub.
The four-year project, dubbed Italk (Integration and Transfer of Action and Language Knowledge in Robots), aims to teach iCub to speak by employing the same methods used by parents to teach their children.
The researchers will work with specialists in language development who have researched the ways parents teach their children to speak.
They will then conduct experiments in human and robot language interaction. Typical experiments with the iCub robot will include activities such as inserting objects of various shapes into the corresponding holes in a box, serialising nested cups and stacking wooden blocks.
Next, the iCub will be asked to name…
