A hundred words

[Carlobrand]

CT Book 8 tells us that Limited Basic Command, "Provides the robot with a limited vocabulary of about 100 words."

Thought exercise: what are the hundred words? There's likely to be some variation based on the machine's function, but what is the core vocabulary

Directional:
up
down
left
right
forward
backward
in
out
on-top-of
under
beside
in-front-of
in-back-of

Manipulative orders:
grab
put
release
turn-on
turn-off

Movement orders:
move
turn
stop

Sensory orders:
Look
zoom (magnify)

Proprioreceptive:
head
arm
leg
(name of built-in tool/device)

 

[Spinward Scout]

This may sound a little strange, but there is a real-world interactive R2-D2 out that might help answer that. It responds to over 40 voice commands - most of those are two word commands that would put it around the 100 word mark.

Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid

What are the voice commands for the Voice-Activated R2-D2 by Hasbro?

 

[McPerth]

I guess this small vocabulary may be quite adapted to the function the robot is expected to take.

examples:

a steward robot in a bar may have several drink names among its vocabulary.

a mech/engineer may have words as check or repair in its vocabulary.

I'm not an expert (to say the least) in robots, but I guess the phrases they are trained to understand are in fact converted to more complex routines in their processors. When you order an engineer robot: check the jump drive, its processors convert it to : begin subroutines JD300 to JD350 (of course, names taken out of my hat).

 

[savage]

measurements

Probably numerics, basic measurements and distance standards.
For example;
One...
Liter...
Gram...
meter...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I'm not an expert (to say the least) in robots, but I guess the phrases they are trained to understand are in fact converted to more complex routines in their processors. When you order an engineer robot: check the jump drive, its processors convert it to : begin subroutines JD300 to JD350 (of course, names taken out of my hat).

Yes, they aren't really trained to understand the phrases - they are trained to recognize the phrases. They don't have any inkling of meaning, just that the phrase/word matches one in their memory and it triggers a programmed response.

It's much as if you were a prisoner in some far-off land where they don't speak any known language. You would be trained to recognize certain words/phrases - probably by very negative consequences for not acting on them immediately. After the first few beatings and some observation of all the locals, you would realize that "weoingvasioygbas!" means "pick up your shovel and start digging!"

 

[Carlobrand]

Yes, they aren't really trained to understand the phrases - they are trained to recognize the phrases. They don't have any inkling of meaning, just that the phrase/word matches one in their memory and it triggers a programmed response.

It's much as if you were a prisoner in some far-off land where they don't speak any known language. You would be trained to recognize certain words/phrases - probably by very negative consequences for not acting on them immediately. After the first few beatings and some observation of all the locals, you would realize that "weoingvasioygbas!" means "pick up your shovel and start digging!"

Good point. Some words would need to represent distinct items and actions, because being able to combine words extends the number of useful responses that can be triggered. However, some individual "words" could trigger a sequence of several actions programmed in as a single set under a given skill.

I'd have trouble believing that each number had to represent one distinct word among the hundred. The command program has to take a series of sounds and compare it to a series of programmed responses, but storage for a number system is not going to be terribly demanding on the memory.

 

[DaveChase]

Actually, I looked at those 100 words differently.

It is 100 words that can be spoken/used by the robot. They can understand many more words depending on their skill (programing) set.

The higher the command program, the more you can string things together and they will still understand what you mean.

Dave Chase