British researchers create robot that can learn simple words by conversing with humans

In an attempt to replicate the early experiences of infants, researchers in England have created a robot that can learn simple words in minutes just by having a conversation with a human.

The three-foot-tall robot, named DeeChee, was built to produce any syllable in the English language. But it knew no words at the outset of the study, speaking only babble phrases like “een rain rain mahdl kross.”

During the experiment, a human volunteer attempted to teach the robot simple words for shapes and colors by using them repeatedly in regular speech.