PhD General Examinations: Publishable Quality Paper for Main Area (Prof

The purpose of this paper is to present a design of a minimal grounded situation model (GSM) [Mavridis and Roy 2005, Mavridis 2005] which will enable a conversational robot to pass the “Token Test”. The “Token Test” is a standard test designed to assess early situated language skills of children. This specific design is given as an example of a wider methodology. According to this methodology, agent model designs are derived from specifications, which are in turn derived by human behavioral tests. In this paper, after a brief introduction to the problem, optimal design and reasonable approaches towards practical near-optimality in such complex systems are discussed. Then, an answer to the question of what it should really mean for a robot to pass a human behavioral test is attempted. In the main section of this paper that follows, the proposed design is derived step-bystep. A conclusion section ends this paper. This paper constitutes a step towards the creation of conversational robots that can cooperate fluidly with humans. The paper’s main contributions include a proposal for an incremental design methodology for grounded situation models, guidelines for translating human behavioral tests into design specifications for robots, and an example of the use of the above methodology and guidelines: an easily extensible step-by-step design for a conversational robot that can pass the “Token Test”.