Abstract:
Robots interacting with other agents in dynamic environments require
robust knowledge management capabilities if they are to communicate,
learn and exhibit intelligent behaviour. Symbol grounding involves creating,
and maintaining, the linkages between internal symbols used for decision making
with the real world phenomena to which those symbols refer. We implement
grounding using ontologies designed for the Semantic Web. We use
SONY AIBO robots and the robot soccer domain to illustrate our approach. Ontologies
can provide an important bridge between the perceptual level and the
symbolic level and in so doing they can be used to ground sensory information.
A major advantage of using ontologies to ground sensory and symbolic information
is that they enhance interoperability, knowledge sharing, knowledge reuse
and communication between agents. Once objects are grounded in ontologies,
Semantic Web technologies can be used to access, build, derive, and
manage robot knowledge.
