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pierre-yves dot# oudeyer at inria.fr

PRESS NEWS

France Culture

jan. 2012, France Culture, "La robotique pour mieux comprendre l'homme", Emission Continent Sciences de Stéphane Deligeorges. A propos du contexte scientifique dans lequel s'inscrit le projet Ergo-Robots.

France Inter

Novembre 2011: "En direct de la Fondation Cartier: Les mystères des mathématiques, et les robots et la curiosité", 3D Le Journal (émission de Stéphane Paoli), France Inter. Podcast

France Inter

Juillet 2011: "Robots, Invasion Imminente ?", On verra ça demain (émission de Daniel Fiévet), France Inter. Podcast

France Culture

Juin 2011: Interview "L'apprentissage des robots", Podcast

Le Monde.fr

Avril 2011: Le Monde.fr, Reportage sur les interfaces homme-robot et l'utilisation de l'humanoide Nao dans les laboratoires de recherche

Mars 2011: Communiqué de presse Acroban

France Info

France Info,
Interview, 24 mars 2011

Euronews

Aug. 2010 - Euronews
on Acroban in SIGGRAPH'2010, Los Angeles, USA).

France Inter

Interview on France Inter (La tête au carré) (2010)

Interviews in Science et Vie (2009)

Interview in La Recherche (2008)

Interview in Metro (2008)

Interview on France Culture (2006)

Article in Pour La Science: "Un robot curieux" (2006)

Des robots remontent aux sources du langage (2005)

How This Dog Teaches Itself New Tricks (2005)

more press ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Since january 2008, I am a research scientist in INRIA Bordeaux - Sud-Ouest, heading the FLOWERS team, in developmental and social robotics. Before that, I have been a permanent researcher in Sony Computer Science Lab in Paris for 8 years (2000-2007). I studied computer science in Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and obtained my PhD in artificial intelligence from University Paris VI. I am interested in the mechanisms that allow humans and robots to develop perceptual, motivational, behavioral and social capabilities to become capable of sharing cultural representations and of natural embodied interaction.

My recent work in developmental and social robotics focuses on sensorimotor development and its interaction with early language development: Can a robot learn like a child ? How can we build robots that can learn a variety of novel reusable skills in initially unknown environments, either throuh autonomous and spontaneous exploration or through interaction with social peers? How can language be discovered and learnt through natural interaction with humans? In this research, concepts from developmental psychology are imported, formalized and implemented in robots. The central hypothesis is that open-ended learning in the real-world can only happen when strong developmental constraints allow to guide the exploration and acquisition of skills. My approach is thus to study various families of constraints essential in human development and apply them to robot development and learning: intrinsic motivation and artificial curiosity, maturational processes, morphological computation and embodiment, social constraints related to joint attention and joint intention understanding, perceptual and motor primitives, self-organization.

In previous years, I have also used robots to study how new linguistic conventions can be established in a society of individuals, as well as the mechanisms of language acquisition. There is a double objective: 1) contributing to the understanding of the acquisition and evolution of language(s) (see my book), 2) developing new technological approaches for building intelligent sociable robots.
 



ERCNEWS:
I was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (project EXPLORERS) from the European Research Council, which will fund a large-scale research project called EXPLORERS over the next 5 years (2010-2014). This project will focus on advanced life-long motor learning in robots as well as on the re-use of learnt motor skills to acquire language. Topics  range from intrinsically motivated exploration and learning of motor skills, artificial curiosity, socially-guided robot learning, learning and discovery of body maps, language acquisition. Interested applicants can send me their CV.
 

Ergo-Robots, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain

Fondation CartierNews, october 2011:

"The Ergo-Robots Experiment: Artificial Curiosity and Language" is an installation presented in the exhibition "Mathematics: A Beautiful Elsewhere", from 21st october 2011 to 18th march 2012, in Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris, France.

It experiments models developped by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer and the FLOWERS team about curiosity-driven learning and its interaction with language formation in humans and robots.

It features robots that explore and learn about their environment through artificial curiosity, and at the same time invent their own language, to talk about their environment. Based on recent advanced models of autonomous learning inspired by human infant development, they progressively acquire new skills, discover ways to communicate with humans, and self-organize their own culture.

At the frontiers of sciences and art, exploring fundamental questions about the nature of humans and machines, "Ergo-Robots" is a project initiated and conceptualized by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer through an encounter with mathematician Mikhail Gromov (and his theory of ergo-systems), and benefited from a collaboration with artist David Lynch (who designed the head and the environment of the robots).

Its software and hardware development was realized by the INRIA Flowers team in collaboration with University of Bordeaux/Labri: Jérome Béchu, Fabien Bénureau, Haylee Fogg, Paul Fudal, Hugo Gimbert, Matthieu Lapeyre, Olivier Ly, Olivier Mangin, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Pierre Rouanet. Scenography was realized in collaboration with David Lynch and his team. Scenography was realiszed in collaboration with David Lynch and his team.

Photos of the Ergo-Robots/Flowers Fields installation are available here.
More information on the dedicated web page on Ergo-Robots/Flowers Fields
Contact: pierre-yves.oudeyer _ @ _ inria.fr

Octobre 2011:

Fondation Cartier"Ergo-Robots: Curiosité Artificielle et Langage" est une installation et une expérience présentée dans le cadre de l'exposition "Mathématiques, un dépaysement soudain" du 21 octobre 2011 au 18 mars 2012, à la Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemportain à Paris.

Elle expérimente les modèles développés par Pierre-Yves Oudeyer et l'équipe FLOWERS au sujet de la curiosité artificielle et de ses interactions avec l'apprentissage du language chez les humains et les robots.

Elle met en oeuvre des robots dotés de curiosité artificielle qui explorent leur environnement et en même temps inventent leur propre langage pour parler de ce qui les entoure. Equipés des modèles les plus récents des mécanismes de l'apprentissage autonome inspirés du développement de l'enfant, les robots acquièrent progressivement de nouveaux savoir-faire, découvrent de nouvelles manières de communiquers avec les humains, et une culture qui leur est propre s'auto-organise.

Aux frontières des sciences et de l'art, explorant des questions fondamentales sur la nature de l'homme et de la machine, "Ergo-Robots" est un projet initié et conceptualisé par Pierre-Yves Oudeyer dans le contexte d'une rencontre avec le mathématicien Mikhail Gromov (et sa théorie des ergo-systèmes), et qui a bénéficié d'une collaboration avec l'artiste David Lynch (design des têtes des robots et de leur environnement).

Le développement logiciel et matériel de cette installation a été réalisée par l'équipe INRIA Flowers en collaboration avec l'Université de Bordeaux/Labri: Jérome Béchu, Fabien Bénureau, Haylee Fogg, Paul Fudal, Hugo Gimbert, Matthieu Lapeyre, Olivier Ly, Olivier Mangin, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Pierre Rouanet. La scénographie a été réalisée en collaboration avec David Lynch et son équipe.

Photos de l'installation Ergo-Robots/Flowers Fields disponibles ici.
Plus d'informations sur la page Web dédiée à Ergo-Robots/Flowers Fields, en français.
Contact: pierre-yves.oudeyer _ @ _ inria.fr

 
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My publications on Google Scholar

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Selected publications on:

Developmental robotics, intrinsic motivation, and artificial curiosity:

Oudeyer P-Y, Kaplan , F. and Hafner, V. (2007) Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 11(2), pp. 265--286. DOI: 10.1109/TEVC.2006.890271. (html)

Oudeyer P-Y., Kaplan F. (2006) Discovering Communication, Connection Science, 18(2), pp. 189--206.

Epistemology and history on the impact of robotics in cognitive sciences:

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2011) Developmental Robotics, Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, N.M. Seel ed., Springer Reference Series, Springer.

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2010) On the impact of robotics in behavioral and cognitive sciences: from insect navigation to human cognitive development, IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2(1), pp. 2--16. DOI: 10.1109/TAMD.2009.2039057 

Self-organization, complex-systems and the origins of speech:

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2006) Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech, Studies in the Evolution of Language, Oxford University Press. (Translation by James R. Hurford)

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2005) The Self-Organization of Speech Sounds, Journal of Theoretical Biology,  233(3), pp. 435--449. (html)  

The origins of combinatoriality and phonotactics in speech:

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2005) The self-organization of combinatoriality and phonotactics in vocalization systems, Connection Science, 17(3-4), pp. 325--341  

Language evolution conceptualized as a cultural Darwinian process:

Oudeyer, P-Y. and Kaplan, F. (2007) Language Evolution as a Darwinian Process: Computational Studies, Cognitive Processing, 8(1), pp. 21--35. DOI: 10.1007/s10339-006-0158-3

Language acquisition, cognitive development and learnability:

Kaplan, F., Oudeyer, P-Y., Bergen B. (2008) Computational Models in the Debate over Language Learnability, Infant and Child Development, 17(1), pp. 55--80.

Oudeyer, P-Y (2005) How phonological structures can be culturally selected for learnability, Adaptive Behavior, 13(4), pp. 269--280.

Oudeyer P-Y., Kaplan F. (2006) Discovering Communication, Connection Science, 18(2), pp. 189--206.

Emotional speech synthesis and recognition:

Oudeyer P-Y. (2003) The production and recognition of emotions in speech: features and algorithms, International Journal in Human-Computer Studies, 59(1-2), pp. 157--183, special issue on Affective Computing. 

Robot behavioral shaping:

Kaplan, F., Oudeyer, P-Y., Kubinyi, E. and Miklosi, A. (2002) Robotic clicker training. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 38(3-4), pp. 197--206.

Interaction of maturation, body growth and curiosity-driven learning

Baranes, A., Oudeyer, P-Y. (2011) The Interaction of Maturational Constraints and Intrinsic Motivations in Active Motor Development, in proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning, Frankfurt, Germany.

  more papers ...

 
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NEWS: Keynotes talks about the main challenges of developmental robotics I made in 2011 in the following conferences: Robolift 2011, IEEE Alife 2011 and AAMAS 2011 

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NEWS: FLOWERS' Acroban humanoid robot has being featured in live demonstration at Siggraph 2010 Emerging technologies in Los Angeles. It is a lightweight compliant humanoid robot capable of robust semi-passive dynamic locomotion, life-like movements, and offers the possibility of a new kind of playful physical human-robot interaction. We developed this platform, which initial design was made by Olivier Ly, to explore how morphological constraints can simplify the developmental acquisition of complex sensorimotor skills, as well as to explore novel kinds of human-robot interaction.

Acroban results from the collaboration between INRIA and University of Bordeaux I/Labri.


More information on http://flowers.inria.fr/acroban.php

See also our new Inria FLOWERS Youtube Channel. barre92

Together with Manuel Lopes, I have guest edited in 2010 a special issue on active learning and intrinsically motivated exploration in robots for the IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development journal.
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I am editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development. The latest issue includes a dialog on Intrinsically Motivated Learning in robots.
 
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I was program co-chair of the 9th International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems (2009), which took place in Venice, Italy.
 
 
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my book is available at Oxford University Press:

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2006) Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech, Studies in the Evolution of Language, Oxford University Press. (Translation by James R. Hurford bibtex reference

 

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I have co-organized in 2006 the 6th International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics:  Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems which took place in Paris.

 

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Starting from our work in developmental robotics, Frédéric Kaplan worked with ECAL for the project "A robot's playroom"

 

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I received the Prix ASTI 2005 for my research on the origins of speech.
 

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I received the Prix Le Monde de la Recherche Universitaire    in 2004 for my research on the origins of speech.
 

 

PROJECTS HIGHLIGHTS

Developmental Robotics and   Artificial Curiosity

The Origins of Speech Sounds

Natural human-robot interaction

The Playground Experiment

Emotional Speech Synthesis

Acquisition and evolution of language