Skip to main content
Log in

Evolution of shared grammars for describing simulated spatial scenes with grammatical evolution

  • Published:
Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We propose a model based on an evolutionary process combined with an adapted planning process to develop a limited spatial language with a syntactical structure in a team of artificial agents. Syntax is induced by means of a grammar and the grammar itself evolves in order to reach a syntactical agreement in the team. Evolution is implemented by adapting an evolutionary algorithm where each agent in the team manages a population of chromosomes that represent possible grammars. Grammars can be used by agents to generate utterances which are subsequently applied in language games to describe spatial relations. A planning process builds the sentences, but agents select the syntactical alternatives according to their current communicative intentions. Results in two different linguistic task show how a shared grammar can be developed in the group of agents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. L. Steels, A self-organizing spatial vocabulary. Artif. Life 2, 319–332 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J. de Lara, M. Alfonseca, Some strategies for the simulation of vocabulary agreement in multi-agent communication. J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul. 3(4) (2000). http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/3/4/2.html

  3. D. Maravall, J. de Lope, R. Domínguez, Coordination of communication in robot teams by reinforcement learning. Robot. Auton. Syst. 61(7), 661–666 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. D. Maravall, J. de Lope, R. Domínguez, Self-emergence of a common lexicon by evolution in teams of autonomous agents. Neurocomputing 75, 106–114 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. L. Steels, The origins of syntax in visually grounded robotic agents. Artif. Intell. 103(1–2), 133–156 (1998)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. J. de Beule, J.V. Looeveren, W.H. Zuidema, Grounding formal syntax in an almost real world. Presented at the Belgium-Netherlands Artificial Intelligence Conference (2002)

  7. M. Spranger, L. Steels, Emergent functional grammar for space, in Experiments in Cultural Language Evolution, ed. by L. Steels (John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2012), pp. 207–232

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. L. Steels, J. de Beule, A (very) brief introduction to fluid construction grammar. In Third international workshop on scalable natural language understanding, June 8 (2006)

  9. J.M. Mingo, R. Aler, A competence-performance based model to develop a syntactic language for artificial agents. Inf. Sci. 373, 79–94 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. D. Maravall, J.M. Mingo, J. De Lope, Alignment in vision-based syntactic language games for teams of robots using stochastic regular grammars and reinforcement learning: the fully autonomous case and the human supervised case. Robot. Auton. Syst. 63, 180–186 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. J.L. Austin, How to do things with words, 2nd edn. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1962)

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. Searle, Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1969)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. J.A. Allen, A plan-based approach to speech act recognition. Ph.D. Thesis, Technical Report No 131/79, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto (1979)

  14. P.R. Cohen, C.R. Perrault, Elements of a plan-based theory of speech acts. Cogn. Sci. 3, 177–212 (1979)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (Macmillan, New York, 1953)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. J.J. Collins, C. Ryan, M. O’Neill, Grammatical evolution: evolving programs for an arbitrary language. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1391. In Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Genetic Programming. (Springer, 1998), pp. 83–95

  17. R.I. McKay, N.X. Hoai, P.A. Whigham, Y. Shan, M. O’Neill, Grammar-baed genetic programming: a survey. Genet. Program. Evol. Mach. 11(3–4), 339–363 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  18. M. O’Neill, C. Ryan, Grammatical evolution by grammatical evolution: the evolution of grammar and genetic code, in Genetic Programming 7th European Conference, EuroGP 2004, Proceedings, ed. by M. Keijzer, U.-M. O’Reilly, S.M. Lucas, E. Costa, T. Soule, volume 3003 of LNCS, Coimbra, Portugal, 5-7 April 2004. (Springer, 2004), pp. 138–149. ISBN: 3-540-21346-5

  19. S.C. Levinson, D.P. Wilson, The background to the study of the language of space, in Grammars of Space. Explorations in Cognitive Diversity, ed. by S.C. Levinson, D.P. Wilson (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. R. Fikes, N. Nilsson, STRIPS: a new approach to the application of theorem proving to problem solving. Artif. Intell. 2(3/4), 189–208 (1971)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. E.A.P. Hemberg, An exploration of grammars in grammatical evolution. Ph.D. Thesis, University College Dublin (2010)

  22. C.S. Wetherell, Probabilistic language: a review and some open questions. ACM Comput. Surv. (CSUR) 12(4), 361–379 (1980)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. E.G. Casademon, L. Steels, Strategies for the emergence of the first-order phrase structure. The evolution of language. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on the Evolution of Language. (World Scientific Publishing, 2014), pp. 50–57

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jack Mario Mingo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mingo, J.M., Aler, R. Evolution of shared grammars for describing simulated spatial scenes with grammatical evolution. Genet Program Evolvable Mach 19, 235–270 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10710-017-9315-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10710-017-9315-y

Keywords

Navigation