Goals
- The students experience that the understanding of words is not something for granted;
- The students practice describing objects as clearly as possible;
- The students get an idea of how computer programs work which directs robots;
- The students can provide different descriptions of the same object
Duration
90 minutes
Grouping
Groups of four
Preparation and necessities
Introduction
The film about Asimo, the robot from Activity 1, is watched again. Why is it that we are (usually) capable of understanding other people? Why is it so difficult to build a robot that is also capable of that? In order for a robot to take action, you must tell him exactly what to do in certain situations. This is called programming. You can see a robot program as a kind of dictionary. Such a dictionary describes how the robot should act or what it should say in certain situations. During the press conference, Asimo searches for the situation ‘a person raises his hand’ in his dictionary. There he finds the definition ‘the person wants to ask a question.’ But as we have learned earlier, the meaning of a word or action is highly dependent on the situation and the person conveying it; in this case, the person only wanted to take a picture. To resolve this confusion for Asimo about whether someone wants to ask a question or take a picture of him, this situational information would have to be added to Asimo’s dictionary. The information in his dictionary would then look like the following:
‘Someone raises his hand, but is not wielding a camera’ = ‘This person wants to ask a question’. ‘Someone raises his hand while wielding a camera’ = ‘This person wants to take a picture’.
Let’s see whether it is possible to create a dictionary for Asimo, so that he can understand us during the fribble game that we played earlier.
Activity
Phase 1: Collecting fribble descriptions
We start once again in groups of four. Each group gets a dictionary-worksheet which has eight numbers on it. These eight numbers correspond with the eight fribbles. Each group gets two sheets with numbered fribbles (i.e. one group gets two sets of eight blue numbered fribbles, the other group gets two sets of eight red numbered fribbles, etc.). Collect all the possible ways in which each fribble can be described in the group (gestures can be drawn or described as clearly possible). Then fill in the dictionary-worksheet.
Note: make sure the description of the fribble corresponds with the number of the fribble in the worksheet.
Phase 2: Can you ensure that a person can understand you, but Asimo cannot?
Now two students of each group move to a different group. One person plays Asimo the robot, the other person plays Isa the human. The role division is as follows:
- Asimo the robot (this student was previously in group 1) receives the dictionary that group 2 made; he may not see the sheet with the numbered fribbles;
- Isa the human (this student was previously in group 1) gets to see the numbered fribbles belonging to group 2;
- Student from group 2;
- Student from group 2.
Asimo can only understand the other three students based on the dictionary previously made by the others. The other two students must now describe the fribbles to Isa and Asimo in such a way that Isa is capable of guessing the fribble, but Asimo can’t. Once Isa or Asimo think they know which fribble is being described, he or she must mention the number.
There is a classroom evaluation: what did the other students do to ensure that Asimo did not understand them? The most obvious possibility to make sure that Asimo does not know which fribble is being described is to devise means of communication that are not in the dictionary.
Phase 3: A thicker dictionary for Asimo
Each group now collects the fribble descriptions they used during the game to ensure Asimo could not understand them. After recollecting all the fribble descriptions, a round is played: ‘How can you ensure that humans understand you, but Asimo cannot?’ Again, two students per group move to another group (not the same group as last time, for example, two students from group 2 now go to group 3). What about now? Can you manage communicating with each other so that Isa can understand you, but Asimo cannot?
Another classroom evaluation takes place: what did the other students do to ensure that Asimo could not understand them? Was it more difficult or easier than the previous time? Why? Do you think it is possible to understand each other by collecting all the possible descriptions for the fribbles? The most obvious possibility is to devise even more means of communication that aren’t in Asimo’s dictionary and to add them to his dictionary. But if you collected all the possible descriptions for fribbles, then you would end up with an infinitely large dictionary! Just imagine if you had to construct such a dictionary, not just for fribbles, but also for tables, chairs, children, animals and everything around you. And how can you then talk together about situations and things that you have never seen before?
Wrapping up
Divide the class into small groups and try to have the students conduct the following thought-experiment. What building blocks or modules would they put in Asimo to allow him to really understand people? Put this in perspective of the press conference situation that occurred with Asimo. How can Asimo be programmed to understand that the man raising his hand only intended to take a picture of Asimo? If you find this difficult to do in groups, this activity can also be done with the whole class. The students can also receive the assignment to think of more situations where Asimo may not act appropriately.
With the whole class: Would it be possible to program Asimo with all the possible conceivable situations or will there always be some things that Asimo cannot do? And why is it possible that we humans can do these things? Scientists aren’t too sure themselves. For example, think of empathy, shared collective knowledge and in particular creativity (ability to innovate, devising new solutions, coming up with more descriptions), etc.
Tips
This is an activity with a lot of (conceptual) challenges for the students. It is important to take time for the class discussions, so that students get the time to think about what is happening.