Luc Steels Livres

This state-of-the-art-survey documents the Fluid Construction Grammar (FCG), a new formalism for the representation of lexicons and grammars, which has been used in a wide range of case studies for different languages, both for studying specific grammatical phenomena and design patterns, as for investigating language learning and language evolution. The book focuses on the many complex computational issues that arise when writing challenging real world grammars and hence emphasises depth of analysis rather than broad scope. The volume contains 13 contributions organized in 5 parts from „Basic“, and „Implementation“, over „Case Studies“, and „Formal Analysis“, up to 3 papers presenting a „Conclusion“.

The Talking Heads Experiment marked a groundbreaking initiative where situated embodied agents developed a new shared vocabulary through language games focused on real-world scenes. Conducted between 1999 and 2001, this large-scale project connected various global locations, including Antwerp, Brussels, and Tokyo, allowing agents to teleport and interact with humans both on-site and remotely. Participants influenced the agents' evolving languages and ontologies, showcasing a unique blend of technology, linguistics, and collaborative learning.

The NATO sponsored Advanced Study Institute 'The Biology and Tech nology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents' was an extraordinary event. For two weeks it brought together the leading proponents of the new behavior oriented approach to Artificial Intelligence in Castel Ivano near Trento. The goal of the meeting was to establish a solid scientific and technological foun dation for the field of intelligent autonomous agents with a bias towards the new methodologies and techniques that have recently been developed in Ar tificial Intelligence under the strong influence of biology. Major themes of the conference were: bottom-up AI research, artificial life, neural networks and techniques of emergent functionality. The meeting was such an extraordinary event because it not only featured very high quality lectures on autonomous agents and the various fields feeding it, but also robot laboratories which were set up by the MIT AI laboratory (with a lab led by Rodney Brooks) and the VUB AI laboratory (with labs led by Tim Smithers and Luc Steels). This way the participants could also gain practical experience and discuss in concreto what the difficulties and achievements were of different approaches. In fact, the meeting has been such a success that a follow up meeting is planned for September 1995 in Monte Verita (Switzerland). This meeting is organised by Rolf Pfeifer (University of Zurich).