Professor Angelo Cangelosi

The article Virtual bots teach each other using wordplay said

Robots that teach one another new words through interaction with their surroundings have been demonstrated by UK researchers.
 
The robots, created by Angelo Cangelosi and colleagues at Plymouth University, UK, currently exist only as computer simulations. But the researchers say their novel method of communication could someday help real-life robots cooperate when faced with a new challenge. They could also help linguists understand how human languages develop, they say.
 
The simulated bots each have a humanoid upper-torso and a wheeled chassis. One has the job of explaining to the other how to perform a simple task, like lifting an object using its arms. It communicates verbally and has the capacity to teach new words or phrases by combining words previously learned.

Angelo Cangelosi, Ph.D. is Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognition, School of Computing, Communications and Electronics, the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom and Adjunct Researcher, Institute of Cognitive Science & Technology, CNR National Research Council, Rome.
 
Angelo is Editorial Board Member of Journal of Neurolinguistics, Connection Science, and Interaction Studies, and Editorial Consultant Member of International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems.
 
He coedited Simulating the Evolution of Language, Emergence of Communication and Language, Modeling Language, Cognition And Action: Proceedings of the Ninth Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop, University of Plymouth, UK, 8–10 September 2004, and The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference (EVOLANG6), Rome, Italy, 12–15 April 2006.
 
He authored The grounding and sharing of symbols and Evolving cognitive systems: Adaptive behaviour and cognition research at the University of Plymouth, and coauthored An embodied model for sensorimotor grounding and grounding transfer: Experiments with epigenetic robots, The processing of verbs and nouns in neural networks: Insights from synthetic brain imaging, and The Role of Social and Cognitive Factors in the Emergence of Communication: Experiments in Evolutionary Robotics. Read a full list of his publications!
 
Angelo earned a Laurea in Experimental Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza” (110/110 cum laude) in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Genoa in 1997.
 
Listen to his BBC interview! Watch a video which shows his virtual robots at different stages of the language-learning process. (The teacher bot is on the left and the learner is on the right.)