Japanese researchers have spent five years developing a humanoid robot system that can understand and respond to simultaneous speakers. They posit a restaurant scenario in which the robot is a waiter. When three people stand before the robot and simultaneously order pork cutlet meals or French dinners, the robot understands at about 70 percent comprehension, responding by repeating each order and giving the total price. This process takes less than two seconds and, crucially, requires no prior voice training.
Such auditory powers mark a fundamental challenge in artificial intelligence – how to teach machines to pick out significant sounds amid the hubbub. This is known as the cocktail party effect, and most machines do not do any better than humans who have had a few too many martinis.
Scientific American, August 2007.
(FUVEST 2008 1ª FASE) De acordo com o texto, pesquisadores japoneses desenvolveram um robô que