SGER: Exploration of a new apporach to natural language understanding within a controlled application area

人们普遍认为，在未来，自然语言界面将以几乎任何人都可以参与的简单性和灵活性提供对信息和服务的访问，消除智力和物理障碍，影响产品与消费者的交互方式，并创造全新的产品类型。 在这个项目中，PI将测试一种有前途的新型创新自然语言处理方法，称为tridbit技术，它可能为人类提供一种与计算机和其他设备交谈的实用方法。 Tridbit技术使用独特的知识结构（称为Tridbit）和规则来区分和组合不同类型的信息，以表示自然语言的含义。PI的目标是测试tridbit技术是否能在比以前探索的更苛刻和更现实的环境中坚持下去。 将加强和评价现有原型系统的各个方面，包括熟悉程度不同的主题领域的业绩，以及对模糊和矛盾的处理。 还将探讨概念的基础和构建自然语言来表达任意知识。 该技术将应用于模拟的家庭环境，以控制电视、录像机和闹钟等设备，目标是让人们能够用自己的话说出他们希望设备做什么。 PI希望证明自然语言界面在家庭环境中是可行的。更广泛的影响：正在测试的技术确定了意义表示中的关键约束，可能简化自然语言理解问题的许多方面。 与当前的范式不同，它的基本理论涉及信息的结构方式。 如果得到验证，它将增强我们对自然语言如何工作的理解，并可能影响广泛的学科。 该项目的积极成果可能会对身体或认知残疾的人产生巨大影响，这些残疾人阻止他们使用标准设备控制，并且还将向制造商证明他们需要为未来的这些接口做好准备。

There is a general vision that in the future, natural language interfaces will provide access to information and services with the simplicity and flexibility required for virtually anyone to participate, eliminating both intellectual and physical barriers, and impacting the way products interface with consumers as well as creating whole new product types. In this project, the PI will test a promising new, innovative natural language processing approach called tridbit technology that may provide a practical way for humans to talk to computers and other devices. Tridbit technology uses unique knowledge structures (called tridbits) and rules for discriminating and combining different types of information to represent the meaning of natural language. The PI's goal is to test whether tridbit technology will hold up in more demanding and realistic environments than previously explored. Various aspects of an existing prototype system will be enhanced and evaluated, including performance in subject areas with varying levels of familiarity and handling of ambiguity and contradictions. Grounding of concepts and constructing natural language to express arbitrary knowledge will also be explored. The technology will be applied to a simulated household environment to control devices such as TVs, VCRs and alarm clocks, with the goal of enabling people to say in their own words what they want a device to do. The PI hopes to demonstrate that natural language interfaces are feasible within a household environment.Broader Impacts: The technology being tested identifies key constraints within the representation of meaning, potentially simplifying many aspects of the natural language understanding problem. A departure from current paradigm, its underlying theories speak to the way information is structured. If validated, it will enhance our understanding of how natural language works, and could influence a wide range of disciplines. A positive outcome to this project could have tremendous impact for people with physical or cognitive disabilities that prevent them from using standard device controls, and would also prove to manufacturers that they need to prepare for these interfaces of the future.