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Cool, I just added you on Facebook . If you, like Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings, are ready to welcome “our new computer overlords,” chances are you won’t have to wait long. Progress in the field of artificial intelligence has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past few years, churning out incredible machines like IBM’s Watson, which soundly defeated Jennings and fellow player Brad Rutter at America’s toughest trivia game. Now, scientists at Georgia Tech’s Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM) say they are within a decade of creating personal robots capable of cleaning our homes, taking us on guided tours and caring for our grandparents in nursing facilities. However, computer scientists simply won’t be able to program every robot to do all the things we will want them to do. This means we’ll have to tell robots what do to and how to do it. How will we do that? Tip 1: Use English Scientists want our interaction with robots to be as intuitive as possible, so that means designing them to process our natural language. Usually, computers are programmed using math-based languages, but most people don’t want to earn a degree in computer science just to tell a machine to vacuum the floor. With this in mind, scientists are developing programming languages based on English syntax rather than mathematical symbols, which is no small feat. Math-based languages allow for only one means of expression, while natural languages like English can phrase a single thought in half a dozen ways. When programming in a natural language, scientists must factor in all, or most, possible phrasings of input commands—a tedious task, but one that won’t leave future citizens guessing for the exact phrasing that will get robots to take out the trash. Tip 2: Throw Away that Keyboard Though almost anyone can type a command into a computer, that kind of input method will prove impractical when granny needs her robot to help her out of the bathtub. Scientists know that personal robots will be expected to operate on voice commands for ease and efficiency of use. Some of this technology is already available through mediums like the iPhone’s Siri software, which allows users to make phone calls, send texts and search the Internet by voice. However, tomorrow’s robots will need to do more than just process simple voice commands; they will also need to learn the tasks their owners want them to do. This will require them to have electronic brains capable of being programmed with both visual and auditory information in the human-like process of “active learning.” RIM’s Maya Cakmak, Ph.D., is bringing this advanced technology to life by programming a robot named Simon to learn new tasks by asking questions. Her study on the subject, entitled “Designing Robot Learners that Ask Good Questions,” was recently presented at the 7th ACM/IEEE Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Cakmak’s work will someday allow ordinary people to program robots without ever touching a keypad or phrasing commands in seemingly bizarre ways. However, you may still have to demonstrate for your robot exactly how to line up your collectible action figures. Tip 3: Teach It to Ask the Right Questions Robots can’t ask just any kind of question if they are to learn and communicate effectively with their human masters. People don’t want to spend all day teaching their robots how to hang up a jacket, for instance. So, what kinds of questions should a robot ask to facilitate a smooth robot-human interaction? Surprisingly, humans have provided the answer. In an experiment, Cakmak asked a group of people to pretend to be robots bent on learning a new task. The questions participants asked in the course of their learning were sorted into three categories: label query, demonstration query and feature query. Cakmak found that 82 percent of the questions fell into the feature query category. When Cakmak asked the group to then rate which questions were “smartest,” 72 percent chose feature queries. Since humans seem to overwhelmingly prefer feature queries, this is the type of question learning robots will ask in the future. A feature query seeks to define the features a particular task. The example given in Cakmak’s study was, “Can I pour salt from any height?” Technically, anyone can pour salt from almost any height, but it may not be appropriate or desirable to do so, especially when the flavor of your mashed potatoes is at stake. This differs widely from a label query (“Can I pour salt like this?”), which simply yields a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Tip 4: Observe the Subtle Cues There’s more to communication than just verbalizing. Eye contact, hand gestures, tone of voice and body language are all part of the equation, and things that robots will have to master to truly integrate into our world. “Other human beings understand turn-taking,” says Aaron Bobick, chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing. “They understand that if I make some indication, they’ll turn and face someone when they want to engage with them, and they won’t when they don’t want to engage with them. In order for these robots to work with us effectively, they have to obey these same kinds of social conventions.” In the future, robots will be able to wave, beckon and communicate in other non-verbal ways. They’ll also be able to analyze their masters’ social and physical communication cues and respond to them appropriately. Researchers at Georgia Tech found that when they equipped their robot Simon with cameras, it could predict with 80 percent accuracy whether or not it had attracted a person’s attention with a simple mechanical gesture. Talking to a socially conscious robot means you won’t feel the urge to scream to make your wishes understood. Tip 5: Remember, It is Still a Robot Scientists are working hard to give robots more human-like qualities, such as smooth movements and somewhat random behavior. The purpose in doing these things is to make human-robot communication as natural and productive as possible. Someday, people may even be able to learn tasks by observing how robots perform them. No matter how human they seem, though, they’re still machines incapable of acting beyond their programming. This is especially important to remember if you ever find yourself in a hospital about to get a sponge bath from Georgia Tech’s “Cody.” No, the robot isn’t touching your arm to comfort you. It doesn’t have that capacity. You can climb down from the ceiling, now.

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5 Tips for Communicating with a Robot

This unit is for people who are thinking about making changes in their lives, such as returning to study or taking a different direction at work. It will help you build on what you already know; consider the choices open to you; use your skills and qualities to achieve change; and make plans for the future.

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Learning to change

In this summary you will learn: Why your organization’s new strategy will fail if your employees are not engaged with it What six obstacles impede employee engagement What are the six best ways to engage employees Why “strategic engagement” is a process, not a series of separate, stand-alone actions Why you should read The Art of Engagement Organizational leaders spend considerable time and effort carefully developing strategies to advance their corporate goals. However, they often fail to communicate these strategies compellingly to their employees – the people who must execute every step. Therefore, it is no surprise that most such strategies fail. Management consultant Jim Haudan recommends a strategy-sharing approach using visuals, metaphors and stories to engage employees. He offers tactics for getting them on board to execute your strategy and organizational directives. One negative: Many of the illustrations (reductions from original table-size artwork) are busy and even fuzzy. Some feature tiny text, which illustrates – in the breech – Haudan’s point about using clear visuals to communicate and engage. Otherwise the book is superior, very insightful and nicely written. Haudan uses case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of his employee engagement process. getAbstract believes leaders can benefit from learning his tactics for communicating strategies so employees understand them, support them and actually implement them. About the Author Jim Haudan is co-founder and CEO of Root Learning, a management-consulting firm. Request Free!

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The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap Between People and Possibilities – Free Book Summary

Informal learning has become a hot topic as people realize that human beings learn more informally than they do in courses or guided instruction. Here’s a free whitepaper on how to take advantage of informal learning tools.

Short Description: Forward-thinking organizations are turning to enterprise learning in their quest to be better informed, better skilled, better supported at the point of need, and more competitive in their respective marketplaces.

Long Description: It is clear that as enterprise learning becomes a central part of strategic business alignment, the anytime, anywhere promises of eLearning are more likely to be met by extending the metaphor of the classroom and taking better advantage of today’s informal learning tools, resources, and techniques.

Get your copy here and start improving informal learning in organizations.

This book on leadership comes in at over 5 hours, and it`s free. Enjoy. Grab it by clicking here to open a new window.

Zappos.com has partnered with the authors of Tribal Leadership to bring you the audio version of the book for free (Zappos.com registration required). We’ve included a special audio foreward featuring Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, having a conversation with Dave Logan, co-author of Tribal Leadership. We hope you enjoy the audio book!

Note: Registration is required on the Zappos.com site in order to download this audio book.

It’s a fact of life: birds flock, fish school, people “tribe.”

Every company, indeed every organization, is a tribe, or if it’s large enough, a network of tribes—groups of 20 to 150 people in which everyone knows everyone else, or at least knows of everyone else. Tribes are more powerful than teams, companies, or even CEOs, and yet their key leverage points have not been mapped—until now. In Tribal Leadership, Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright show leaders how to assess their organization’s tribal culture on a scale from one to five and then implement specific tools to elevate the stage to the next. The result is unprecedented success.

In a rigorous eight-year study of approximately 24,000 people in over two dozen corporations, Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright refine and define a common theme: the success of a company depends on its tribes, the strength of its tribes is determined by the tribal culture, and a thriving corporate culture can be established by an effective tribal leader. Tribal Leadership will show leaders how to employ their companies’ tribes to maximize productivity and profit: the authors’ research, backed up with interviews ranging from Brian France (CEO of NASCAR) to “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams, shows that over three quarters of the organizations they’ve studied have tribal cultures that are merely adequate, no better than the third of five tribal stages.

Leaders, managers, and organizations that fail to understand, motivate, and grow their tribes will find it impossible to succeed in an increasingly fragmented world of business. The often counterintuitive findings of Tribal Leadership will help leaders at today’s major corporations, small businesses, and nonprofits learn how to take the people in their organization from adequate to outstanding, to discover the secrets that have led the highest-level tribes (like the team at Apple that designed the iPod) to remarkable heights, and to find new ways to succeed where others have failed.

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Short Description: Learn why more skilled learning professionals use these tools and how you can get a solution to keep pace with your business demands.

Long Description: As product life-cycles decrease and speed-to-market pressures increase, the ability to train workers quickly and efficiently becomes paramount to a company’s ability to compete in the marketplace. Rapid e-learning addresses both time and cost issues by using technology tools to shift the dynamics of e-learning development. Rather than requiring months to develop learning materials, rapid e-learning takes weeks.

Read this white paper to learn how rapid e-learning can make a significant contribution to your training efforts in your organization.

Get your free copy here