Young male zebra finches (斑胸草雀) learn to communicate by listening to adults. In the lab, researchers have found that these songbirds can learn from audio recordings. But zebra finches learn better when they listen to live male finches, notes Ralph Simon. He studies how animals make and use sounds at the Nuremberg Zoo in Germany. Simon is part of the team that built RoboFinch, a robotic singing coach for finches.
The researchers recorded videos of adult males to analyze how their beaks (喙) move when they sing. They then programmed their robots to copy those beak movements. Finally, the researchers painted their RoboFinches the same colors as the real birds.
The team divided 45 young finches into four groups. Some only heard recordings of finch songs played by a speaker. Others listened with female birds that weren’t singing. RoboFinches taught the two other groups of chicks. The birdsongs played from a speaker right behind the robots. And the robots’ beaks moved either in or out of syne (协调) with the songs. That allowed the team to investigate whether beak or head movements aid song learning.
The birds housed with RoboFinches eventually spent most of their time near the robot and its speaker. During the first week, finches living with a RoboFinch whose song was in sync with its beak motions spent 27 percent of their time near the robot. Those caged with a robot playing songs out of syne only spent 5 percent of their time near the setup during the first week. Finches that heard only the audio without RoboFinch or female birds spent even less time around the sound source. Young finches partnered with RoboFinches sang less while the songs played. This was especially true when the robots’ beaks moved in sync with the songs. Those paired with a female also sang less while hearing songs. The young finches seemed to pay close attention to the robots’ movements during training sessions.
Simon hopes researchers will adapt this approach to building robots of other species, too.
【小题1】Whose song did the researchers record?| A．Adult male finches’. | B．Adult female finches’. |
| C．Yong finches’. | D．RoboFinches’. |
| A．By how fast they learn. | B．By where they were kept. |
| C．By how they react to the robot. | D．By what they are accompanied with. |
| A．speakers behind them |
| B．female finches keeping silent |
| C．RoboFinches moving their beaks to the songs |
| D．a recorder playing the songs |
| A．RoboFinches Are Used as Singing Coaches |
| B．Machine Learning Are Adapted to Building Robots |
| C．Yong Finches Communicate Through Beak Movements |
| D．Researchers Discovered How Finches Make and Use Sounds |
