Dr Alessandro Di Nuovo has been awarded an EPSRC First Grant of £100K to fund work on the Number Understanding Modelling in Behavioural Embodied Robotic Systems (NUMBERS) project.

The objective of the NUMBERS project is to construct a novel artificial cognitive model of mathematical cognition by imitating human like learning approaches for developing number understanding. The NUMBERS research activities will exploit the cutting-edge facilities offered by Sheffield Robotics, a joint initiative between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, which will host the project.

The objective will be achieved through a highly interdisciplinary research program that will take advantage of the interdisciplinary collaboration of leading academics, Professors McClelland (Stanford University, USA) and Cangelosi (Plymouth University) and the technical support of an industrial partner (NVIDIA Corporation, USA and UK).

This foundational research will provide the methodological basis and cognitively plausible engineering principles for the next generation of socially interactive robots, mimicking advanced capabilities of the human intelligence for real understanding and interaction with the external world. Results will help the design of more efficient cognitive robotic systems capable of learning abstract symbolic number processing in a more flexible and ecological manner. This will also provide a novel tool for developmental psychology and neuroscience research on the development of mathematical abilities in children.