Researchers at the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter, Florida created a device that uses an advanced pattern recognition to decipher the language of dolphins and one day be able to answer them.
The device, jointly developed the artificial intelligence scientist Thad Starner, has two hydrophones and uses a computer the size of a cell to store the information.
Although still in early stages of creation and not expected to be completed some, the idea shows promise. Named "Project CHAT," the group aims to co-create a 'language' of the common signs and sounds used by dolphins to communicate. This vocabulary will start with eight simple words to represent ideas common to the animal world.
Once the dolphins have learned to play the words in the language, the researchers plan to try to understand other expressions of true communication of these mammals, observing their conversations and more of the same species.
The challenge of understanding the dolphins
The translator device can use technologically advanced, but it is nevertheless to be a challenging idea. Several differences in communication patterns of dolphins make extremely difficult any kind of interpretation: one of the problems is the versatility of their voices, once they reach 10 tons times those of humans, and can keep the sound for long periods of time.
But the biggest challenge is getting them to identify which is the source of sounds to achieve study the behavioral patterns, since dolphins are able to project your voice to any side without moving the head. To work around this, have also been added LED sensors that are placed in the diver's mask, pointing to the animal that generated the signal.
Previous attempts
Creating a device that enables communication between humans and dolphins is not as new as you can imagine: before the chat, the group had been designing other devices since 1998 as a translator that imitated the sounds made by dolphins. We tried to even use a simplified keyboard, where the animal must press buttons to make requests to their coaches, but was considered "dolphin-unfriendly."
