# A Spoken Dialogue System for Spatial Question Answering in a Physical Blocks World Source: [A Spoken Dialogue System for Spatial Question Answering in a Physical Blocks World]() Collection index: [llms.txt]() Data updated: 2025-10-27T06:00:46.575Z Authors: Georgiy Platonov, Benjamin Kane, Aaron Gindi, Lenhart K. Schubert Published: 2019-11-06T18:05:13.000Z ## Abstract The blocks world is a classic toy domain that has long been used to build and test spatial reasoning systems. Despite its relative simplicity, tackling this domain in its full complexity requires the agent to exhibit a rich set of functional capabilities, ranging from vision to natural language understanding. There is currently a resurgence of interest in solving problems in such limited domains using modern techniques. In this work we tackle spatial question answering in a holistic way, using a vision system, speech input and output mediated by an animated avatar, a dialogue system that robustly interprets spatial queries, and a constraint solver that derives answers based on 3-D spatial modeling. The contributions of this work include a semantic parser that maps spatial questions into logical forms consistent with a general approach to meaning representation, a dialog manager based on a schema representation, and a constraint solver for spatial questions that provides answers in agreement with human perception. These and other components are integrated into a multi-modal human-computer interaction pipeline. ## Recorded benchmark results A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage. ## Original sources and implementation [Original paper]() [PDF]()