SHRDLU, an early natural language understanding program developed at MIT between 1968 and 1970, allowed users to interact with a simulated "blocks world." The program could parse English commands to move objects, remember context, and answer queries about the state and history of the virtual environment. SHRDLU utilized a limited vocabulary and a basic memory system to create a convincing simulation of understanding, and was written in Micro Planner and Lisp. AI
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IMPACT Provides historical context on early natural language understanding systems and their capabilities.
RANK_REASON This is a description of a historical AI research project and paper.