In low level species, communication abilities seem often built-in. However, in more complex creatures this capacity develops during their life. Studying systems that would develop such an ability is a necessary and natural step towards the construction of robots showing more complex capacities.
Communication is a very desirable skill for robots to possess.
We expect communicating robots to be able to carry out a wider range of tasks than is possible for dumb robots. For example, tasks requiring coordination within a group of robots would be easier if the robots were able to inform one another about what they were doing. It will also provide us with a way to teach robots and having them developing new skills after they have already been built. Communication abilities are bidirectional. Robots' ability to communicate could also provide us with a way to understand their internal function, by them explaining it.