Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and related fields

Ada Byron wrote, "For the machine is not a thinking being, but simply an automaton, which acts according to the laws imposed upon it."

John McCarthy once asked, "What is it that a judge does, that a computer cannot do?" (McCarthy wrote the LISP language for AI.)

Marvin Minsky, a prominent figure in the field of AI, believes that AI is the field of trying to build intelligence into computers.

Others, like John Searle at UC Berkeley, make the argument that Ada Byron made, that machines can only mimic intelligence, but can never be intelligent. (See the Chinese room argument in the textbook.)

Areas Of Investigation

• Turing Test-Can the software fool a human? Example: Eliza (Weizenbaum, MIT.)
• Games-Can we write software that can make intelligent choices and learn? Example: IBM's "Deep Blue computer that defeated Chess Master Garry Kasparov in 1997.
• Can we teach computer common sense? D. Lenat's "Cyc" project, has been working on this problem. (Originally at the University of Texas, Austin.)
• Natural Language Analysis-Can we get software to understand human language?
• Computer Vision-Can we teach computers to see?
• Knowledge Engineering/Expert Systems-Can we create software to replace or augment human experts?
• Intelligent Agents-Can we create software helpers that can learn?
• Fuzzy Logic-Can we get software to make compromises or weighted decisions?
• Neural Networks-Can we write software modelled on how the human brain works?
• Genetic Algorithms-Can principles of Darwinian evolution be applied to problem solving to generate intelligent solutions to problems?

Robotics

It has been said that we use robots do work that is dirty, dull and dangerous. Some designers work top-down, that is they try to create robots that mimic humans. Others work bottom-up, and design much simpler robots, based on insects or other lower life forms. "Scalability" is an important aspect of design. Ideally you'd like to create a robot that can be made any size.

• The term robot comes from a play written by K. Capek, RUR .
• Leonardo da Vinci designed a "robot" in the late 15th century.
• Stationary (manufacturing)
• Mobile (surveillance) (Mobility is one of the hard problems to solve!)
• Robots are often used in applications too dangerous for humans.

Related Fields

• Artificial Reality
• Artificial Life
• Scientific Visualization-Tufte
• Nanotechnology-Drexler
  Click here for information on Nanotechnology
  Click here for a paper by GMU student Anessh Talwar on Silicon Nanostructures

Doug Englebart (inventor of the mouse) once observed that humans develop skills to adapt to our new technologies. How will humans adapt (and evolve!) in the future in response to technology?