Transcript The Shape of Things to Come or How Things Will

Computers,
Artificial Intelligence,
&
Robotics
Erin Harris, Graduate Researcher
Jerry B. Weinberg, Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
What is a Computer?
• Takes input
– Keyboard, mouse, camera, microphones
• Transforms it through a set of instructions
– Computer Program
• Creates output
– Monitor, speakers
What is a Computer?
•
ALL programs are made up of only 3 kinds of instructions!
1. Sequential Instructions
Program to make chocolate mild
First put milk in a glass
next add two tablespoons of Nestle Quick
stir
drink
2. Conditional Instruction
If (you are out of milk)
then go to the store and buy a gallon of milk
3. Repetition
While you are still thirst
Make chocolate milk
A Computer Program
Computers are Powerful!
• Storing and Retrieving Information
– Banks accounts, school grades, phone numbers
Computers are Powerful!
• Tools for Creativity
– Writing papers, drawing pictures, composing
music
Computers are Powerful!
• Controlling Complex Systems
– Space Shuttle, Cruise Ships, Your Car
Computers are Powerful!
– Computer Games, Special Effects in Movies
Artificial Intelligence
• Getting computers to do things that humans do
• Our Brains are information processing machines
– Input: eyes, ears
– Transformation: brain is our cpu
– Output: hands, feet, mouth
?
What is Intelligence?
• Expert Tasks
– Medical Diagnosis
– Airplane Mechanic
• Formal Tasks
– Mathematics
– Game Playing
• Creative Tasks
– Painting
– Music Composition
• Everyday Tasks
– Visual recognition
– Language understanding
Reasoning: State Space Search
• State Space
– The space of all possible states of a problem
– The actions that can be applied to a state
• Solving a problem: State Space Search
– From a starting state search for a solution by applying
possible actions
– Test for solution
• Example:
–
–
–
–
How could you find where you parked your car at the mall?
States: locations where you are
Actions: moving from one point to the next
Goal test: Being in the same location as your car
Exhaustive Search
vs. Intelligent
Search
Solve These Problems
• What is the name of this shape?
• 23 X 11 =
• How many windows are in your house?
Knowledge Representation
• Knowledge representation stores
information in a program in a way that it
can be applied to a problem
• Different Kinds of Knowledge are used to
solve different kinds of problem.
Where is the AI?
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•
•
•
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Microsoft Office Helpers
Amazon.com
NBA Scout
Furby
Wal-Mart Stocker
Batman the Movie
The Sims
And Robots
• A robot is a computer with a body
• A mobile robot is a computer with wheels
(or legs or treads or other)
What is An Intelligent Robot?
• A machine able to extract information from
its environment and use knowledge about its
world to move safely in a meaningful manner
Humans vs. Robots
People
Robots
Bones
Metal/Plastic
Muscles
Motors
Senses
Sensors
Digestion/Respiration AC/DC Power
Brain
Computer
Knowledge
Program
Mobile Robots have to Solve Difficult Problems
• Where am I?
– Localization Problem
• How do I get there?
– Path Finding Problem
• How do I find the door?
– Object Recognition Problem
• What are you asking me to do?
– Language Understanding Problem
• How can I tell you the answer to your question?
– Speech Generation Problem
roboti.cs.siue.edu
Meet Taz
The Tour Guide
Robot
How does Taz figure out where it is?
• Has an internal map in its memory.
• Measures how far it travels to get a rough
idea of where it is at on the map.
• Uses matches its laser and sonar readings to
walls the map to get an exact location
The Internal Map
Matching laser and sonar readings
to map
How you Control Taz
Control Java Applet
Runs on user’s computer
Browses Robot Page
Send movement
commands to
Middle Man
Observe Java Applet
Runs on user’s computer
Browses Robot Page
Middle Man
sends camera
feed to Applet
Download
Java Applet
Download
Web Material
Middle Man
Stores Java Applet
Stores Website
Runs on Web Server
Middle Man
sends
commands on to
client
Client sends
camera feed to
Middle Man
Client sends
robot state info to
Middle Man
The Client
Runs on Robot’s Onboard PC
Client sends safe
commands to
robot
P2OS sends
state and
location info to
Client
P2OS
Runs on Robot’s Microcomputer
Directly Controls Robot Hardware
Interesting Robots
Interesting Robots
Interesting Robots
Anyone can be a robot scientist
• LEGO Robot Kits