News and Communication Services: "In the movie “2010,” while trying to salvage the mission to Jupiter, the Hal 9000 computer noted, “I enjoy working with human beings, and have stimulating relationships with them.”
Well, 2010 is just around the corner, and as usual Hollywood was a little ahead of its time – but in this case, not by much. Oregon State University researchers are pioneering the concept of “rich interaction” – computers that do, in fact, want to communicate with, learn from and get to know you better as a person.
The idea behind this “meaningful” interaction is one of the latest advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, in which a computer doesn’t just try to learn from its own experiences, it listens to the user, tries to combine what it “hears” with its internal reasoning, and changes its program as a result. When ordinary users spot the machine’s errors they should be able to step in and explain directly to the machine the logic it should be using."
Friday, August 21, 2009
Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom
Bits Blog - NYTimes.com: "A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction."
"The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.
"Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.
"The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.
"Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.
Autonomous machines prompt debate - News - The Engineer
Autonomous machines prompt debate - News - The Engineer: "Legislators and opinion-formers need to start thinking about how autonomous machines like driverless trucks, surgical robots and smart homes that keep an eye on their occupants could affect society, according to the Royal Academy of Engineering.
"In a new report, the Academy points out that the technology to develop such systems is either already available or closer to reality than many people think — and the legal system needs to catch up fast."
"Autonomous trucks are a good example; as Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, a member of the Academy’s engineering ethics working group and BAE Systems’ Military Air Solutions’ science and technology director pointed out, autonomous vehicles already operate in mines and warehouses. Such trucks would use lasers and radar to monitor their surroundings and neighbouring cars, and would have the Highway Code programmed into them.
‘They’d be much more predictable than trucks driven by humans; they wouldn’t pull out suddenly, they would always pull in if there was a problem; they’d give way where they were supposed to,’ Dopping-Hepenstal said. ‘But also, there are bound to be problems. If there’s an accident involving one of these things, who’s responsible? The system's engineer? The manufacturer?’
"In a new report, the Academy points out that the technology to develop such systems is either already available or closer to reality than many people think — and the legal system needs to catch up fast."
"Autonomous trucks are a good example; as Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, a member of the Academy’s engineering ethics working group and BAE Systems’ Military Air Solutions’ science and technology director pointed out, autonomous vehicles already operate in mines and warehouses. Such trucks would use lasers and radar to monitor their surroundings and neighbouring cars, and would have the Highway Code programmed into them.
‘They’d be much more predictable than trucks driven by humans; they wouldn’t pull out suddenly, they would always pull in if there was a problem; they’d give way where they were supposed to,’ Dopping-Hepenstal said. ‘But also, there are bound to be problems. If there’s an accident involving one of these things, who’s responsible? The system's engineer? The manufacturer?’
Friday, August 14, 2009
IBM gets $16 million to bolster its brain-on-a-chip technology - Network World
IBM gets $16 million to bolster its brain-on-a-chip technology
- Network World: "According to DARPA, the SyNAPSE program will create useful, intelligent machines. In DARPA language: the agency is looking to develop electronic neuromorphic machine technology that is scalable to biological levels. The goal is to develop systems capable of analyzing vast amounts of data from many sources in the blink of an eye, letting the military or civilian businesses make rapid decisions in time to have a significant impact on a given problem or situation."
"According to DARPA, programmable machines are limited not only by their computational capacity, but also by an architecture requiring (human-derived) algorithms to both describe and process information from their environment. In contrast, biological neural systems such as human brains, autonomously process information in complex environments by automatically learning relevant and probabilistically stable features and associations, DARPA stated.
- Network World: "According to DARPA, the SyNAPSE program will create useful, intelligent machines. In DARPA language: the agency is looking to develop electronic neuromorphic machine technology that is scalable to biological levels. The goal is to develop systems capable of analyzing vast amounts of data from many sources in the blink of an eye, letting the military or civilian businesses make rapid decisions in time to have a significant impact on a given problem or situation."
"According to DARPA, programmable machines are limited not only by their computational capacity, but also by an architecture requiring (human-derived) algorithms to both describe and process information from their environment. In contrast, biological neural systems such as human brains, autonomously process information in complex environments by automatically learning relevant and probabilistically stable features and associations, DARPA stated.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Nanoelectronic transistor combined with biological machine could lead to better electronics
Nanoelectronic transistor combined with biological machine could lead to better electronics: "If manmade devices could be combined with biological machines, laptops and other electronic devices could get a boost in operating efficiency.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have devised a versatile hybrid platform that uses lipid-coated nanowires to build prototype bionanoelectronic devices."
Mingling biological components in electronic circuits could enhance biosensing and diagnostic tools, advance neural prosthetics such as cochlear implants, and could even increase the efficiency of future computers.
While modern communication devices rely on electric fields and currents to carry the flow of information, biological systems are much more complex. They use an arsenal of membrane receptors, channels and pumps to control signal transduction that is unmatched by even the most powerful computers. For example, conversion of sound waves into nerve impulses is a very complicated process, yet the human ear has no trouble performing it.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have devised a versatile hybrid platform that uses lipid-coated nanowires to build prototype bionanoelectronic devices."
Mingling biological components in electronic circuits could enhance biosensing and diagnostic tools, advance neural prosthetics such as cochlear implants, and could even increase the efficiency of future computers.
While modern communication devices rely on electric fields and currents to carry the flow of information, biological systems are much more complex. They use an arsenal of membrane receptors, channels and pumps to control signal transduction that is unmatched by even the most powerful computers. For example, conversion of sound waves into nerve impulses is a very complicated process, yet the human ear has no trouble performing it.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer 'agents' take to the web
BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer 'agents' take to the web: "Software 'agents' that automatically negotiate on behalf of shoppers and sellers are about to be set free on the web for the first time.
The 'Negotiation Ninjas', as they are known, will be trialled on a shopping website called Aroxo in the autumn. The intelligent traders are the culmination of 20 years' work by scientists at Southampton University.
'Computer agents don't get bored, they have a lot of time, and they don't get embarrassed,' Professor Nick Jennings, one of the researchers behind the work, told BBC News."
The 'Negotiation Ninjas', as they are known, will be trialled on a shopping website called Aroxo in the autumn. The intelligent traders are the culmination of 20 years' work by scientists at Southampton University.
'Computer agents don't get bored, they have a lot of time, and they don't get embarrassed,' Professor Nick Jennings, one of the researchers behind the work, told BBC News."
Robots to get their own operating system - tech - 10 August 2009 - New Scientist
Robots to get their own operating system - tech - 10 August 2009 - New Scientist: "king them are not. Each robot is individually manufactured to meet a specific need and more than likely built in isolation.
"This sorry state of affairs is set to change. Roboticists have begun to think about what robots have in common and what aspects of their construction can be standardised, hopefully resulting in a basic operating system everyone can use. This would let roboticists focus their attention on taking the technology forward."
"This sorry state of affairs is set to change. Roboticists have begun to think about what robots have in common and what aspects of their construction can be standardised, hopefully resulting in a basic operating system everyone can use. This would let roboticists focus their attention on taking the technology forward."
Monday, August 3, 2009
Technology-Using Professors Group News
Technology-Using Professors Group News
"'Crowdsourcing,' the notion of using the wisdom of the crowd for sites like Wikipedia, could be making its way into academe as a grading method that holds students more accountable.
"A professor at Duke University plans to test just that this fall, when she leaves the evaluation of class assignments up to her students, using crowdsourcing to make students responsible for grading each other.
GR: Don't mistake this for an attempt to reduce the professor's workload -- there are sound pedagogical reasons why this is a great idea! Of course there are dangers to be avoided, as with any sort of peer review or peer feedback system. I also suspect the work required of the educator to implement the system would not be insignificant...
"'Crowdsourcing,' the notion of using the wisdom of the crowd for sites like Wikipedia, could be making its way into academe as a grading method that holds students more accountable.
"A professor at Duke University plans to test just that this fall, when she leaves the evaluation of class assignments up to her students, using crowdsourcing to make students responsible for grading each other.
GR: Don't mistake this for an attempt to reduce the professor's workload -- there are sound pedagogical reasons why this is a great idea! Of course there are dangers to be avoided, as with any sort of peer review or peer feedback system. I also suspect the work required of the educator to implement the system would not be insignificant...
Want Responsible Robotics? Start With Responsible Humans
Want Responsible Robotics? Start With Responsible Humans: "When the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov penned the “Three Laws of Responsible Robotics,” he forever changed the way humans think about artificial intelligence, and inspired generations of engineers to take up robotics.
In the current issue of journal IEEE Intelligent Systems, two engineers propose alternative laws to rewrite our future with robots."
"But while evidence suggests that Asimov thought long and hard about his laws when he wrote them, Woods believes that the author did not intend for engineers to create robots that followed those laws to the letter.
“Go back to the original context of the stories,” Woods said, referring to Asimov’s I, Robot among others. “He’s using the three laws as a literary device. The plot is driven by the gaps in the laws -- the situations in which the laws break down. For those laws to be meaningful, robots have to possess a degree of social intelligence and moral intelligence, and Asimov examines what would happen when that intelligence isn’t there.”
In the current issue of journal IEEE Intelligent Systems, two engineers propose alternative laws to rewrite our future with robots."
"But while evidence suggests that Asimov thought long and hard about his laws when he wrote them, Woods believes that the author did not intend for engineers to create robots that followed those laws to the letter.
“Go back to the original context of the stories,” Woods said, referring to Asimov’s I, Robot among others. “He’s using the three laws as a literary device. The plot is driven by the gaps in the laws -- the situations in which the laws break down. For those laws to be meaningful, robots have to possess a degree of social intelligence and moral intelligence, and Asimov examines what would happen when that intelligence isn’t there.”
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