Published in the June 2000 issue of Computers and Society.

When industrial robots were first introduced in the early 1960s initially on automobile assembly lines computers were still in their infancy, so the robots were designed to perform only the most rigidly predetermined set of repetitive movements. But according to Rodney Brooks, who last year left a tenured position as MIT s Panasonic Professor of Robotics to focus on his latest company, that may not be true for much longer. Brooks s lips are sealed, as The Economist put it last week, about what exactly he and Heartland Robotics are up to in a converted warehouse in South Boston s Innovation District. But venture capitalists have already gambled $32 million on the premise that whatever it is they produce, it s going to set a whole new direction in the field. Brooks, now the chairman and chief technology officer of Heartland Robotics, spoke at MIT on April 20, addressing a recently formed student entrepreneurship group called do.it@MIT.

Brooks, R.A, "Kunstliche Intelligenz und Roboter-Entwicklung (translation: Artificial Intelligence and Robot Development"), Proceedings of the Heinz Nixdorf Museum Paderborn Podium- Computer Gehirn: Was kann der Mensch? Was Konnen die Computer?, Ferdinand Shoningh Press, October, 2001, pp. Brooks, R.A. and Charles Rosenberg, "L –A Common Lisp for Embedded Systems", Association of Lisp Users Meeting and Workshop LUV'95, August, 1995. Brooks, R. A., "Challenges for Complete Creature Architectures", First International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, Paris, France, September 1990, pp. 434–443. Mataric, M. J. and R. A. Brooks, "Learning a Distributed Map Representation Based on Navigation Behaviors", Japan–USA Symposium on Flexible Automation, Kyoto, Japan, July 1990, pp. 499–506.

For the last decade, scientists have deployed increasingly capable underwater robots to map and monitor pockets of the ocean to track the health of fisheries, and survey marine habitats and species. In general, such robots are effective at carrying out low-level tasks, specifically assigned to them by human engineers -- a tedious and time-consuming process for the engineers. When deploying autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), much of an engineer's time is spent writing scripts, or low-level commands, in order to direct a robot to carry out a mission plan. Now a new programming approach developed by MIT engineers gives robots more "cognitive" capabilities, enabling humans to specify high-level goals, while a robot performs high-level decision-making to figure out how to achieve these goals. For example, an engineer may give a robot a list of goal locations to explore, along with any time constraints, as well as physical directions, such as staying a certain distance above the seafloor.

This week a team featuring multiple Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers took home the grand prize in an international competition centered on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Members of CSAIL's Marine Robotics Group joined forces with more than 20 other researchers from MIT and Olin College as one of 15 teams competing in the Maritime RobotX Challenge, which took place Oct. 20-26 in Marina Bay, Singapore. Each research group spent the past year developing sensors, computers, and software for the "WAM-V," a self-driving propeller-motored boat that resembles an oversized jet-ski. For the competition, teams traversed a special course to complete tasks that demonstrated motion-planning, control, and autonomy, including avoidance and detection of obstacles, identifying targets, and searching underwater for acoustic sources. MIT-Olin outperformed other universities from Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States, earning the $24,000 grand prize -- and a not-insignificant amount of international respect.

Children too sick to go to school are still getting an education--thanks to robots in the classroom that transmit lessons back to the student. Stepan Supin, 12, of Moscow has been battling leukemia for two years, and his immune system is so weak he can't leave home. However, telepresence technology allows him to go to school via remote-controlled robot. The R.BOT 100 was developed by Moscow's 3Detection Labs several years ago, and it's been helping Stepan study history, geography, and languages since September. Priced at roughly $3,000, the R.BOT 100 moves around on a wheeled base and has a display, Web cam, microphone, speakers, and an Internet link so Stepan can interact with his classmates and teacher.

Early 16th Century Hans Bullmann creates the first androids - simulated people that can play musical instruments for the delight of paying customers. While training as a Jesuit, Jacques Vaucanson creates flying angels which cause him to be thrown out of the order. Five years later, funding is cancelled when the shortcomings of the machine become apparent. Academics start to concentrate on small, smart useful robots rather than simulated people. Genghis, one of the first walking robots created by the mobile robots lab at MIT, makes its debut.

IJCAI is the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the main international gathering of researchers in AI. IJCAI has been held biennially in odd-numbered years from 1969 until 2015. From 2015, IJCAI conferences are held anually. Our conferences have been sponsored jointly by IJCAI and the national AI societie(s) of the host nation(s). IJCAI-16 was held in New York City, NY, USA, from July 9th through July 15th, 2016.

The driverless electric shuttle has begun carrying passengers in a test program in a downtown Las Vegas entertainment district. The driverless electric shuttle has begun carrying passengers in a test program in a downtown Las Vegas entertainment district. The driverless electric shuttle has begun carrying passengers in a test program in a downtown Las Vegas entertainment district. LAS VEGAS (AP) -- There's a new thrill on the streets of downtown Las Vegas, where high- and low-rollers alike are climbing aboard what officials call the first driverless electric shuttle operating on a public U.S. street. The oval-shaped shuttle began running Tuesday as part of a 10-day pilot program, carrying up to 12 passengers for free along a short stretch of the Fremont Street East entertainment district.

The application of Evolutionary Computation (EC) techniques for the development of creative systems is a new, exciting and significant area of research. There is a growing interest in the application of these techniques in fields such as: art and music generation, analysis and interpretation; architecture; and design. EvoMUSART 2005 is the third workshop of the EvoNet working group on Evolutionary Music and Art. Following the success of previous events, the main goal of EvoMUSART 2005 is to bring together researchers who are using Evolutionary Computation in this context, providing the opportunity to promote, present and discuss ongoing work in the area. The workshop will include an open panel for the discussion of the most relevant questions of the field.