Joseph then to students who are actively February 19: IS Demos proposals E. Beck (joseph.beck@cmu.edu)

This article is a sequel to an article titled "A New Direction in AI -- Toward a Computational Theory of Perceptions," which appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of AI Magazine (volume 22, No. 1, 73-84). The concept of precisiated natural language (PNL) was briefly introduced in that article, and PNL was employed as a basis for computation with perceptions. In what follows, the conceptual structure of PNL is described in greater detail, and PNL's role in knowledge representation, deduction, and concept definition is outlined and illustrated by examples. What should be understood is that PNL is in its initial stages of development and that the exposition that follows is an outline of the basic ideas that underlie PNL rather than a definitive theory. A natural language is basically a system for describing perceptions. Perceptions, such as perceptions of distance, height, weight, color, temperature, similarity, likelihood, relevance, and most other attributes of physical and mental objects are intrinsically imprecise, reflecting the bounded ability of sensory organs, and ultimately the brain, to resolve detail and store information. In this perspective, the imprecision of natural languages is a direct consequence of the imprecision of perceptions (Zadeh 1999, 2000). How can a natural language be precisiated -- precisiated in the sense of making it possible to treat propositions drawn from a natural language as objects of computation? This is what PNL attempts to do. In PNL, precisiation is accomplished through translation into what is termed a precisiation language. In the case of PNL, the precisiation language is the generalized-constraint language (GCL), a language whose elements are so-called generalized constraints and their combinations. What distinguishes GCL from languages such as Prolog, LISP, SQL, and, more generally, languages associated with various logical systems, for example, predicate logic, modal logic, and so on, is its much higher expressive power. The conceptual structure of PNL mirrors two fundamental facets of human cognition: (a) partiality and (b) granularity (Zadeh 1997). Partiality relates to the fact that most human concepts are not bivalent, that is, are a matter of degree. Thus, we have partial understanding, partial truth, partial possibility, partial certainty, partial similarity, and partial relevance, to cite a few examples. Similarly, granularity and granulation relate to clumping of values of attributes, forming granules with words as labels, for example, young, middle-aged, and old as labels of granules of age. Existing approaches to natural language processing are based on bivalent logic -- a logic in which shading of truth is not allowed. PNL abandons bivalence. By so doing, PNL frees itself from limitations imposed by bivalence and categoricity, and opens the door to new approaches for dealing with long-standing problems in AI and related fields (Novak 1991). At this juncture, PNL is in its initial stages of development. As it matures, PNL is likely to find a variety of applications, especially in the realms of world knowledge representation, concept definition, deduction, decision, search, and question answering.

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This article reports on the RoboCup-2003 event. RoboCup is no longer just the Soccer World Cup for autonomous robots but has evolved to become a coordinated initiative encompassing four different robotics events: (1) Soccer, (2) Rescue, (3) Junior (focused on education), and (4) a Scientific Symposium. RoboCup-2003 took place from 2 to 11 July 2003 in Padua (Italy); it was colocated with other scientific events in the field of AI and robotics. In this article, in addition to reporting on the results of the games, we highlight the robotics and AI technologies exploited by the teams in the different leagues and describe the most meaningful scientific contributions.

The 2003International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS-03) was held 9 to 13 June 2003 in Trento, Italy. It was chaired by Enrico Giunchiglia (University of Genova), Nicola Muscettola (NASA Ames), and Dana Nau (University of Maryland). Piergiorgio Bertoli and Marco Benedetti (both from ITC-IRST) were the local chair and the workshop-tutorial coordination chair, respectively.

To submit a candidate's name for consideration, please send the individual's name, address, telephone number, and email address to Carol Nominators should contact candidates prior to submitting their names to verify that they are willing to serve, should they be elected. "AI in the News" section of the AI Intelligence will be held at 12:45 PM, October 22-24, 2004, at the Hyatt (see www.aaai.org/aitopics/assets/ If you are a Washington, DC. Cochairs: Simon that the use of such excerpts is past president. Ross Gayler personal and does not amount to, or year four new councilors are elected (r.gayler@mbox.com.au), and Pentti result in, commercial distribution.

To build a machine that has "common sense" was once a principal goal in the field of artificial intelligence. But most researchers in recent years have retreated from that ambitious aim. Instead, each developed some special technique that could deal with some class of problem well, but does poorly at almost everything else. We are convinced, however, that no one such method will ever turn out to be "best," and that instead, the powerful AI systems of the future will use a diverse array of resources that, together, will deal with a great range of problems. To build a machine that's resourceful enough to have humanlike common sense, we must develop ways to combine the advantages of multiple methods to represent knowledge, multiple ways to make inferences, and multiple ways to learn. We held a two-day symposium in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to discuss such a project -- - to develop new architectural schemes that can bridge between different strategies and representations. This article reports on the events and ideas developed at this meeting and subsequent thoughts by the authors on how to make progress.

Jose is also home to a myriad of historic attractions. While most museums deal in antiquity, the Tech Museum of Innovation celebrates technology's cutting edge. The dazzling, mango-colored We are delighted to announce the to aaai04@aaai.org. Please note that 132,000-square-foot domed building continuation of the cooperative effort the deadline for early registrations is serves as a dynamic learning resource with AI Journal, giving unlimited May 28, 2004. Through hands-on exploration, members can view and browse tables Marriott Hotel, in San Jose, California.

"Over the last decade, This eclectic keepsake provides a sampling to design vision and navigation some jobs have vanished, others are fading of what can be found (with links to the full systems based on the honeybee.... But lots of new ones have appeared. Please key lies in understanding how insects With the help of Toronto Star keep in mind that (1) the mere mention of perceive their world…." "From the Luddites the articles were initially available and thinking.... * Bio-informatician: Not Such collection--updated, hyperlinked, and molecular biology and computer science. The robot scientist developed (www.dailynewstribune.com). TIME online edition from the point of view of the human researcher, has participated in various fund-raising (www.time.com). "President Bush will announce it does so as effectively as a person.... events -- including selling Krispy Kreme later this week a plan to resume One question is, if their robot does doughnuts on Moody Street the day after missions to the Moon and send humans make an important discovery, will it be Thanksgiving and raffling off a new DVD to Mars within 20 years, with international eligible to win a Nobel prize?" player donated by Watch City Appliance. Such a plan is likely ... Students created two robots from to be tremendously expensive, and some January 15: A New Robot Makes a Leap scratch that were not manipulated by remote argue that manned space missions are unnecessary in Brainpower. Philadelphia control, but, rather, programmed to with the level of sophistication Inquirer (www.philly.com). "A new robot is compete in the Botball competition.

The Second International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS-03) was held in Melbourne, Australia, in July 2003. Attracting nearly 500 delegates, the event confirmed AAMAS as the academic main event for researchers with an interest in multiagent systems. We summarize the conference highlights and report on the associated workshops, tutorials, and emerging trends.