The newly emerging field of machine ethics (Anderson and Anderson 2006) is concerned with adding an ethical dimension to machines. Unlike computer ethics -- which has traditionally focused on ethical issues surrounding humans' use of machines -- machine ethics is concerned with ensuring that the behavior of machines toward human users, and perhaps other machines as well, is ethically acceptable. In this article we discuss the importance of machine ethics, the need for machines that represent ethical principles explicitly, and the challenges facing those working on machine ethics. We also give an example of current research in the field that shows that it is possible, at least in a limited domain, for a machine to abstract an ethical principle from examples of correct ethical judgments and use that principle to guide its own behavior.

The Fourth International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation, and Robotics (ICINCO 2007) was held at the University of Angers from 9 through 12 May 2007. This conference sought to bring together researchers, engineers, and practitioners interested in the application of informatics to control, automation, and robotics, with an emphasis on intelligent systems and various AI technologies, such as expert systems, evolutionary computing, neural networks, and others, in connection to signal processing, systems modeling, and control. Beside the presentation of papers addressing these general topics, several specific themes were discussed during the conference in specialized forums, including special sessions, panels, and workshops, as described in this report.

John McCarthy's contributions to computer science and artificial intelligence are legendary. He invented Lisp, made substantial contributions to early work in timesharing and the theory of computation, and was one of the founders of artificial intelligence and knowledge representation. This article, written in honor of McCarthy's 80th birthday, presents a brief biography, an overview of the major themes of his research, and a discussion of several of his major papers.

I consider how to represent and reason with users' preferences. While areas of economics like social choice and game theory have traditionally considered such topics, I will argue that computer science and artificial intelligence bring some fresh perspectives to the study of representing and reasoning with preferences. For instance, I consider how we can elicit preferences efficiently and effectively.

This article provides an overview of the nature and role of autonomy for space exploration, with a bias in focus towards describing the relevance of AI technologies. It explores the range of autonomous behavior that is relevant and useful in space exploration and illustrates the range of possible behaviors by presenting four case studies in space-exploration systems, each differing from the others in the degree of autonomy exemplified. Three core requirements are defined for autonomous space systems, and the architectures for integrating capabilities into an autonomous system are described. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges that are faced currently in developing and deploying autonomy technologies for space.

Multiagent Systems" was delivered by Mark W. Spong (University of Illinois (ICINCO 2007) "Toward Human-Machine Cooperation" was delivered by Patrick Millot (Université de Valenciennes, France), who is a renowned professor in Europe. ICINCO received 435 paper submissions, not including workshops, from more than 50 countries, in all continents. Sciences et Techniques de l'Ingénieur are researchers in one of the ICIN-and Robotics (ICINCO 2007) was The conference was also held in cooperation selected for poster presentation. The volume tracks: "Intelligent Control Systems will be published by Springer-Verlag. Autònoma de Barcelona, as a major international forum The two satellite workshops were Spain) and Janan Zaytoon (Centre de to debate technical and scientific the Third International Workshop on Recherche en Sciences et Technologies advances presented by researchers and Multiagent Robotic Systems (MARS de l'Information et de la Communication, developers both from academe and 2007), chaired by Joaquim Filipe, and Universite de Reims Champagne-industry.

Editor's Note: We Need to Find an IT The items in this collage were selected September 19, 2007 (www.ft.com). That's the conclusion of the European from the AI TOPICS Web site's "AI in the wants to attract bright youngsters, one Robotics Research Network, which issued News" collection that can be found-- thing it might do is find a celebrity champion--real Sometime complete with links to the item's source or fictional--to give an idea of Being at the and, (2) all items are offered "as is" and and economic problems,' the group concludes. Mike robotics, mobility, and so on, ought to be not imply any endorsement whatsoever. Congressional Caucus on Robotics to look muddled and unappealing. But that doesn't Power of the Gods"--A leading theoretical of that, that, we are not creating the same provide answers for tricky ethical questions. CR: Brain power, … Thinking about when a robot brains of the age to provide a startling vision you know, as Gates famously always says, would be granted rights could help us better of the future. It's respect for scientific What will Southampton be Like in Five physicist Professor Michio Kaku of the inquiry. People don't understand how Decades Time? The Southern City College of New York, we are entering things work and they're not interested. September 9, 2007 an empowered new era: 'We have unlocked There's a -- it's not even a fascination, it's (www.dailyecho.co.uk). "Life as we know the secrets of matter.

(ISAIM 2008).

A number of additional events were associated with the SAT conference, including the well-known SAT competition, the QBF evaluation, the PB evaluation, and the MAX-SAT evaluation. Armin Biere, (CP) techniques for word-level problems professor at the Johannes Kepler University, and their propositional encoding, Linz, Austria, was the invited and satisfiability modulo theories speaker for this special session, having (SMT). Submissions were solicited for addressed design and implementation original research on proof systems and issues in modern SAT solvers. Armin Biere, Marijn Heule, and and extensions of SAT find many practical The conference attracted 80 participants, Knot Pipatsrisawat. The SAT Conference Was Held in Lisbon, Portugal.

Led by David C. Wilson (University of of usages of generalization in from the University of Ulster. The workshop CBR in robotic soccer, a theme that is researchers and practitioners. The workshops in this year's program were Case-Based An introspective talk, given by David The technical program consisted of fifteen Reasoning and Context-Awareness, W. Aha (Naval Research Lab, USA) papers and eighteen posters. They Case-Based Reasoning in the Health kicked off the event, making attendees are all included in the proceedings Sciences, Textual Case-Based Reasoning: question how case-based reasoning published by Springer. Beyond Retrieval, Uncertainty is perceived by the outside world The first oral session included contributions and Fuzziness in Case-Based Reasoning, and the balance between theoretical in textual CBR, logic-based and Knowledge Discovery and foundations and applied research.