In R. O. Freedle and J. B. Carroll (Eds.), Language comprehension and the acquisition of knowledge. Washington, D.C.: Winston, 41-69

For the past several years research on robot problem-solving methods has centered on what may one day be called'simple' plans: linear sequences of actions to be performed by single robots to achieve single goals in static environments. Recent speculation and preliminary work at several research centers has suggested a variety of ways in which these traditional constraints could be relaxed. In this paper we describe some of these possible extensions, illustrating the discussion where possible with examples taken from the current Stanford Research Institute robot system.

BBN Rep. No. 2378, Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

The study of perception is divided among many established sciences: physiology, experimental psychology and machine intelligence; with several others making contributions. But each of the contributing sciences tends to have its own concepts, and ways of considering problems. Each -- to use T. S. Kuhn's term (1962) -- has its own'paradigm', within which its science is respectable. This can make cooperation difficult, as misunderstandings (and even distrust) can be generated by paradigm differences. This paper is a plea to consider perceptual phenomena from many points of view, and to consider whether a general paradigm for perception might be found.

The intention is as follows.

We will now consider each of these problems.

This report considers the problem of constructing an abstract model of story comprehension. The use of questions that go beyond the story as a test of understanding the story raises a methodological problem which is discussed in detail.

We describe how clauses in resolution programs can be represented and used Without applying substitutions or cons-ing lists of literals. The amount of space required by our representation of a clause is independent of the number of literals in the clause and the depth of function nesting. We introduce the concept of the value of an expression in a binding environment which we use to standardize clauses apart and share the structure of parents in representing the resolvent.

The frame problem in representing natural-language information is discussed. It is argued that the problem is not restricted to problem-solving-type situations, in which it has mostly been studied so far, but also has a broader significance. A new solution to the frame problem, which arose within a larger system for representing natural-language information, is described. The basic idea is to extend the predicate calculus notation with a special operator, Unless, with peculiar properties. Some difficulties with Unless are described.