Technology
Three-dimensional object recognition from single two-dimensional images
A computer vision system has been implemented that can recognize three-dimensional objects from unknown viewpoints in single gray-scale images. Unlike most other approaches, the recognition is accomplished without any attempt to reconstruct depth information bottom-up from the visual input. Instead, three other mechanisms are used that can bridge the gap between the two-dimensional image and knowledge of three-dimensional objects. First, a process of perceptual organization is used to form groupings and structures in the image that are likely to be invariant over a wide range of viewpoints. Second, a probabilistic ranking method is used to reduce the size of the search space during model-based matching.
Problem-solving design: Reasoning about computational value, trade-offs, and resources
The long-term goal of our field is the creation and understanding of intelligence. Productive research in AI, both practical and theoretical, benefits from a notion of intelligence that is precise enough to allow the cumulative development of robust systems and general results. The concept of rational agency has long been considered a leading candidate to fulfill this role. This paper outlines a gradual evolution in the formal conception of rationality that brings it closer to our informal conception of intelligence and simultaneously reduces the gap between theory and practice. Some directions for future research are indicated.
Network-based heuristics for constraint-satisfaction problems
Many AI tasks can be formulated as constraint-satisfaction problems (CSP), i.e., the assignment of values to variables subject to a set of constraints. While some CSPs are hard, those that are easy can often be mapped into sparse networks of constraints which, in the extreme case, are trees. This paper identifies classes of problems that lend themselves to easy solutions, and develops algorithms that solve these problems optimally. The paper then presents a method of generating heuristic advice to guide the order of value assignments based on both the sparseness found in the constraint network and the simplicity of tree-structured CSPs. The advice is generated by simplifying the pending subproblems into trees, counting the number of consistent solutions in each simplified subproblem, and comparing these counts to decide among the choices pending in the original problem.
Knowledge Based Tutoring: The GUIDON Program
"Knowledge-Based Tutoring describes the advantages and difficulties of adapting an expert system for use in teaching and problem solving. In this case the well-known rule-based expert system, MYCIN, which has been widely used in medical artificial intelligence to do infectious disease diagnosis and therapy selection, is used as a base for the instructional program GUIDON. MYCIN's rules are interpreted by GUIDON in order to evaluate a student's problem solving and provide assistance as the student gathers information about a patient and makes a diagnosis. The book describes what GUIDON does, how it is constructed, and the benefits and limitations of its design."
Decision analysis: a Bayesian approach
Chapman and Hall. See also: Influence diagrams for Bayesian decision analysis, European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 40, Issue 3, 15 June 1989, Pages 363โ376 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0377221789904293). Bayesian Decision Analysis: Principles and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2010 (https://books.google.com/books/about/Bayesian_Decision_Analysis.html?id=O1lXnQAACAAJ).
Why a Diagram is (sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words
We distinguish diagrammatic from sentential paper-and-pencil representationsof information by developing alternative models of information-processing systems that are informationally equivalent and that can be characterized as sentential or diagrammatic. Sentential representations are sequential, like the propositions in a text. Dlogrammotlc representations ore indexed by location in a plane. Dio-grommatic representations also typically display information that is only implicit in sententiol representations and that therefore has to be computed, sometimes at great cost, to make it explicit for use. We then contrast the computational efficiency of these representotions for solving several illustrative problems in mothe-matics and physics. When two representotions are informationally equivolent, their computational efficiency depends on the information-processing operators that act on them. Two sets of operators may differ in their copobilities for recognizing patterns, in the inferences they con carry out directly, and in their control strategies (in portitular. Diogrommotic ond sentential representations sup port operators that differ in all of these respects. Operators working on one representation moy recognize feotures readily or make inferences directly that are difficult to realize in the other representation. Most important, however, are differences in the efficiency of scorch for information and in the explicitness of information. In the representotions we call diagrammatic. Therefore problem solving con proceed through o smooth traversal of the diagram, and may require very little search or computation of elements that hod been implicit. "a picture is worth 10,OOO words" is a Chinese proverb. On inquiry, we find that the Chinese seem not to have heard of it, but the proverb is certainly widely known and widely believed in our culture. To understand why it is advantageous to use diagrams-and when it is-we must find some way to contrast diagrammatic and non-diagrammatic representations in an information-processing system.