THE AI MAGAZINE Summer, 1986 55 building one of the first stored-program digital computers, AI also had its share of controversy, however, at Rand the JOHNNIAC (see Figure 1) (Gruenberger, 1968);l and elsewhere. Given its quick rise to popularity and its George Dantzig and his associates were inventing linear ambitious predictions (Simon & Newell, 1958), AI soon programming (Dantzig, 1963); Les Ford and Ray Fulkerson had its critics, and one of the most prominent, Hubert were developing techniques for network flow analysis Dreyfus, published his famous critique of AI (Dreyfus, (Ford & Fulkerson, 1962); Richard Bellman was developing 1965) while he was consulting at Rand. In addition, the his ideas on dynamic programming (Bellman, 1953); early promise of automatic machine translation of text Herman Kahn was advancing techniques for Monte Carlo from one language to another (the emphasis at Rand was simulation (Kahn, 1955); Lloyd Shapley was revolutionizing on translation from Russian to English) produced only game theory (Shapley, 1951-1960); Stephen Kleene was modest systems, and the goal of fully automated machine advancing our understanding of finite automata (Kleene, translation was abandoned in the early 1960s.

The first blackboard system was the HEARSAY-II speech understanding system (Erman et al.,1980) that evolved between 1971 and 1976. Subsequently, many systems have been built that have similar system organization and run-time behavior. The objectives of this article are (1) to define what is meant by "blackboard systems" and (2) to show the richness and diversity of blackboard system designs. The article begins with a discussion of the underlying concept behind all blackboard systems, the blackboard model of problem solving. In order to bridge the gap between a model and working systems, the blackboard framework, an extension of the basic blackboard model is introduced, including a detailed description of the model's components and their behavior. A model does not come into existence on its own, and is usually an abstraction of many examples. In Section 2 the history of ideas is traced, and the designs of some application systems that helped shape the blackboard model are detailed. Part 2 of this article which will appear in the next issue of AI Magazine, describes and contrasts some blackboard systems and discusses the characteristics of application problems suitable for the blackboard method of problem solving.

The interpretation of images of postal mail pieces is The Vision Group the domain of this investigation. Our efforts have included It is becoming increasingly important for vision researchers the development of various operators for visual data processing in diverse fields to interact, and the Vision Group at SUNY and image segmentation. The invocation of these Buffalo was formed to facilitate that interaction Current routines and the interpretation of the information they return membership includes 25 faculty and 25 students from 10 is determined by a control structure that uses a variant departments (computer science, electrical and computer of relaxation combined with a rule-based methodology.

Conference-AAAI-84, paid in 1985 (6.870)

The third approach left the technology codes untouched and built a procedural program that initiated separate, independent processes consisting of the technology codes communicating through a common database. This was better because the technology organizations continued to maintain technical and managerial control over their codes. The rigid procedural integration program was still unacceptably costly to modify, requiring a flow time of approximately six weeks. However, it did provide a prototype and baseline for the knowledge system.

Author-title index to volume six of "AI Magazine

He then proved that In addition, I noticed that John McCarthy was snapping network representations (such as that of the brain) cannot freely with his camera at the workshop. He may have some possibly exhibit intelligence-tapes, as in Turing Machines, amusing illustrations of the unlikely events rec0rded.l

Research and applications work in AI is being conducted by several groups at Johnson Space Center (JSC). These are primarily independent groups that interact with each other on an informal basis. In the Research and Engineering Directorate, these groups include (1) the Artificial Intelligence and Information Sciences Office, (2) the Simulation and Avionics Integration Division, (3) the Avionics Systems Division (ASD), and (4) the Tracking and Communications Division. In the Space Operations Directorate, these groups include (1) the Mission Planning and Analysis Division - Technology Development and Applications Branch, (2) the Spacecraft Software Division, and (3) the Systems Division-Systems Support Section. The first part of the article describes the AI work in Research and Engineering Directorate. The second part of the article, to be published in the Conference edition of the AI Magazine, describes the AI work in the Space Operations Directorate

Letters to the Editor

Review of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Five Overviews