AITopics/HazardsAndDisasters

An Expert System for Landmine Identification. By Paul J. Arcangeli, Captain, United States Army (September 1997). "This thesis presents an expert system for landmine identification, based on the set of thirty Bosnian mines from the MineFacts landmine database. The user is queried about the landmine, and heuristics are applied to the answers which are then used to calculate other information about the mine. This information is then filtered through decision trees to generate a small group of candidates which are displayed with a photo and confidence factor."

Rescue Robots Competition Tests Robot's Life-Saving Abilities. By Connie Mabin. The Associated Press. (July 31, 2000) Available from abcNEWS.com. "The scene is terrifyingly familiar: a battered hand pokes from a building reduced by explosions or earthquakes to piles of bricks and flattened concrete slabs. And rescuers are as long as 10 critical hours away. Time to call in the robots. Machines that work faster or go farther than their human counterparts could be salvation for victims trapped after disasters like the Oklahoma City bombing, researchers and students said today."

Japan's Underlying Strength - The Future as Created by Robots. By Muroyama Tetsuya. Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry (May/June 2003). "Rescue robot development in the United States is one step ahead of that in Japan in that American robots have actually been used in real situations. Moreover, in those situations, Dr. [Robin] Murphy and her colleagues discovered a vital point with regard to rescue robots. According to Dr. Murphy, 'The most important factor in conducting rescue missions which employ robots is 'information.'' ... Disaster information administration, as explained, is undoubtedly a key point in saving lives. But there is one problem, and that is the issue of privacy."

AITopics/LawEnforcement

Case of the best mysteries- solved. By Melissa Adams in collaboration with Claudia Peterman. Daily Pilot / available from the Los Angeles Times (May 18, 2003; no fee reg. req'd.). "Mystery writers and fans have concluded their deliberations and the verdicts are in for some of the best whodunits of the new millennium. ... [M]ystery fans awarded the Agatha to Donna Andrews for 'You've Got Murder.' With a quirky sleuth from cyberspace at the center of the action (which involves tracking down the AWOL programmer who created her), this is one of the most original romps of recent years. Likely to appeal to computer buffs as well as sci-fi fans, it's a mystery novel that blurs the boundaries between artificial intelligence and the intellect that presumably fashioned it." Also see this related article.

'E-Judge' Hits the Streets - Justice Goes High Tech in Brazil. By Antonio Brasil. Special to ABCNEWS.com. Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, May 12, 2000. "Currently in a test phase on the city streets of Brazil, the Electronic Judge is part of a new project called Justice-On-Wheels. It's designed to make the judicial process more efficient by sending a judge, laptop in tow, to a minor crime or accident scene to render a decision on the spot after processing case facts. ... Written in Visual Basic, the Electronic Judge processes the simple 'yes' or 'no' answers from the involved parties and eyewitnesses. It then writes a report with possible solutions for the case according to Brazil's legal code. The judge evaluates this report, and if the judge and involved parties agree, settlement is reached on the spot."

Robot cameras 'will predict crimes before they happen.' By Andrew Johnson. Independent News (April 21, 2002). "Computers and CCTV cameras could be used to predict and prevent crime before it happens. Scientists at Kingston University in London have developed software able to anticipate if someone is about to mug an old lady or plant a bomb at an airport. It works by examining images coming in from close circuit television cameras (CCTV) and comparing them to behaviour patterns that have already programmed into its memory. The software, called Cromatica, can then mathematically work out what is likely to happen next. And if it is likely to be a crime it can send a warning signal to a security guard or police officer. 'Our technology excels at carrying out the boring, repetitive tasks and highlighting potential situations that could otherwise go unnoticed,' [Dr Sergio Velastin] added."

Defense Dept. hopes to enlist AI in war against terrorism. By Therese Poletti. Mercury News / available from SiliconValley.com (August 2, 2004). "The world's most popular search engine, Google, uses artificial intelligence to respond to millions of queries a day. Banks now depend on artificial intelligence to alert customers to odd patterns of credit card use. And many video game developers rely on AI to develop life-like characters. After its own boom-and-bust cycle in the 1980s, the esoteric field of artificial intelligence gradually has developed some real-life uses of software that teach machines to think. And now the war on terrorism is boosting AI research with an infusion of cash. The Defense Department hopes an elite group of AI scientists will develop more tools to help intelligence analysts find terrorists before they strike. At an artificial intelligence conference in San Jose last week, several groups of university researchers presented papers on work they have done in the area of counter-terrorism."

AITopics/SocialScience

An Intelligent System for Case Review and Risk Assessment in Social Services. By James R. Nolan. AI Magazine 19(1): Spring 1998, 39-46. "This article reports on the development and implementation of DISXPERT, an intelligent rule-based system tool for referral of social security disability recipients to vocational rehabilitation services. The growing use of paraprofessionals as caseworkers responsible for assessment in the social services area provides fertile domain areas for new and innovative application of intelligent system technology. The main function of DISXPERT is to provide support to paraprofessional caseworkers in reaching unbiased and consistent assessment decisions regarding referral of clients to vocational rehabilitation services. The results after four years of use demonstrate that paraprofessionals using DISXPERT can make assessments in less time and with a level of accuracy superior to the vocational rehabilitation domain professionals using manual methods. This article discusses the problem domain, the design and development of the system, uses of AI technology, payoffs, and deployment and maintenance of the system." FIXED: , bgb , 10/16/08

AITopics/VideoGamesAndToys

Virtual war turns real - Quicksilver Software develops war game exclusively for U.S. Army use. By Tamara Chuang. The Orange County Register (May 7, 2003). "Major Brent Cummings, an instructor at Fort Benning, said the 'Full Spectrum Command' game is effective because Army trainees enjoy computer games. 'The students I'm getting, they're guys. They already play these games,' he said. '(Class) is usually from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But the guy, if he's having fun with the simulation, he takes it home and plays all night.' ... Players pick weapons for each unit, direct platoons to their targets and build attack plans. Only then does the animated portion of the game begin and users can watch their troops follow orders. With help from a massive dose of artificial intelligence, the game's virtual soldiers defend themselves when attacked and don't shoot innocent bystanders. ... For 'Full Spectrum Command,' Quicksilver enlisted five of its artists, seven programmers and project director Mancuso, who had produced 'MechWarrior 3.' ... The game developers visited Camp Pendleton to observe war games and training exercises. They interviewed experts such as Cummings to make sure their ideas about military strategy and doctrine were correct."

The History of Video Games. By Leonard Herman, Jer Horwitz, Steve Kent, and Skyler Miller. GameSpot. "The world of video games continues to evolve. By reading about the past, perhaps you'll also get a glimpse of the future."

Teenager gets with programs. By Justin Hoeger. Sacramento Bee (May 30, 2003). "At first glance, Maneesh Sethi is much like other high-achieving teenagers. The Bella Vista High sophomore holds a 4.44 grade-point average, is an honors student in English and chemistry, and is involved in community service and numerous campus clubs. But not many 15-year-olds are also published authors, let alone authors of books about video game programming. But Sethi's first book, 'Game Programming for Teens' (Premier Press, $29.99), hit store shelves this month as part of the Premier Press game development series. The 13 chapters in the book give readers a step-by-step guide to making simple games in the Blitz Basic programming language. ... 'Game Programming for Teens' starts out small, teaching readers the very basics of Blitz Basic before moving on to writing simple programs. From there the book progresses, new chapters building off the lessons of the older ones, showing how to program collision detection, artificial intelligence and animation, and finally how to put it all together into a final game program called 'Invaderz,' a space-themed shooting game."

Artificial Intelligence for Games. By Ian Millington. The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology (July 2006). "Creating robust artificial intelligence is one of the greatest challenges for game developers. The commercial success of a game is often dependent upon the quality of the AI, yet the engineering of AI is often begun late in the development process and is frequently misunderstood. In this book, Ian Millington brings extensive professional experience to the problem of improving the quality of AI in games."

The Computer World Could Use More IT Girls - The industry is still mostly a guy thing, and that's a major drawback for women and society. Commentary by Jane Margolis ["researcher of education at UCLA, is co-author of 'Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing' (MIT Press, 2002)]. Los Angeles Times (May 21, 2003; no fee reg. req'd.). "Computer games are often the spark that ignites the interest of males to learn more about the technology itself. Many boys get hooked on the games and then want to learn how to reprogram them, manipulating the games' machinations to their liking. From this initial attraction, they go on to learn how to design and create technology. Often it is the intense fascination with games that turns young gaming wizards into accomplished computer scientists. They become the technologists in our society, leading us through the seismic change of the Information Age, redesigning our economy and our culture. Where are the girls?"

Toys of Tomorrow. "The MIT Media Lab's Toys of Tomorrow special interest group officially ended in November 2002. But Media Lab researchers continue to work on toy-related projects, developing new technologies that transform the ways kids play and learn. The most current information about these and other projects at the Media Lab can be found in the Lab's Research section or by using the adjacent links. In the past, new technologies were born in the workplace, and ended up in toys. In the future, toys will be the trend-setters, setting the standard for a digital infrastructure that really works and really plays. Old toys will become smarter; new toys will become possible; all toys will become connected."

Wired magazine's Gadget Lab: "the newsletter that gives you the 411 on the latest tech toys. Gadget Lab hustles a first look at the dozens of products hitting the market each week."