CS101 Introduction to Computing

Lecture 34
Intelligent Systems
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During the last lecture (Graphics & Animation)

We became familiar with the role that graphics and animations play in computing

We discussed how graphics & animation are displayed We also looked at several formats used for storing graphics and animation
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Computer Graphics
Images created with the help of computers 2-D and 3-D (displayed on a 2-D screen but in such a way that they give an illusion of depth) Used for scientific research, artistic expression, or for industrial applications Graphics have made the computer interfaces more intuitive by removing the need to 3 memorize commands

Displaying Images
Most all computer displays consist of a grid of tiny pixels arranged in a regular grid of rows and columns

Images are displayed by assigning different colors to the pixels located in the desired portion of the computer display
Lets discuss the pixel a bit more
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Pixel
The smallest image forming element on a computer display The computer display is made up of a regular grid of these pixels The computer has the capability of assigning any color to any of the individual pixels on the display Lets now see how the computer displays a square 5

Pixel Colors (1)

The color of each pixel is generally represented in the form a triplet In a popular scheme the RGB scheme each part of the triplet represents the intensity of one of out of three primary colors: red, green, blue

Often, the intensity of each color is represented with a byte, resulting in 256x256x256 (16+ million) unique color combinations 6

Color Mapping (1)

Instead of letting each pixel assume one out of 16 million possible colors, only a limited number of colors called the platelet are allowed

For example, the platelet may be restricted to 256 colors (requiring 1 byte/pixel instead of 3)

Dithering
In this scheme, pixels of alternating colors are used to simulate a color that is not present in the platelet

For example, red and green pixels can be alternated to give the impression of bright yellow
The quality of the displayed image is poorer
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Aliasing
The computer screen consists of square-ish pixels arranged in a fixed grid At times, when a diagonal line is drawn on this grid, it looks more like a staircase, instead of a straight line

This effect called aliasing can be managed by reducing the size of pixels
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Anti-Aliasing (1)
Anti-aliasing is another technique used for managing the staircase effect Lets say that we need to draw a white straightline such that it overlaps 60% with one pixel, and 40% with another initially, and near the end, 58%, 41%, and 1%, respectively, with three pixels

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Vector or Object-Oriented Graphics

Treats everything that is drawn as an object

Objects retain their identity after they are drawn

These objects can later be easily moved, stretched, duplicated, deleted, etc Are resolution independent Relatively small file size Examples: swf, svg, wmf, ps
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Bit-Mapped or Raster Graphics

Treats everything that is drawn as a bit-map

If an object is drawn on top of another, it is difficult to move just one of them while leaving the other untouched
Changing the resolution often requires considerable touch-up work Relatively large file size

Examples: gif, jpg, bmp

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3-D Graphics (1)

Flat images enhanced to impart the illusion of depth We perceive the world and the objects in it in 3D - breadth, width, depth - although the images formed on the retinas of our eyes are 2-D

The secret of 3-D perception: stereo vision

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3-D Rendering
The process of converting information about 3D objects into a bit-map that can be displayed on a 2-D computer display

Computationally, very expensive!

Steps:
Draw the wire-frame (skeleton, made with thin lines) Fill with colors, textures, patterns Add lighting effects (reflections, shadows) 14

Animation
Graphics in motion, e.g. cartoons Illusion of motion is created by showing the viewer a sequence of still images, rapidly Drawing those images - each slightly different from the previous one - used to be quite tedious work Computers have helped in cutting down some 15 of the tediousness

Tweening (2)
This process of creating these in-between images from key images is called in-betweening (or tweening for short)

The simplest algorithm for tweening calculates the position of a particular segment of an image by calculating the average of the positions of that same image segment belonging to adjacent key images
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Todays Goals: (Intelligent Systems)

To become familiar with the distinguishing features of intelligent systems with respect to other software systems

To become able to appreciate the role of intelligent systems in scientific, business and consumer applications
To look at several techniques for designing intelligent systems
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(Artificial) Intelligent Systems

SW programs or SW/HW systems designed to perform complex tasks employing strategies that mimic some aspect of human thought

One can debate endlessly about whether a certain system is intelligent or not But to my mind, the key criterion is evolution: it is intelligent if it can learn (even if only a limited sense) and get better with time 18

Not a Suitable Hammer for All Nails!

if the nature of computations required in a
task is not well understood

or there are too many exceptions to the

rules

or known algorithms are too complex or

inefficient

then AI has the potential of offering an

acceptable solution
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Selected Applications
Games: Chess, SimCity Image recognition

Medical diagnosis
Robots Business intelligence

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Sub-Categories of AI
Expert systems
Systems that, in some limited sense, can replace an expert

Robotics Natural language processing

Teaching computers to understand human language, spoken as well as written

Computer vision

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Selected Techniques
Artificial neural networks Genetic algorithms

Rule-based systems
Fuzzy logic
Many times, any one of them can solve the problem at hand, but at others, only the right one will do. Therefore, 22 it is important to have some appreciation of them all

Neural Networks (1)

Original inspiration was the human brain; emphasis now on usefulness as a computational tool

Many useful NN paradigms, but scope of today's discussion limited to the feed-forward network, the most popular paradigm

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Neural Networks (2)

Feed-forward Network:
It is a layered structure consisting of a number of homogeneous and simple (but nonlinear) processing elements All processing is local to a processing element and is asynchronous

During training the FN is forced to adjust its parameters so that its response to input data becomes closer to the desired response
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Genetic Algorithms (1)

Based on Darwin's evolutionary principle of survival of the fittest GAs require the ability to recognize a good solution, but not how to get to that solution

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Genetic Algorithms (2)

The procedure:
An initial set of random solutions is ranked in terms of ability to solve the problem at hand
The best solutions are then crossbred and mutated to form a new set The ranking and formation of new solutions is continued until a good enough solution is found or
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Rulebased Systems (1)

Based on the principles of the logical reasoning ability of humans Components of an RBS:
Rulebase Working memory Rule interpreter

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Rulebased Systems (2)

The design process:
An RBS engineer interviews the expert to acquire the comprehensive set of heuristics that covers the situations that may occur in a given domain This set is then encoded in the form of IF-THEN structures to form the required RBS

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Fuzzy Logic (1)

Based on the principles of the approximate reasoning faculty that humans use when faced with linguistic ambiguity

The inputs and outputs of a fuzzy system are precise, only the reasoning is approximate

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Fuzzy Logic (2)

Parts of the knowledgebase of a fuzzy system:
Fuzzy rules Fuzzy sets

The output of a fuzzy system is computed by using:

The MIN-MAX technique for combining fuzzy rules The centroid method for defuzzification

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Now we know about a few techniques Lets now consider the situation when we are given a particular problem and asked to find an AI solution to that problem.
How do we determine the right technique for that particular problem?

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Selection of an Appropriate AI Technique

A given problem can be solved in several ways

Even if 2 techniques produce solutions of a similar quality, matching the right technique to a problem can save on time & resources
Characteristics of an optimal technique:
The solution contains all of the required information The solution meets all other necessary criteria The solution uses all of the available (useful) 32 knowledge

How do we determine the suitability of a particular AI technique for a given task

We look at the tasks requirements and then see which technique fulfils those requirements more completely the one which does, is the one we use! Here are a few aspects of the task and the techniques that we need to be aware off
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 Accuracy Explainability Response speed Scalability Compactness Flexibility Learning curve Tolerance for complexity

Embedability
Ease of use

Tolerance for noise in data

Tolerance for sparse data Independence from experts Development speed Computing ease
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in action!
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Credit Card Issuance (1)

Challenge. Increase the acceptance rate of card applicants who will turn out to be good credit risks

Inputs. Applicant's personal and financial profiles Output. Estimated yearly loss if application is accepted
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Credit Card Issuance (2)

Expert knowledge. Some rules of thumb are available Data. Profiles & loss data available for 1+ million applicants Suitable technique?

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Determination of the Optimal Drug Dosage (1)

Challenge. Warn the physician if she prescribes a dosage which is either too high or too low Inputs. Patient's medical record. Pharmaceutical drug dosage instructions Output. Warning along with reasons for the warning
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Determination of the Optimal Drug Dosage (2)

Data. Medical records of thousands of patients. Drug dosage instructions on dozens of medicines

Suitable technique?

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Prediction of Airline Cabin Crew's Preferences (1) Challenge. Predict the future base/status preferences of the cabin crew of an airline. The predicted preferences will be used by the airline for forecasting its staffing and training requirements Inputs. Crew's personal profiles. Preference history. Other data. Output. Predicted preference card for a date one year in the future 40

Prediction of Airline Cabin Crew's Preferences (2) Expert knowledge. Some rules of thumb are available Data. Available for the last four years for 8000 crew members Suitable technique?

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The Right Technique

Selection of the right AI technique requires intimate knowledge about the problem as well as the techniques under consideration Real problems may require a combination of techniques (AI and/or nonAI) for an optimal solution

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A few more areas of AI applications

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Robotics
Automatic machines that perform various tasks that were previously done by humans Example:
Pilot-less combat airplanes Land-mine hunters Autonomous vacuum-cleaners

Components: Body structure, actuators, powersource, sensors, controller (the AI-based44part)

Autonomous Web Agents (1)

Also known as mobile agents, softbots Computer program that performs various actions continuously, autonomously on behalf of their principal! Key component of the Semantic Web of tomorrow
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Autonomous Web Agents (2)

Multi-agent communities are being developed in which agents meet and represent the interests of their principals in negotiations or collaborations. Example:
Agents of a patient and a doctor get together to negotiate and select a mutually agreeable time, cost

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Decision Support Systems

Interactive software designed to improve the decision-making capability of their users Utilize historical data, models to solve problems The do not make decisions - just assist in the process They provide decision-makers with information via easy to manage reports, what-if scenarios, 47 and graphics

The Future?
Get ready to see robots playing a bigger role in our daily lives
Robots will gradually move out of the industrial world and into our daily life, similar to the way computers did in the 80s

Decision support systems will become a bigger part of the professional life of doctors, managers, marketers, etc Autonomous land, air, sea vehicles controlled 48 from 1000s of miles away from the war zone

Todays Summary: Intelligent Systems

We looked at the distinguishing features of intelligent systems w.r.t. other software systems

We looked at the role of intelligent systems in scientific, business, consumer and other applications
We discussed several techniques for designing intelligent systems

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Next Lecture: (Data Management)

To become familiar with the issues and problems related to data-intensive computing

To become able to appreciate data management concepts and their evolution over the years

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