A significant aspect of reasoning about physical situations involves analysis of the interaction ... more A significant aspect of reasoning about physical situations involves analysis of the interaction of physical parameters that have both magnitude and direction. There have been some attempts to model motion and rotation in two dimensions, but none of these approaches have been extended to general vector analysis. Humans, however, are exceptionally good in reasoning about direction and motion. In this paper, we define a framework called Qualitative Vector Algebra (QVA) for qualitative reasoning about vector interactions and projection onto prespecified axes. A set of lemmas are developed that relate changes in vector magnitude and direction to relative changes in the resultant vector. We demonstrate how QVA can be applied to reasoning about problems in mechanics. The problem solver developed can form the basis for an Intelligent Tutoring System directed toward high school students and college freshmen .
This editorial introduction presents an overview of the robotic resources available to AI educato... more This editorial introduction presents an overview of the robotic resources available to AI educators and provides context for the articles in this special issue. We set the stage by addressing the trade-offs among a number of established and emerging hardware and software platforms, curricular topics, and robot contests used to motivate and teach undergraduate AI.
ACM transactions on human-robot interaction, Mar 15, 2023
Despite their technical advancements, commercially available telerobots are limited in social int... more Despite their technical advancements, commercially available telerobots are limited in social interaction capabilities for both pilot and local users, speciically in nonverbal communication. Our group hypothesizes that the introduction of expressive gesturing and tangible interaction capabilities (e.g., handshakes, ist bumps) will enhance telerobotic interactions and increase social connection between users. To investigate the afordances to social connection that gestures and tangible interactions provide in telerobot-mediated interactions, we designed and integrated a lightweight manipulator terminating in an anthropomorphic end efector onto a commercially available telerobot (Anybots QB 2.0). Through virtual reality tracking of the pilot user's arm and hand, expressive gestures and social contact interactions are recreated via the manipulator, enabling a pilot user and a local user to engage in a tangible exchange. To assess the usability and efectiveness of the gesturing system, we present evaluations from both the local and pilot user perspectives. First, we present a validation study to assess usability of the control system by the pilot user. Our results demonstrate that pilot user interactions can be replicated with a greater than 80% pass rate and mean ease of use rating of 7.08 ± 1.32 (out of 10) with brief training. Finally, we present a user study to assess the social impacts of: 1) using the telerobot without the manipulator from both the pilot user and local user perspectives; and 2) using the control system and telerobotic manipulator from both the pilot user and local user perspectives. Results demonstrate that the robot with the manipulator elicited a more positive social experience than the robot without the arm for local users but no signiicant diference in conditions for pilot users. Future work will focus on improving the pilot user experience to support social contact interactions. CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Usability testing; User studies. Recent research on telepresence robots demonstrates that while such platforms are enabling new heights of remote communication, there still exists challenges for both the local users (those in contact with the telepresence platform) and pilot users (those controlling the platform remotely) in fostering the social connectedness that is
Spring 2001 issue of AI Magazine (volume 22, No. 1, 73-84). The concept of precisiated natural la... more Spring 2001 issue of AI Magazine (volume 22, No. 1, 73-84). The concept of precisiated natural language (PNL) was briefly introduced in that article, and PNL was employed as a basis for computation with perceptions. In what follows, the conceptual structure of PNL is described in greater detail, and PNL's role in knowledge representation, deduction, and concept definition is outlined and illustrated by examples. What should be understood is that PNL is in its initial stages of development and that the exposition that follows is an outline of the basic ideas that underlie PNL rather than a definitive theory. A natural language is basically a system for describing perceptions. Perceptions, such as perceptions of distance, height, weight, color, temperature, similarity, likelihood, relevance, and most other attributes of physical and mental objects are intrinsically imprecise, reflecting the bounded ability of sensory organs, and ultimately the brain, to resolve detail and store information. In this perspective, the imprecision of natural languages is a direct consequence of the imprecision of perceptions (Zadeh 1999, 2000). How can a natural language be precisiated-precisiated in the sense of making it possible to treat propositions drawn from a natural language as objects of computation? This is what PNL attempts to do. In PNL, precisiation is accomplished through translation into what is termed a precisiation language. In the case of PNL, the precisiation language is the generalized-constraint language (GCL), a language whose elements are so-called generalized constraints and their combinations. What distinguishes GCL from languages such as Prolog, LISP, SQL, and, more generally, languages associated with various logical systems, for example, predicate logic, modal logic, and so on, is its much higher expressive power. The conceptual structure of PNL mirrors two fundamental facets of human cognition: (a) partiality and (b) granularity (Zadeh 1997). Partiality relates to the fact that most human concepts are not bivalent, that is, are a matter of degree. Thus, we have partial understanding, partial truth, partial possibility, partial certainty, partial similarity, and partial relevance, to cite a few examples. Similarly, granularity and granulation relate to clumping of values of attributes, forming granules with words as labels, for example, young, middle-aged, and old as labels of granules of age. Existing approaches to natural language processing are based on bivalent logic-a logic in which shading of truth is not allowed. PNL abandons bivalence. By so doing, PNL frees itself from limitations imposed by bivalence and categoricity, and opens the door to new approaches for dealing with long-standing problems in AI and related fields (Novak 1991). At this juncture, PNL is in its initial stages of development. As it matures, PNL is likely to find a variety of applications, especially in the realms of world knowledge representation, concept definition, deduction, decision, search, and question answering. N atural languages (NLs) have occupied, and continue to occupy, a position of centrality in AI. Over the years, impressive advances have been made in our understanding of how natural languages can be dealt with on processing, logical, and computational levels. A huge literature is in existence. Among the important contributions that relate to the ideas described in this article are those of
This study addresses the development of an handson undergraduate course that integrates various e... more This study addresses the development of an handson undergraduate course that integrates various engineering fields involved in Robotic Systems.
Conceptual Clustering and Exploratory Data Analysis
Elsevier eBooks, 1991
This paper discusses a new conceptual clustering algorithm called ITERATE that introduces an iter... more This paper discusses a new conceptual clustering algorithm called ITERATE that introduces an iterative redistribution operator along with a hierarchical clustering scheme (modified COBWEB) to produce an effective scheme for exploratory data analysis. Iterative redistribution allows global reassignment of objects in a partition, and, therefore, has a better chance to maximize the category utility measure by skipping over local maxima.
Advances in early childhood and K-12 education, Jan 26, 2012
Chapter 15 INTRODUCTION I want to be on this robotics group because I think that girls should hav... more Chapter 15 INTRODUCTION I want to be on this robotics group because I think that girls should have a chance to do things that we wouldn't normally get to do. I also think that it would be really cool to do something like this without my brother, because I do almost everything with him. I also would like to do this because I think robots are pretty cool and I think that it would be fun to try it out. I have never done anything like this before, so I don't really know if I'm that good at it.-Isadora, 7 th grade participant
An AI clustering system, Cobweb, has been applied to fault diagnosis, bridge design, and human ga... more An AI clustering system, Cobweb, has been applied to fault diagnosis, bridge design, and human gait analysis. These projects suggest lessons for those interested in engineering applications of clustering. ... Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references. ... 1. AK Jain and RC Dubes, <i>Algorithms for Cluster Analysis</i>, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1988. ... 2. RS Michalski and R. Stepp, "Automated ...
National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Jul 13, 2008
One potentially cost-effective approach to harvesting solar power from space is the use of thousa... more One potentially cost-effective approach to harvesting solar power from space is the use of thousands of individual robots moving in formation, each with a piece of solar panel attached, to form a solar panel array. In previous work, we demonstrated an algorithm that treats a group of robots as a 1-dimensional cellular automaton, which is able to establish formations defined by a single mathematical function. We now extend the algorithm to establish grid formations.
National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2007
Robotics competitions are an educational tool at the middle school, high school, and university l... more Robotics competitions are an educational tool at the middle school, high school, and university levels. The layout, rules, and reward systems of these competitions galvanize students to a specific solution space. From our experiences competing-in and designing such competitions, open-loop, low feedback strategies tend to dominate the winner's circle. If we want competitions to emphasize solutions spaces that include AI-type robot control, contest designs need to favor closed-loop, high feedback strategies. Game elements that encourage such designs are discussed.
Design of a Lightweight, Ergonomic Manipulator for Enabling Expressive Gesturing in Telepresence Robots
Recent research on telepresence robots demonstrates that while they enable new heights of remote ... more Recent research on telepresence robots demonstrates that while they enable new heights of remote communication, there still exists challenges for both local and remote users in creating a connectedness one only encounters in face-to-face interactions. A large part of communication is beyond hearing and vision. Tangible interactions, expressive gestures, and physical referencing represent three of the primary social behaviors missing in the current telepresence experience. There is an inherent, subconscious quality to these physical actions that has been shown to allow more expressive and engaging communication. In this project we present the design, fabrication, and initial performance validation of a lightweight, ergonomic manipulator with a heavy, anthropomorphic end effector that enables gesturing capabilities for telepresence interactions.
Continuing adventures in qualitative modeling---a qualitative heart model
Abstract This paper discusses the second generation of an ongoing project for developing a model ... more Abstract This paper discusses the second generation of an ongoing project for developing a model of cardiac electrophysiology with sophisticated reasoning mechanisms and robust explanation capabilities. The framework for this model combines device-and process-oriented ontologies, and contains mechanisms that introduce delays into process definitions for explicitly modeling sequences of temporal activities. The scheme has been applied to develop a model of the electrical subsystem of the heart. The first generation model ...
Robot arms carry a unique set of challenges with setup for use with inverse kinematics. An automa... more Robot arms carry a unique set of challenges with setup for use with inverse kinematics. An automated calibration for such robots would prove beneficial. A solution is discussed utilizing accelerometer feedback on the tip of a robot arm and an automated calibration routine.
The overall goal of this project is the development of a comprehensive undergraduate course in ro... more The overall goal of this project is the development of a comprehensive undergraduate course in robotics that emphasizes multidisciplinary teamwork by encompassing many of the diverse fields of engineering which are integral to robotic systems: Computer Science (CS), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Mechanical Engineering (ME), and Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME).
Adventures in qualitative modeling-a qualitative heart model
Abstract Traditional reasoning methods have found limited success in the medical domain due to th... more Abstract Traditional reasoning methods have found limited success in the medical domain due to their brittleness and lack of robust justification. Recent work has turned to model-based reasoning techniques to overcome these limitations. These techniques employ deep domain models and focus on qualitative reasoning. A discussion is presented of an ongoing project to develop a cardiovascular model with sophisticated reasoning mechanisms and robust explanation capabilities. The framework for the model combines J. DeKleer and JS ...
An agent's ability to perceive the world and its physical capabilities impact its communicative m... more An agent's ability to perceive the world and its physical capabilities impact its communicative modalities. Moreover, the sensing and processing (i.e., interpretation) abilities of the user determine the channels and dynamics of communication that should be utilized by the robot to transmit and receive information. In previous work, we proposed an ontology-based communication and coordination system for the formation of impromptu teams of heterogeneous robots. We extend this work to consider the capabilities of both the robot and a human user in the production of multimodal communicative behaviors to facilitate user needs and preferences in an interaction.
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Papers by Jerry Weinberg