198. Experimental Courses
Intelligent Systems
"I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?'"-- the thought experiment Alan Turing posed nearly sixty years ago--remains still unanswered. In the present day, our conception of Turing's machine, a "robot," is no longer a term unique to science fiction. This course provides the scientific and technical background to begin considering Turing's question. First, we explore the fundamentals of vehicle locomotion through constructing robots and programming simple behaviors.
Next, we answer the following questions: Computer Vision--How do photo applications find faces in pictures? Audio/Speech Processing--How can your computer read a book to you? Language Processing--How can Google translate a French-language newspaper into Arabic automatically? Sensors and Effectors--How can a robot perceive the world and interact with it? Then, can robots ever be sentient, conscious and self-aware? Finally, we explore ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence and artificial life.