The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Computer Sciences
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Roadshow Goals
• Introduce the field
of Computer
Science
• Get you excited
about Computer
Science!!!
Thank you to the Women@SCS from Carnegie Mellon University
for slides from their Outreach Roadshow!
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Who we are
Franzi
Kris
Alison
Katie
Karen
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Who can be a Computer
Scientist?
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Once upon a time …
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How many computers do you own?
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How many computers do you own?
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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What can you do with
Computer Science?
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The Internet
(oooh, aahhh)
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What is the Internet?
Formal definition
An electronic communications network that
connects computer networks and
organizational computer facilities around
the world
Whaa??
A bunch of connected computers
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To: computer B
From: computer A
# packets: 3
So How does it Work?
Hi
Hi
Hi Mo
Mom!
The Internet
m!
Mo
Hi
m!
HiMo
Mom!
m!
Computer A
Computer B
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How does email work?
Alice@gmail.com
Bob@yahoo.com
Domain name - the part of the address after
the @
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Domain Name
Server
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Alice
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Gmail Server
Bob
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Yahoo Server
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More About the Internet
fireworks
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More About the Internet
fireworks
4th of July
Guy Fawkes
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The Brain + Computer Science
We can use computers to see
what happens in a person’s brain
when they think, and to model how
the brain solves problems
Biology + Computer Science
We can use computer science
to find patterns in DNA, model
biological systems, determine the
structure of molecules, and much
much more…
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Artificial Intelligence +
Computer Science
The Captcha Project was developed by computer scientists from the
Aladdin Center at Carnegie Mellon http://www.captcha.net
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Graphics: Art + Computer
Science
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Computers are helping people
everyday
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Changing Our Lives
• How is medicine developed?
• Before computers…
– Trial and error. Serendipity.
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The Smallpox Vaccine
• Smallpox was a deadly disease
• Some observed that milk maids didn’t
get smallpox
• Milk maids often
got cow pox
• Used cow pox
as a vaccine
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How Can Computers Help?
• Understand the
chemical or
biological effect of
viruses and proteins
• Use computer
simulation and
visualization
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Edible Computers
• Sensors on pills
– Diagnostics
– Bio-feedback
• The point
– All sorts of crazy ideas
– See James Bond films for ideas
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Getting computers to
do what you want
them to do…
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In a nutshell
• Identify the starting point and goal
• Find a path
• Break the path into steps (Algorithm)
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A computer can only do what it
is told to do!
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In a nutshell
•
•
•
•
Identify the starting point and goal
Find a path
Break the path into steps (Algorithm)
Make the computer understand
(Programming)
• Magic (Pixie Dust)
• Eureka! It works!
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RoboCup and
Aibo Dogs
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Getting the dogs to walk:
In the Beginning
• Guess how the dog ought to move its legs
– How fast?
– What joints in what order?
– How many legs at once? Which ones?
• The dogs walk like Frankenstein!
How do we get them to move quickly
(and smoothly)?
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The Robot: Sony Aibo
Electrostatic sensors
Speaker and microphone
Infrared range
sensors
3 acceleration sensors
(x, y, and z)
Switch sensors
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The Robot: Sony Aibo
Color camera
• Resolution: 208 x 160
• 30 frames per second
Wireless ethernet
(802.11b)
On-board processor
• 576 MHz
• 64 MB RAM
• OS: Aperios + Open-R
• Programming Language: C++
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The Robot: Sony Aibo
20 degrees of freedom
Joint 1
Joint 2
Joint 3
Head: 3 neck,
2 ears,
1 mouth
4 legs: 3 joints each
Tail:
2 DOF
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Running Fast
• Running is a complex
behavior
• So… have the dogs learn
on their own!
This is called machine
learning (AI)
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Science Behind RoboCup
• How do the Aibo
dogs know…
– where they are?
– where the other
players are?
• What are good
team strategies?
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RoboCup Soccer
Small-sized League
4-Legged League
Middle-sized League
Humanoid League
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Humanoid League
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RoboCup: Goal
By the year 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous
humanoid robots that can win against the human world
soccer champion team.
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Can We Achieve this Goal?
1903
1969
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Computer Chess
ENIAC
1946
Deep Blue
1997
© IBM
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UT has a RoboCup team!
• Very competitive
• Travels all over the world competing
• Generally gets to the quarterfinals or
better!
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Consider Computing
• It can lead you to an exciting and lucrative
career where you can:
– Help people
– Be creative
– Be part of a team
– Do research
– Develop cool new digital devices
– Change the world
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Predictions of a Boom
Annual Degrees and Job Openings in Broad S&E Fields
160,000
140,000
PhD
• Economy.com
Master's
120,000
Bachelor's
– 2005: 125,000 new tech jobs
– 2006: 217,000 new tech jobs
– Next 5 years: 782,000 new tech jobs
projected
100,000
Projected Job Openings
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
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Engineering
Physical Sciences
Mathematical/
Computer Sciences
Biological/
Agricultural Sciences
SOURCES: Tabulated by National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics; degree data from Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics: Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System Completions Survey; and NSF/SRS: Survey of Earned Doctorates; Projected Annual Average Job Openings derived from Department of Commerce (Office of Technology Policy) analysis of
Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002-2012 projections
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Average Salaries
– Software engineer: $80,000
– Computer IT Analysts: $83,000
– Architect: $49,000
– Chemists: $69,000
– Mathematicians: $67,000
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Thank you!
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What should I be doing now?
• Take science, math and CS classes
• Excel in science, math and CS classes!
• Visit campus
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Learn how to build Algorithms … a sequence of
step/instructions to solve a problem
• A farmer has to transport a fox, a chicken and a bag
of corn to the other side of the river.
• He can only take one of them in the boat each time
• If left alone, the fox will eat the chicken and the
chicken will eat the corn. What should he do?
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• http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=215
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