Quick Overview of
Robotics and
Artificial
Intelligence
Marek Perkowski
Intelligent Robotics Laboratory
Portland State University
Class of 2002
Intelligent Robotics = Robotics +
Artificial Intelligence
• ECE 478/479:
– Course website
 www.ece.pdx.edu/~mperkows
– Instructor: Marek Perkowski
 Office: FAB (Fourth Avenue Building), room 160-05
Extension: 725-5411
Email: mperkows@ee.pdx.edu
Hours: TR 3:30-4:30 (or by appointment)
 Recitations: Fridays 6-9pm, room CECS 54
Intelligent Robotics = Robotics +
Artificial Intelligence
• Textbooks:
 Luger and Stubbefield, Artificial Intelligence, Structures and Strategies for Complex
Problem Solving, Addison Wesley, newest edition
 Fred G. Martin, Robotic Explorations. A Hands-On
Introduction to Engineering. Prentice-Hall, 2001.
 Additional Textbooks:
 Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence. A Modern Approach, Prentice Hall
 Wilensky, Common LISPcraft
Another very good LISP textbook: Winston & Horn, LISP (Addison-Wesley)
 Joseph L. Jones, Bruce A. Seiger and Anita Flynn, Mobile Robots. Inspiration to
Implementation. Second Edition, A.K. Peters
Other good textbooks and sources
The Physical World
•The physical world is very demanding, it is:
•inaccessible - sensors are imperfect, only stimuli that
are near the agent can be perceived.
•nondeterministic - a robot needs to deal with
uncertainty
•nonepisodic - effects of an action change over time
•dynamic - robot needs to decide when to think and
when to act immediately
•continuous - states and actions are drawn from a
continuum of physical configurations and motions
Robotics
Research area in which AI agents are equipped
with sensors to perceive the world and effectors to
change it
Schedule & Grades
• Grading scheme:
 50% Project
 25% Homeworks and programming assignments
 25% Exams
• Programming assignments:
 4-5 assignments in LISP
 Be sure to check the course web site for policy on turning in
assignments late
• Exams:
 Exam 1 (10% of grade): LISP programming (around end of 1st
week in February - it will be announced) - open book
 Exam 2 (15% of grade): Mid-term - theory (open book)
Computer Accounts
• To apply for account, for a registered PSU
student:
 cat@ee.pdx.edu
• Lab rules & policies:
 Posted on the wall in the Intelligent Robotics Lab
Course Details
Three coursework requirements
• Written assignments
mathematical / algorithmic material (25%)
• Lab Projects
robot or simulator programming (50%)
• Presentation
on a robotic system/algorithm (25%)
also organized by lab group
deliverables: slides and the talk (demo)
late in the semester
Hands-on Introduction to
Robotics
• We start from basic problems in robotics
• Various types of robots, applications
• Lego System:
– Mindstorms
– Dacta Control Lab
– Dacta Robo Lab
• Other kits:
– OWI
– Robix
– Lynxmotion
• Other inexpensive robots:
– Halloween Items
– Home Depot Robots
Contents of this quarter
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Artificial Intelligence
Programming for Intelligent Robotics
Robot Kinematics
Motors and Control - more next quarter
Sensors - more next quarter
Image Processing and Robot Vision
Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition
– more next quarter
• Mobile Robots - walking robots
Background
Dramatic changes in
technology in recent years
enable robotics education
My past robots
• 1972 - light following, light avoiding
– basic instinct, adaptive control, finite state machine
• 1979 - industrial robot, first in Poland
– voice control
• 1982 - inexpensive robotic arm
– no learning, software only
• 1986 - 1988 - converted toys, image processing
• 1989 - 1992 - PSUBOT
– image processing, voice recognition, path planning, obstacle avoidance
• 1990 - 1995 - robotic class at PSU, micro-mouse, no robot in a lab
• Robotics was very expensive and painful, you had to do
most of work from scratch!
What happened recently??
• Robot Arm:
– 1985 = $ 2,300,
– 1999 = $ 35
• Camera with a grabber:
– 1985 = $ 2,400,
– 1999 = $ 26
• Computer capable of doing real-time image processing:
– 1985 = > $ 10,000
– 1999 = $ 600
• Computer on mobile robot
– 1985 - very simple controller
– 1999 - powerful complete laptop
• Voice Recognition
– 1985 - single words
– 1999 - continuous spoken language
What are the
definitions of
a Robot?
Definition of a Robot
• According to The Robot Institute of America (1979) :
"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator
designed to move materials, parts, tools, or
specialized devices through various programmed
motions for the performance of a variety of tasks."
• According to the Webster dictionary:
"An automatic device that performs functions
normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the
form of a human (Webster, 1993)."
Robot Definitions (cont)
•Russell and Norvig: an active,
artificial agent whose environment is
the physical world.
•Robots differ from Softbots
whose environment consists of
computer systems, databases and
networks.
What is a robot? - more
definitions
• Fictional definition: any system with
sensors, computer and effectors.
 Robots must have a minimum of 4 degrees of
freedom.
 A degree of freedom is the number of
independent movements an object can
perform in a three dimensional space
One more
definition
What is robotics?
One more definition
Robot a physical system that
autonomously senses the environment
and acts in it.
What is the origin of word
ROBOT?
The word robot originated from
the Czech word Robota
Czech word "robota” means "forced labor.”.
• Three laws of robot’s by Science
fiction author Isaac Asimov.
• The word "Robot" comes
from the play "R.U.R."
(Rossum's Universal Robots)
RUR
• R.U.R. was written in 1920 by
the Czech writer Karel Capek
(pronounced "chop'ek").
• Premiered in Prague early in
1921
• Performed in New York in
1922, and published in English
translation in 1923.
The play was a great success when it opened in the U.S.
• Robot derives from the Czeck word for "worker"
• The brilliant scientist Rossum manufactures a line of
robots designed to save mankind from work.
• The plot turns sinister when robots are used in a war to
kill humans.
• After the robots are given emotions they no longer
tolerate humans and eventually wipe them
– out...neat thought eh?
R.U.R.
• This is a robot from the play "R.U.R."
(image from the Robot Museum web site).
• Karel Capek died just after the German
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, before
the Gestapo (the German secret police)
could get to him.
The role of Isaac Asimov
• The word "robotics" also comes from science
fiction - it first appeared in the short story
"Runaround" (1942) by Isaac Asimov.
• This story was later included in Asimov's famous
book "I, Robot."
• The robot stories of Isaac Asimov also introduced
the idea of a "positronic brain" (used by the
character "Data" in Star Trek) and the “three
laws of robotics”
• Later, he added the "zeroth" law.
Three Laws of Robotics:
Highest order law
• * Law Zero:
A robot may not injure humanity, or, though inaction, allow humanity
to come to harm.
• * Law One:
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a
human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher
order law.
• * Law Two:
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where
such orders would conflict with a higher order law.
• * Law Three:
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
not conflict with a higher order law.
Robotics is a Synthetic field
• Mechanical Eng.
• CS & AI
• Biology
• Electrical Eng.
• Vision, HCI
• Neuroscience
• Control
• Software Dev.
• Cognitive Science
Robotics
Robotics is a Synthetic field
• Mechanical Eng.
• CS & AI
• Biology
• Electrical Eng.
• Vision, HCI
• Neuroscience
• Control
• Software Dev.
• Cognitive Science
Robotics
• Architecture
• Sensing and Motion
• Mapping
• Cooperative Robotics • Entertainment
• Planning / Modeling
• Visual Control
• Robot Learning
Low-level control
• motors
• purely reactive control
• behavioral control
Sensing and Modeling
• sensors
• kinematics
• workspace modeling
Spatial reasoning
• decomposing space
• path planning with
• and w/o full knowledge
Handling uncertainty
• building maps
• localization
• sensor fusion & filtering
Vision
• tracking
• visual servoing
Typical
Projects
Kamikaze Robot
The Buggy
Butler
“Wallflower”
“The Extinguisher”
The
Manipulator
E
“Pioneer”
Big Brother
Vision
• tracking
• visual servoing
Problems for you to
think about
• 1. Think about your
project for this class
• 2. Define a robot in
your own words.
Compare your
definition.
• 3. How to program
Asimov’s Laws?
• 4. Can we build a group of
robots to perform Capek’s
play in Portland Cyber
Theatre? Why not, why
yes? Think what robots
they should be.
• 5. Visit the Intelligent
Robotics Lab and
familiarize yourself with
our robots
Sources
•
•
•
•
•
Padhraic Smyth
Dodd, Harvey Mudd College
Kiriakos Kutulakos, University of Rochester
Rojas FUB MI
Behnke
• Brian Glassman, Mechanical Engineering at Florida
Institute of Technology
• John Gallagher, SUNY Institute of Technology