Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!leah!rpi!batcomputer!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!cline From: cline@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Marshall Cline) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Plan 5 for Inner Space - A Sense of Mind. Message-ID: Date: 20 Jun 89 18:26:50 GMT References: <300@ucl-cs.UUCP> Sender: news@sun.soe.clarkson.edu Reply-To: cline@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Marshall Cline) Organization: Clarkson University, Postdam NY Lines: 86 In-reply-to: Gordon@ucl-cs.UUCP's message of 19 Jun 89 10:21:11 GMT [ Sorry. Couldn't resist. :-) ] In article <300@ucl-cs.UUCP> Gordon@ucl-cs.UUCP writes: >The following project has been proposed. Design and implement an >Intelligent System with the following characteristics. The system >is to run in real time and be portable. Memory and processing units >must be in the same enclosure, run on low power and not overheat. >(a) Full colour binocular vision, with motion perception. >(b) Speech processing and speech synthesis. >(c) Natural language ability :- > (1) Semantic ability > (2) Translation. > (3) Ability to summarise. > (4) Humour (optional). >(d) Learning ability. >(e) Ability to control a large number of servo mechanisms, with strength > and sensitivity. >(f) Other tasks, as yet unspecified, but the system must be able > to cope with extra requirements, as and when the need arises, > using characteristic (d). >Queries: Time to completion? Cost? My associate (translation: "wife") and I just succeeded with your third such unit. The first unit has already mastered the Natural Language Ability section, although (c.4) is still in the planning stages. The second unit is having trouble with (e). However we do not considered this to be a system failure, as we have the full expectation that additional funding and research will cause this unit to begin functioning with better motor/servo control. The second unit requires certain cloth devices to be applied, there being occasional, unpredictable, and uncontrollable leaks at the output. However the first unit appears to have mastered control of (his) output ports, by application of principle (f). Another anomaly: although the first unit has "strength" as in (e), "sensitivity" is somewhat lacking at the present (translation: "He breaks things a lot"). It is our _SINCERE_ desire that not _TOO_ much additional funding will be required before this new feature can be implemented. The third unit has just emerged from the planning stage. Even though this is the latest unit, we do not expect a quantum leap in functionality, although by repeated application of principle (d), anything is possible. My associate and I consider the ongoing advancement of these units to be challenging, their production has been quite stimulating. [joke about their original conception deleted -- this is a family newsgroup] We have a concern that we have not met one of the original project goals. Clearly our units have not demonstrated any "overheating" problems up to the present, but we feel they may fail at operating at low "consumption", especially in the long range analysis (translation: "teen age years"). Our Forward Looking predictions and surveys of similar units (which are already in the field) indicate that the cost may exceed the present budget, for which reason I am evaluating alternative funding sources. The total costs appear to be astronomical. Again, due to our field studies of other units which are 15 to 18 years old, we predict each unit will require its own communication mechanism with its own ringing device. Furthermore, others have indicated that approximately half of the units in the field consume increasingly large amounts of time in self examination, especially front of the family mirror. Although there seems to be an emphasis on self improvement, each such improvement appears to cost the originators of the project, rather than the units themselves. CONCLUSION: My associate and I are extremely pleased with our units. However we have been as yet unable to publish our results as original contributions to the extant literature. Nonetheless we are already looking forward to future attempts, whether successful or not, at producing additional units. Marshall -- ________________________________________________________________ Marshall P. Cline ARPA: cline@sun.soe.clarkson.edu ECE Department UseNet: uunet!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!cline Clarkson University BitNet: BH0W@CLUTX Potsdam, NY 13676 AT&T: 315-268-6591