History of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is the capability of a device to perform functions that are normally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and optimization through experience. Alan Turing who is regarded as the father of modern computer science devised a test of a machine's ability to demonstrate intelligence.
Turing Test: Can someone tell which is the machine, when communicating to human and to a machine in another room? If not, can we call the machine intelligent?
In this blog i will give a brief history into the ground breaking devices that have shown this ability to demonstrate intelligence.

The History of Artificial Intelligence in Robotics

SRI's Shakey, called because of its jerky motion, was the first mobile robot that could claim to reason about its actions. The design was a box of electronics on wheels, with bump detectors at the base and a TV camera and triangulating range finder for a head. Shakey could locate items, navigate around them, and reason about its actions. Shakey's great accomplishment was that it could take general instructions that were not "step-by-step" and still figure out how to accomplish the objective.

The Stanford Cart, it was the first computer controlled autonomous vehicle. Like shakey, the stanford cart saw using tv cameras. The Cart followed smudgy white lines seen from a high vantage point in variable illumination quite reliably using adaptation and prediction methods. It successfully crossed a room full of chairs in 1979.

Asimo was crated by honda and is a humanoid robot. The experimental models were first introduced in 1986 and the first Asimo unveiled in 2000. Asimo uses sensors and intelligent algorithms to avoid obstacles and navigate stairs. It uses recognition technology were asimo can recognise moving objects, postures and gestures, its environment, it can distinguish sounds and has facial recognition.

Kismet is a robot with rudimentary social skills, created in the late 1990's at MIT it is able to interact with humans in social situations and express human emotions. Kismet reads both audio and visual social cues thanks to an advanced system of cameras, microphones and computers.

TOPIO is a bipedal humanoid robot that can play ping-pong, developed by TOSY in 2005.The hydraulics manipulated robot is composed of a carbon fiber body allowing for fast reactions and a flexible range of movements with 20 degrees of freedom. The ball's trajectory and spin is detected using 4 high speed cameras and 2 processing units, and it's advanced Artificial Intellegence module allows it to continuously improve itself while playing.

The History of Artificial Intelligence in Games

Artificial Intelligence is used in games so that the non-playing character, the computer controlled characters, offer the illusion of intelligence. The first game to incorporate AI using the ferranti mark 1 machine was a checkers game and it eventually developed sufficient skill to challenge a respectable amateur.
In Pac-Man Artificial Intelligence gave each enemy ghost its own particular behaviour and movement. This unpredictability of movement and behavior gave the ghosts an "inner-life" and is why those ghosts would be considered the fathers of Artificial Intelligence in games. During the 80's more complex games were developed but all using this same AI, basic and heavily scripted movement. During the 90's with better machines and using formal AI tools like finite state machines, real time strategy games were developed including Dune 2 but these had many problems including using numerous cheats. In first person shooters such as Golden Eye, Half-life, Halo, they featured enemies which had intelligence, teamwork skills and could recognise threats such as grenades etc. AI has continued to improve, with aims set on a player being unable to tell the difference between computer and human players.

The History of Artificial Intelligence in Toys

Not all uses of Artificial Intelligence are specifically designed to advance the interests of the science or technology communities. Some are just fun. In 1996 The Tomogotchi was created which was a handheld digital pet that you would look after, feed, walk etc, just as you would a real pet. Furbys were the next major development in AI in toys. Furby includes both sensors and affectors enabling it to “sense” information from the environment and permit a response to the environment. Aibo, sonys robotic dog is probably the most famous of the AI toys. It could speak up to 1000 words, react to its owner's motions and commands, keep blogs, take pictures with its eyes, and play music. Toys that learn are becoming increasingly more and more complex exhibiting greater and more advanced Artificial Intelligence.