Artificial intelligence courses meet growing industry demands
Robots are being built to do our chores - and those who are creating them are already debating whether their rights should be recognised. Kate Hilpern reports
Published: 17 May 2007
The next time you kick your vacuum cleaner or thump your keyboard because they won't do what you want them to, spare a thought for the current debate on "rights for robots". Far from being a phrase confined to science fiction, the concept of giving machines rights such as housing and even healthcare, as well as responsibilities such as voting and paying taxes, may become a reality according to a British government-commissioned report which looks forward 50 years. "If we make conscious robots, they would want to have rights and they probably should," explains Henrik Christensen, director of the Center of Robotics and Intelligent Machines at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
"The idea of robotic rights was met with raised eyebrows a few years ago, but it's now starting to be discussed at conferences and even studied as part of undergraduate degree courses in Artificial Intelligence (AI)," says Will Browne, lecturer in cybernetics at the University of Reading.
After all, he says, even at undergraduate level, AI is becoming so advanced - particularly in the UK, Japan and the States - that it was only a matter of time before students could expect to explore the issue of rights for robots. "For example, we have a current student on our BSc in AI who is looking at putting emotions on a robot so that it could become curious or angry. The idea of this robot, which is designed to work in areas such as disaster relief or mine clearing, is that it could react to its conditions - so the more curious it becomes, the more it would explore; and the more angry it becomes, the more capable it would be of deciding on one of many possible actions."
Most people don't realise the extent to which AI is already used in our everyday lives, believes Browne. "For instance, AI is used in supermarkets to work out what products should be placed with other products, and whether certain products should be stacked verticially or horizontally. Companies invest a huge amount in AI in these kinds of ways to get people to spend a bit more money."
AI is also used to create robot technology to do things like construct our cars, clean our floors and even perform delicate microsurgery. Military and agricultural applications of AI are also on the rise and increasingly, AI is being used to assist disabled and elderly people.
Little wonder that a growing number of universities across the UK are running degrees in the subject. The kinds of people best suited to them, says Browne, are people with a basic interest in engineering and computer science, combined with a curiosity of how animals, including humans, function and how intelligent behaviours are created - and, of course, more than a passing interest in rights for robots.
"We are not looking for geeks," insists Judith Masthoff, lecturer in computing science at the University of Aberdeen, which also offers an AI degree. "We need good communicators and problem solvers. But there's no need for students to know where they want to work when they graduate because the opportunities are expanding all the time. We have a lot of students who go on to work in banks, predicting what the money market will do next, while others go on to work for intelligence organisations right through to oil companies."
Even companies such as Accenture seek out AI graduates. Martin Illsley, director of research, says, "AI is a growing area for us, unlikely that it might seem, in that we try to link AI technology to business. In other words, we try to find ways of applying AI in the business world. For example, we've recently been working with some software that can be used in camera phones. As you move the camera phone around, it can automatically determine the object it sees and overlay information. So, if you're in a DIY store and are not sure what an object is, you could hold out the camera phone, which would send the picture to a server that does the analysis to tell you what it is. It could be used by shop assistants as well as consumers."
Alternatively, you may decide to start up your own company, says Nils Roeder, chief technology officer at Edinburgh Robotics Ltd. "After I'd graduated, I decided I'd like to make some of my ideas work in industry, so I set this company up, alongside working as a researcher at Edinburgh University. There are five of us in the company and we have managed to set up a piece of software that can tell a robot - for example, a vacuum cleaner which cleans when you're out, or an automated forklift - what to do."
Rich Walker also decided to be part of a new company after he graduated and he is now technical director at the London-based Shadow Robotics, a firm best known for its invention of a multi-use "dextrous" robotic hand, which can be used in a variety of domestic and industrial settings. " A lot of people in AI start from the proposition that they'll build software that is intelligent, but our feeling was that if it doesn't do something useful in the world, what's the point? If it sits quietly in a corner calculating pi to a billion decimal places, it's very impressive, but it doesn't solve any problem in the world. So we started out with the aim of building something useful and then giving it intelligence. The result is creating this hand that has the same versatility as a human hand and is the same size and shape."
The Shadow Hand, which has 24 separately powered and controlled movements, has already been sold to NASA and major universities and with the help of government funding, it is currently being used to help create an entire multifunctional robot that can be guided, trained and programmed to carry out everyday tasks for people with disabilities. "We got an early version of the hand to change a screw-in lightbulb, while it was still on," says Walker. "Working in this area is cutting edge engineering. It's very, very exciting."
One of the fastest growing employers of AI graduates is the computer games industry. In fact, some universities run specific courses for people who want to work in this field. Gareth Bellaby, course leader for the BSc in computer games development at the University of Central Lancashire, says, " One of the most important aspects of all computer games is AI because, for instance, characters within the games need to be able to move around a map or landscape without bumping into walls - which is more difficult than it might sound - and make decisions against human oponents. Then there are challenges like ensuring that the camera can move around the landscape in a sensible fashion."
Bellaby believes the computer games industry is the most fun end of AI. " It's also one of those areas within AI where there are usually jobs available."
The existence of such degrees are a good reason for people interested in AI to do their homework into the course best suited to them and not look exclusively for "AI" to appear in the title. Dr Klaus-Peter Zauner, lecturer in computer science at the University of Southampton, points out, "All students who study computer science here do some work around AI."
Similarly, Sanga Dogramadzi, lecturer in robotics at the University of the West of England, says, "Our degree in robotics includes a lot of AI. People choose it because they're interested in the hands-on experience of building things, as well as the intelligence behind it."
The degree in Robotics with AI at the University of Bradford would also suit such people although senior lecturer John Baruch, cautions, "A degree in robotics would not necessarily include AI because you can focus on the manufacturing side, which rarely involves AI. My advice to students is to look in some detail about the course content of degrees and where possible talk to the people who run the course."
Sethu Vijayakumar, reader at Edinburgh University - which offers separate degrees in computer science, AI and informatics - believes there has never been a more exciting time to study AI. "It's used in everything from automatic speech recognition and speech translation systems right through to rehabilitation systems for stroke patients and disaster recorvery systems. What could be more stimulating than the opportunity to contribute to such inventions?"
'AI helps me with pattern recognition, allowing me to reach my goal quicker'
Pat Parslow is studying a PhD, incorporating AI, at the University of Reading
The main thrust of my work involves recording the noises animals make so that their species and health status can be identified through these noises. I'm particularly focusing on mosquitos and determining, through their sounds, whether they have malaria. The ultimate aim is to allow public health authorities in countries with a malaria epidemic to better control that malaria. After all, if we have systems where we know when mosquitos are carrying malaria, we can utilise things like spraying more effectively.
Without AI, my work might conceivably still be possible, but I'd have to be a lot cleverer. What AI does is help me with pattern recognition, which is allowing me to reach my ultimate goal a lot quicker.
I initially became interested in AI when I was working for Thames Water before doing a degree. I'd found AI increasingly useful in finding patterns and so I decided to do a BSc in the subject. I did a BSc in intelligent systems, subsequently renamed artificial intelligence and cybernetics. Following an MSc in Informatics, I started my PhD and I'm also a part-time research assistant for the university.
'We have developed a system which is able to outperform the human brain'
Jeremy Mabbitt is co-founder of Codefarm, a company that applies AI to provide powerful tools for financial portfolio construction
We're a company specialising in a field of AI called evolutionary computing, which is about using methods based on evolution and nature to solve difficult engineering and mathematical problems. In the financial markets, there are a number of difficult mathematical optimisation problems that lend themselves to this approach - so that has become our focus and we now have six of the top 10 investment banks using our technology.
I founded the company five years ago, having studied AI at Sussex University. A dozen people off that course work here at Codefarm.
I think I initially became captivated by the idea of AI when I realised that it can do some things more efficiently and quickly than humans.
My interest paid off because I find it enormously satisfying to have developed a system which is actually able to outperform what the human brain can do. I feel as though what we're doing is pushing the frontiers of what is possible with computers.
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