BIT 4108 E: Artificial Intelligence (Contact Hours: 45)

Trainer – Fredrick Onunga, September 2021

Prerequisite: None
Course Purpose:
To provide students with an introduction to various models and tools emerging from
Artificial Intelligence research which are basic to the study of Computer Science.

Course Content:

1. Overview – Introduction (definitions, goals, importance, history of AI)

2. Intelligent Systems
3. Research Areas
4. Agents and Environments
5. Popular Search Algorithms
6. Fuzzy Logic Systems
7. Natural Language Processing
8. Expert Systems
9. Robotics
10. Neural Networks
11. Issues
12. Artificial intelligence Terminology
Mode of Delivery

Lectures, tutorials, problem solving, discussions and presentations

Instructional Materials

Computers, software, whiteboard

Course Assessment:

Examination 70%

Continuous Assessment Tests 30%

Total 100%

Recommended Reading Materials

i. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence by Wolfgang Ertel and Nathanael T. Black

(March 17, 2011)
 ii. Charniak, E. and McDermott, D. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence,
Addison- We s l e y, 1985.
iii. Rich, E. and Knight, K. Artificial Intelligence, Second Edition, McGraw- H i l l ,1991.
iv. Tanimoto, S. L. The Elements of Artificial Intelligence - Using Common
Lisp,Computer Sc., 1990.
v. Winston, P. H. Artificial Intelligence, Third Edition, A d d i s o n-We s l e y, 1992.
What is Artificial Intelligence?

According to the father of Artificial Intelligence, John McCarthy, it is “The science and
engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs”.
Artificial Intelligence is a way of making a computer, a computer-controlled robot, or a
software think intelligently, in the similar manner the intelligent humans think.
AI is accomplished by studying how human brain thinks, and how humans learn, decide,
and work while trying to solve a problem, and then using the outcomes of this study as a
basis of developing intelligent software and systems.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can also be defined as a branch of Science which deals with
helping machines find solutions to complex problems in a more human-like fashion. This
generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence, and applying them
as algorithms in a computer friendly way.
A more or less flexible or efficient approach can be taken depending on the requirements
established, which influences how artificial the intelligent behavior appears

Philosophy of AI

While exploiting the power of the computer systems, the curiosity of human, lead him to
wonder, “Can a machine think and behave like humans do?”
Thus, the development of AI started with the intention of creating similar intelligence in
machines that we find and regard high in humans.
Artificial intelligence can be viewed from a variety of perspectives.
• From the perspective of intelligence, artificial intelligence is making machines
"intelligent" -- acting as we would expect people to act.
✓ The inability to distinguish computer responses from human responses is
called the Turing test.
✓ Intelligence requires knowledge
✓ Expert problem solving - restricting domain to allow including significant
relevant knowledge
• From a business perspective AI is a set of very powerful tools, and
methodologies for using those tools to solve business problems.
• From a programming perspective, AI includes the study of symbolic programming,
problem solving, and search.
• Typically, AI programs focus on symbols rather than numeric processing.
• Problem solving - achieve goals.
• Search - seldom access a solution directly. Search may include a variety of
techniques.
• AI programming languages include:
✓ LISP, developed in the 1950s, is the early programming language strongly
associated with AI. LISP is a functional programming language with
 procedural extensions. LISP (LISt Processor) was specifically designed for
processing heterogeneous lists -- typically a list of symbols. Features of LISP
are run- time type checking, higher order functions (functions that have
other functions as parameters), automatic memory management (garbage
collection) and an interactive environment.
✓ PROLOG was developed in the 1970s. PROLOG is based on first order logic.
PROLOG is declarative in nature and has facilities for explicitly limiting the
search space.
✓ Object-oriented languages are a class of languages more recently used for AI
programming. Important features of object-oriented languages include:
concepts of objects and messages, objects bundle data and methods for
manipulating the data, sender specifies what is to be done receiver decides
how to do it, inheritance (object hierarchy where objects inherit the
attributes of the more general class of objects). Examples of object-oriented
languages are Smalltalk, Objective C, C++. Object oriented extensions to LISP
(CLOS -Common LISP Object System) and PROLOG (L&O - Logic & Objects)
are also used.

Importance of AI
• Game Playing
You can buy machines that can play master level chess for a few hundred dollars.
There is some AI in them, but they play well against people mainly through brute
force computation--looking at hundreds of thousands of positions. To beat a world
champion by brute force and known reliable heuristics requires being able to look at 200
million positions per second.
• Speech Recognition
In the 1990s, computer speech recognition reached a practical level for limited
purposes. Thus United Airlines has replaced its keyboard tree for flight information
by a system using speech recognition of flight numbers and city names. It is quite
convenient. On the other hand, while it is possible to instruct some computers using
speech, most users have gone back to the keyboard and the mouse as still more
convenient.
• Understanding Natural Language
Just getting a sequence of words into a computer is not enough. Parsing sentences is
not enough either. The computer has to be provided with an understanding of the
domain the text is about, and this is presently possible only for very limited domains.
 • Computer Vision
The world is composed of three-dimensional objects, but the inputs to the human eye
and computers' TV cameras are two dimensional. Some useful programs can work
solely in two dimensions, but full computer vision requires partial three-dimensional
information that is not just a set of two-dimensional views. At present there are only
limited ways of representing three-dimensional information directly, and they are not
as good as what humans evidently use.
• Expert Systems
A ``knowledge engineer'' interviews experts in a certain domain and tries to embody
their knowledge in a computer program for carrying out some tasks. How well this
works depends on whether the intellectual mechanisms required for the task are
within the present state of AI. When this turned out not to be so, there were many
disappointing results. One of the first expert systems was MYCIN in 1974, which
diagnosed bacterial infections of the blood and suggested treatments. It did better than
medical students or practicing doctors, provided its limitations were observed.
Namely, its ontology included bacteria, symptoms, and treatments and did not include
patients, doctors, hospitals, death, recovery, and events occurring in time. Its
interactions depended on a single patient being considered. Since the experts
consulted by the knowledge engineers knew about patients, doctors, death, recovery,
etc., it is clear that the knowledge engineers forced what the experts told them into a
predetermined framework. The usefulness of current expert systems depends on their
users having common sense.
• Heuristic Classification
One of the most feasible kinds of expert system given the present knowledge of AI is
to put some information in one of a fixed set of categories using several sources of
information. An example is advising whether to accept a proposed credit card
purchase. Information is available about the owner of the credit card, his record of
payment and also about the item he is buying and about the establishment from which
he is buying it (e.g., about whether there have been previous credit card frauds at this
establishment)
Goals of AI

• To Create Expert Systems − The systems which exhibit intelligent behavior, learn,
demonstrate, explain, and advice its users.
• To Implement Human Intelligence in Machines − Creating systems that
understand, think, learn, and behave like humans.

What Contributes to AI?

Artificial intelligence is a science and technology based on disciplines such as Computer

Science, Biology, Psychology, Linguistics, Mathematics, and Engineering. A major thrust of
AI is in the development of computer functions associated with human intelligence, such
as reasoning, learning, and problem solving.
Out of the following areas, one or multiple areas can contribute to build an intelligent
system.

Programming Without and with AI

The programming without and with AI is different in following ways −

Programming Without AI Programming With AI

A computer program without AI can A computer program with AI can answer

answer the specific questions it is meant the generic questions it is meant to solve.
to solve.

AI programs can absorb new modifications by

putting highly independent pieces of information
Modification in the program leads to
together. Hence you can modify even a minute
change in its structure.
piece of information of program without affecting
its structure.

Modification is not quick and easy. It may

Quick and Easy program modification.
lead to affecting the program adversely.
What is AI Technique?

In the real world, the knowledge has some unwelcomed properties −

• Its volume is huge, next to unimaginable.

• It is not well-organized or well-formatted.
• It keeps changing constantly.
AI Technique is a manner to organize and use the knowledge efficiently in such a way that

• It should be perceivable by the people who provide it.

• It should be easily modifiable to correct errors.
• It should be useful in many situations though it is incomplete or inaccurate.
AI techniques elevate the speed of execution of the complex program it is equipped with.

Applications of AI

AI has been dominant in various fields such as −

• Gaming − AI plays crucial role in strategic games such as chess, poker, tic-tac-toe,
etc., where machine can think of large number of possible positions based on
heuristic knowledge.
• Natural Language Processing − It is possible to interact with the computer that
understands natural language spoken by humans.
• Expert Systems − There are some applications which integrate machine, software,
and special information to impart reasoning and advising. They provide
explanation and advice to the users.
• Vision Systems − These systems understand, interpret, and comprehend visual
input on the computer. For example,
o A spying aeroplane takes photographs, which are used to figure out spatial
information or map of the areas.
o Doctors use clinical expert system to diagnose the patient.
o Police use computer software that can recognize the face of criminal with the
stored portrait made by forensic artist.
• Speech Recognition − Some intelligent systems are capable of hearing and
comprehending the language in terms of sentences and their meanings while a
human talks to it. It can handle different accents, slang words, noise in the
background, change in human’s noise due to cold, etc.
• Handwriting Recognition − The handwriting recognition software reads the text
written on paper by a pen or on screen by a stylus. It can recognize the shapes of
the letters and convert it into editable text.
 • Intelligent Robots − Robots are able to perform the tasks given by a human. They
have sensors to detect physical data from the real world such as light, heat,
temperature, movement, sound, bump, and pressure. They have efficient
processors, multiple sensors and huge memory, to exhibit intelligence. In addition,
they are capable of learning from their mistakes and they can adapt to the new
environment.

History of AI

Here is the history of AI during 20th century −

Year Milestone / Innovation

1923 Karel Čapek play named “Rossum's Universal Robots” (RUR) opens in London, first
use of the word "robot" in English.

1943 Foundations for neural networks laid.

1945 Isaac Asimov, a Columbia University alumni, coined the term Robotics.

Alan Turing introduced Turing Test for evaluation of intelligence and

1950 published Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Claude Shannon published Detailed
Analysis of Chess Playing as a search.

John McCarthy coined the term Artificial Intelligence. Demonstration of the first
1956
running AI program at Carnegie Mellon University.

1958 John McCarthy invents LISP programming language for AI.

Danny Bobrow's dissertation at MIT showed that computers can understand natural
1964
language well enough to solve algebra word problems correctly.

Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT built ELIZA, an interactive problem that carries on a

1965
dialogue in English.
 Scientists at Stanford Research Institute Developed Shakey, a robot, equipped with
1969
locomotion, perception, and problem solving.

The Assembly Robotics group at Edinburgh University built Freddy, the Famous
1973
Scottish Robot, capable of using vision to locate and assemble models.

1979 The first computer-controlled autonomous vehicle, Stanford Cart, was built.

1985 Harold Cohen created and demonstrated the drawing program, Aaron.

Major advances in all areas of AI −

• Significant demonstrations in machine learning

• Case-based reasoning
• Multi-agent planning
1990
• Scheduling
• Data mining, Web Crawler
• natural language understanding and translation
• Vision, Virtual Reality
• Games

1997 The Deep Blue Chess Program beats the then world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.

Interactive robot pets become commercially available. MIT displays Kismet, a robot
2000 with a face that expresses emotions. The robot Nomad explores remote regions of
Antarctica and locates meteorites.
Intelligent Systems
While studying artificially intelligence, you need to know what intelligence is. This chapter
covers Idea of intelligence, types, and components of intelligence.

What is Intelligence?

The ability of a system to calculate, reason, perceive relationships and analogies, learn
from experience, store and retrieve information from memory, solve problems,
comprehend complex ideas, use natural language fluently, classify, generalize, and adapt
new situations.

Types of Intelligence

As described by Howard Gardner, an American developmental psychologist, the

Intelligence comes in multifold −

Intelligence Description Example

The ability to speak, recognize, and use

Linguistic intelligence mechanisms of phonology (speech sounds), Narrators, Orators
syntax (grammar), and semantics (meaning).

The ability to create, communicate with, and

Musicians, Singers,
Musical intelligence understand meanings made of sound,
Composers
understanding of pitch, rhythm.

The ability of use and understand

Logical-mathematical relationships in the absence of action or Mathematicians,
intelligence objects. Understanding complex and abstract Scientists
ideas.

The ability to perceive visual or spatial

information, change it, and re-create visual Map readers,
Spatial intelligence images without reference to the objects, Astronauts,
construct 3D images, and to move and rotate Physicists
them.
 The ability to use complete or part of the
Bodily-Kinesthetic body to solve problems or fashion products,
Players, Dancers
intelligence control over fine and coarse motor skills, and
manipulate the objects.

Intra-personal The ability to distinguish among one’s own

Gautam Buddhha
intelligence feelings, intentions, and motivations.

The ability to recognize and make Mass

Interpersonal
distinctions among other people’s feelings, Communicators,
intelligence
beliefs, and intentions. Interviewers

You can say a machine or a system is artificially intelligent when it is equipped with at
least one and at most all intelligences in it.

What is Intelligence Composed of?

The intelligence is intangible. It is composed of −

• Reasoning
• Learning
• Problem Solving
• Perception
• Linguistic Intelligence

Let us go through all the components briefly −

• Reasoning − It is the set of processes that enables us to provide basis for
judgement, making decisions, and prediction. There are broadly two types −

Inductive Reasoning Deductive Reasoning

It conducts specific observations to It starts with a general statement and examines the
makes broad general statements. possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion.
Even if all of the premises are true in a If something is true of a class of things in general, it
statement, inductive reasoning allows is also true for all members of that class.
for the conclusion to be false.

Example − "Nita is a teacher. Nita is Example − "All women of age above 60 years are
studious. Therefore, All teachers are grandmothers. Shalini is 65 years. Therefore, Shalini
studious." is a grandmother."

• Learning − It is the activity of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practising,

being taught, or experiencing something. Learning enhances the awareness of the
subjects of the study.
The ability of learning is possessed by humans, some animals, and AI-enabled
systems. Learning is categorized as −
o Auditory Learning − It is learning by listening and hearing. For example,
students listening to recorded audio lectures.
o Episodic Learning − To learn by remembering sequences of events that one
has witnessed or experienced. This is linear and orderly.
o Motor Learning − It is learning by precise movement of muscles. For
example, picking objects, Writing, etc.
o Observational Learning − To learn by watching and imitating others. For
example, child tries to learn by mimicking her parent.
o Perceptual Learning − It is learning to recognize stimuli that one has seen
before. For example, identifying and classifying objects and situations.
o Relational Learning − It involves learning to differentiate among various
stimuli on the basis of relational properties, rather than absolute properties.
For Example, Adding ‘little less’ salt at the time of cooking potatoes that
came up salty last time, when cooked with adding say a tablespoon of salt.
o Spatial Learning − It is learning through visual stimuli such as images,
colors, maps, etc. For Example, A person can create roadmap in mind before
actually following the road.
o Stimulus-Response Learning − It is learning to perform a particular
behavior when a certain stimulus is present. For example, a dog raises its
ear on hearing doorbell.
• Problem Solving − It is the process in which one perceives and tries to arrive at a
desired solution from a present situation by taking some path, which is blocked by
known or unknown hurdles.
 Problem solving also includes decision making, which is the process of selecting
the best suitable alternative out of multiple alternatives to reach the desired goal
are available.
• Perception − It is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing
sensory information.
Perception presumes sensing. In humans, perception is aided by sensory organs. In
the domain of AI, perception mechanism puts the data acquired by the sensors
together in a meaningful manner.
• Linguistic Intelligence − It is one’s ability to use, comprehend, speak, and write the
verbal and written language. It is important in interpersonal communication.

Difference between Human and Machine Intelligence

• Humans perceive by patterns whereas the machines perceive by set of rules and
data.
• Humans store and recall information by patterns, machines do it by searching
algorithms. For example, the number 40404040 is easy to remember, store, and
recall as its pattern is simple.
• Humans can figure out the complete object even if some part of it is missing or
distorted; whereas the machines cannot do it correctly.
Research Areas
The domain of artificial intelligence is huge in breadth and width. While proceeding, we
consider the broadly common and prospering research areas in the domain of AI −

Speech and Voice Recognition

These both terms are common in robotics, expert systems and natural language processing.
Though these terms are used interchangeably, their objectives are different.

Speech Recognition Voice Recognition

The speech recognition aims at understanding The objective of voice recognition is to

and comprehending WHAT was spoken. recognize WHO is speaking.

It is used in hand-free computing, map, or menu It is used to identify a person by analysing

navigation. its tone, voice pitch, and accent, etc.

Machine does not need training for Speech This recognition system needs training as
Recognition as it is not speaker dependent. it is person oriented.

Speaker independent Speech Recognition Speaker dependent Speech Recognition

systems are difficult to develop. systems are comparatively easy to
develop.
Working of Speech and Voice Recognition Systems
The user input spoken at a microphone goes to sound card of the system. The converter
turns the analog signal into equivalent digital signal for the speech processing. The database
is used to compare the sound patterns to recognize the words. Finally, a reverse feedback
is given to the database.
This source-language text becomes input to the Translation Engine, which converts it to the
target language text. They are supported with interactive GUI, large database of vocabulary,
etc.

Real Life Applications of Research Areas

There is a large array of applications where AI is serving common people in their day-to-
day lives −

Sr.No. Research Areas Real Life Application

1 Expert Systems
Examples − Flight-tracking systems, Clinical systems.

2 Natural Language Processing

Examples: Google Now feature, speech recognition,
Automatic voice output.

3 Neural Networks
Examples − Pattern recognition systems such as face
recognition, character recognition, handwriting
recognition.
 4 Robotics
Examples − Industrial robots for moving, spraying, painting,
precision checking, drilling, cleaning, coating, carving, etc.

5 Fuzzy Logic Systems

Examples − Consumer electronics, automobiles, etc.

Task Classification of AI

The domain of AI is classified into Formal tasks, Mundane tasks, and Expert tasks.
 Task Domains of Artificial Intelligence

Mundane (Ordinary) Formal Tasks Expert Tasks

Tasks

Perception • Mathematics • Engineering

• Geometry • Fault Finding
• Computer Vision • Logic • Manufacturing
• Speech, Voice • Integration and Differentiation • Monitoring

Natural Language Processing Games Scientific Analysis

• Understanding • Go
• Language Generation • Chess (Deep Blue)
• Language Translation • Ckeckers

Common Sense Verification Financial Analysis

Reasoning Theorem Proving Medical Diagnosis

Planing Creativity

Robotics •

• Locomotive

Humans learn mundane (ordinary) tasks since their birth. They learn by perception,
speaking, using language, and locomotives. They learn Formal Tasks and Expert Tasks later,
in that order.
For humans, the mundane tasks are easiest to learn. The same was considered true before
trying to implement mundane tasks in machines. Earlier, all work of AI was concentrated in
the mundane task domain.
Later, it turned out that the machine requires more knowledge, complex knowledge
representation, and complicated algorithms for handling mundane tasks. This is the
reason why AI work is more prospering in the Expert Tasks domain now, as the expert
task domain needs expert knowledge without common sense, which can be easier to
represent and handle.
Agents & Environments
An AI system is composed of an agent and its environment. The agents act in their
environment. The environment may contain other agents.

What are Agent and Environment?

An agent is anything that can perceive its environment through sensors and acts upon that
environment through effectors.
• A human agent has sensory organs such as eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin parallel
to the sensors, and other organs such as hands, legs, mouth, for effectors.
• A robotic agent replaces cameras and infrared range finders for the sensors, and
various motors and actuators for effectors.
• A software agent has encoded bit strings as its programs and actions.

Agent Terminology

• Performance Measure of Agent − It is the criteria, which determines how

successful an agent is.
• Behavior of Agent − It is the action that agent performs after any given sequence of
percepts.
• Percept − It is agent’s perceptual inputs at a given instance.
• Percept Sequence − It is the history of all that an agent has perceived till date.
• Agent Function − It is a map from the precept sequence to an action.

Rationality

Rationality is nothing but status of being reasonable, sensible, and having good sense of
judgment.
Rationality is concerned with expected actions and results depending upon what the agent
has perceived. Performing actions with the aim of obtaining useful information is an
important part of rationality.

What is Ideal Rational Agent?

An ideal rational agent is the one, which is capable of doing expected actions to maximize
its performance measure, on the basis of −

• Its percept sequences

• Its built-in knowledge base
Rationality of an agent depends on the following −
• The performance measures, which determine the degree of success.
• Agent’s Percept Sequence till now.
• The agent’s prior knowledge about the environment.
• The actions that the agent can carry out.
A rational agent always performs right action, where the right action means the action that
causes the agent to be most successful in the given percept sequence. The problem the agent
solves is characterized by Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators, and Sensors
(PEAS).

The Structure of Intelligent Agents

Agent’s structure can be viewed as −

• Agent = Architecture + Agent Program

• Architecture = the machinery that an agent executes on.
• Agent Program = an implementation of an agent function.

Simple Reflex Agents

• They choose actions only based on the current percept.

• They are rational only if a correct decision is made only on the basis of current
precept.
• Their environment is completely observable.
Condition-Action Rule − It is a rule that maps a state (condition) to an action.
Model Based Reflex Agents

They use a model of the world to choose their actions. They maintain an internal state.
Model − knowledge about “how the things happen in the world”.
Internal State − It is a representation of unobserved aspects of current state depending on
percept history.
Updating the state requires the information about −

• How the world evolves.

• How the agent’s actions affect the world.
Goal Based Agents

They choose their actions in order to achieve goals. Goal-based approach is more flexible
than reflex agent since the knowledge supporting a decision is explicitly modeled, thereby
allowing for modifications.
Goal − It is the description of desirable situations.

Utility Based Agents

They choose actions based on a preference (utility) for each state.

Goals are inadequate when −
• There are conflicting goals, out of which only few can be achieved.
• Goals have some uncertainty of being achieved and you need to weigh likelihood of
success against the importance of a goal.
The Nature of Environments

Some programs operate in the entirely artificial environment confined to keyboard input,
database, computer file systems and character output on a screen.
In contrast, some software agents (software robots or softbots) exist in rich, unlimited
softbots domains. The simulator has a very detailed, complex environment. The software
agent needs to choose from a long array of actions in real time. A softbot designed to scan
the online preferences of the customer and show interesting items to the customer works
in the real as well as an artificial environment.
The most famous artificial environment is the Turing Test environment, in which one
real and other artificial agents are tested on equal ground. This is a very challenging
environment as it is highly difficult for a software agent to perform as well as a human.

Turing Test

The success of an intelligent behavior of a system can be measured with Turing Test.
Two persons and a machine to be evaluated participate in the test. Out of the two persons,
one plays the role of the tester. Each of them sits in different rooms. The tester is unaware
of who is machine and who is a human. He interrogates the questions by typing and sending
them to both intelligences, to which he receives typed responses.
This test aims at fooling the tester. If the tester fails to determine machine’s response from
the human response, then the machine is said to be intelligent.

Properties of Environment

The environment has multifold properties −

• Discrete / Continuous − If there are a limited number of distinct, clearly defined,
states of the environment, the environment is discrete (For example, chess);
otherwise it is continuous (For example, driving).
• Observable / Partially Observable − If it is possible to determine the complete
state of the environment at each time point from the percepts it is observable;
otherwise it is only partially observable.
• Static / Dynamic − If the environment does not change while an agent is acting, then
it is static; otherwise it is dynamic.
• Single agent / Multiple agents − The environment may contain other agents which
may be of the same or different kind as that of the agent.
• Accessible / Inaccessible − If the agent’s sensory apparatus can have access to the
complete state of the environment, then the environment is accessible to that agent.
• Deterministic / Non-deterministic − If the next state of the environment is
completely determined by the current state and the actions of the agent, then the
environment is deterministic; otherwise it is non-deterministic.
• Episodic / Non-episodic − In an episodic environment, each episode consists of the
agent perceiving and then acting. The quality of its action depends just on the
episode itself. Subsequent episodes do not depend on the actions in the previous
episodes. Episodic environments are much simpler because the agent does not need
to think ahead.
AI - Popular Search Algorithms
Searching is the universal technique of problem solving in AI. There are some single-player
games such as tile games, Sudoku, crossword, etc. The search algorithms help you to search
for a particular position in such games.

Single Agent Pathfinding Problems

The games such as 3X3 eight-tile, 4X4 fifteen-tile, and 5X5 twenty four tile puzzles are
single-agent-path-finding challenges. They consist of a matrix of tiles with a blank tile. The
player is required to arrange the tiles by sliding a tile either vertically or horizontally into a
blank space with the aim of accomplishing some objective.
The other examples of single agent pathfinding problems are Travelling Salesman Problem,
Rubik’s Cube, and Theorem Proving.

Search Terminology

• Problem Space − It is the environment in which the search takes place. (A set of
states and set of operators to change those states)
• Problem Instance − It is Initial state + Goal state.
• Problem Space Graph − It represents problem state. States are shown by nodes and
operators are shown by edges.
• Depth of a problem − Length of a shortest path or shortest sequence of operators
from Initial State to goal state.
• Space Complexity − The maximum number of nodes that are stored in memory.
• Time Complexity − The maximum number of nodes that are created.
• Admissibility − A property of an algorithm to always find an optimal solution.
• Branching Factor − The average number of child nodes in the problem space graph.
• Depth − Length of the shortest path from initial state to goal state.

Brute-Force Search Strategies

They are most simple, as they do not need any domain-specific knowledge. They work fine
with small number of possible states.
Requirements −

• State description
• A set of valid operators
• Initial state
• Goal state description
Breadth-First Search
It starts from the root node, explores the neighboring nodes first and moves towards the
next level neighbors. It generates one tree at a time until the solution is found. It can be
implemented using FIFO queue data structure. This method provides shortest path to the
solution.
If branching factor (average number of child nodes for a given node) = b and depth = d,
then number of nodes at level d = bd.
The total no of nodes created in worst case is b + b2 + b3 + … + bd.
Disadvantage − Since each level of nodes is saved for creating next one, it consumes a lot
of memory space. Space requirement to store nodes is exponential.
Its complexity depends on the number of nodes. It can check duplicate nodes.

Depth-First Search
It is implemented in recursion with LIFO stack data structure. It creates the same set of
nodes as Breadth-First method, only in the different order.
As the nodes on the single path are stored in each iteration from root to leaf node, the space
requirement to store nodes is linear. With branching factor b and depth as m, the storage
space is bm.
Disadvantage − This algorithm may not terminate and go on infinitely on one path. The
solution to this issue is to choose a cut-off depth. If the ideal cut-off is d, and if chosen cut-
off is lesser than d, then this algorithm may fail. If chosen cut-off is more than d, then
execution time increases.
Its complexity depends on the number of paths. It cannot check duplicate nodes.
Bidirectional Search
It searches forward from initial state and backward from goal state till both meet to identify
a common state.
The path from initial state is concatenated with the inverse path from the goal state. Each
search is done only up to half of the total path.
Uniform Cost Search
Sorting is done in increasing cost of the path to a node. It always expands the least cost node.
It is identical to Breadth First search if each transition has the same cost.
It explores paths in the increasing order of cost.
Disadvantage − There can be multiple long paths with the cost ≤ C*. Uniform Cost search
must explore them all.
Iterative Deepening Depth-First Search
It performs depth-first search to level 1, starts over, executes a complete depth-first search
to level 2, and continues in such way till the solution is found.
It never creates a node until all lower nodes are generated. It only saves a stack of nodes.
The algorithm ends when it finds a solution at depth d. The number of nodes created at
depth d is bd and at depth d-1 is bd-1.
Comparison of Various Algorithms Complexities
Let us see the performance of algorithms based on various criteria −

Breadth Depth Uniform Interactive

Criterion Bidirectional
First First Cost Deepening

Time bd bm bd/2 bd bd

Space bd bm bd/2 bd bd

Optimality Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Completeness Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Informed (Heuristic) Search Strategies

To solve large problems with large number of possible states, problem-specific knowledge
needs to be added to increase the efficiency of search algorithms.
Heuristic Evaluation Functions
They calculate the cost of optimal path between two states. A heuristic function for sliding-
tiles games is computed by counting number of moves that each tile makes from its goal
state and adding these number of moves for all tiles.
Pure Heuristic Search
It expands nodes in the order of their heuristic values. It creates two lists, a closed list for
the already expanded nodes and an open list for the created but unexpanded nodes.
In each iteration, a node with a minimum heuristic value is expanded, all its child nodes are
created and placed in the closed list. Then, the heuristic function is applied to the child
nodes and they are placed in the open list according to their heuristic value. The shorter
paths are saved and the longer ones are disposed.
A * Search
It is best-known form of Best First search. It avoids expanding paths that are already
expensive, but expands most promising paths first.
f(n) = g(n) + h(n), where

• g(n) the cost (so far) to reach the node

 • h(n) estimated cost to get from the node to the goal
• f(n) estimated total cost of path through n to goal. It is implemented using priority
queue by increasing f(n).
Greedy Best First Search
It expands the node that is estimated to be closest to goal. It expands nodes based on f(n) =
h(n). It is implemented using priority queue.
Disadvantage − It can get stuck in loops. It is not optimal.

Local Search Algorithms

They start from a prospective solution and then move to a neighboring solution. They can
return a valid solution even if it is interrupted at any time before they end.
Hill-Climbing Search
It is an iterative algorithm that starts with an arbitrary solution to a problem and attempts
to find a better solution by changing a single element of the solution incrementally. If the
change produces a better solution, an incremental change is taken as a new solution. This
process is repeated until there are no further improvements.
function Hill-Climbing (problem), returns a state that is a local maximum.
inputs: problem, a problem
local variables: current, a node
neighbor, a node
current <-Make_Node(Initial-State[problem])
loop
do neighbor <- a highest_valued successor of current
if Value[neighbor] ≤ Value[current] then
return State[current]
current <- neighbor

end
Disadvantage − This algorithm is neither complete, nor optimal.
Local Beam Search
In this algorithm, it holds k number of states at any given time. At the start, these states are
generated randomly. The successors of these k states are computed with the help of
objective function. If any of these successors is the maximum value of the objective function,
then the algorithm stops.
Otherwise the (initial k states and k number of successors of the states = 2k) states are
placed in a pool. The pool is then sorted numerically. The highest k states are selected as
new initial states. This process continues until a maximum value is reached.
function BeamSearch( problem, k), returns a solution state.
start with k randomly generated states
loop
generate all successors of all k states
if any of the states = solution, then return the state
else select the k best successors
end
Simulated Annealing
Annealing is the process of heating and cooling a metal to change its internal structure for
modifying its physical properties. When the metal cools, its new structure is seized, and the
metal retains its newly obtained properties. In simulated annealing process, the
temperature is kept variable.
We initially set the temperature high and then allow it to ‘cool' slowly as the algorithm
proceeds. When the temperature is high, the algorithm is allowed to accept worse solutions
with high frequency.
Start

• Initialize k = 0; L = integer number of variables;

• From i → j, search the performance difference Δ.
• If Δ <= 0 then accept else if exp(-Δ/T(k)) > random(0,1) then accept;
• Repeat steps 1 and 2 for L(k) steps.
• k = k + 1;
Repeat steps 1 through 4 till the criteria is met.
End
Travelling Salesman Problem
In this algorithm, the objective is to find a low-cost tour that starts from a city, visits all cities
en-route exactly once and ends at the same starting city.
Start
Find out all (n -1)! Possible solutions, where n is the total number of cities.
Determine the minimum cost by finding out the cost of each of these (n -1)! solutions.
Finally, keep the one with the minimum cost.
end
Fuzzy Logic Systems
Fuzzy Logic Systems (FLS) produce acceptable but definite output in response to
incomplete, ambiguous, distorted, or inaccurate (fuzzy) input.

What is Fuzzy Logic?

Fuzzy Logic (FL) is a method of reasoning that resembles human reasoning. The approach
of FL imitates the way of decision making in humans that involves all intermediate
possibilities between digital values YES and NO.
The conventional logic block that a computer can understand takes precise input and
produces a definite output as TRUE or FALSE, which is equivalent to human’s YES or NO.
The inventor of fuzzy logic, Lotfi Zadeh, observed that unlike computers, the human
decision making includes a range of possibilities between YES and NO, such as −
CERTAINLY YES
POSSIBLY YES
CANNOT SAY
POSSIBLY NO
CERTAINLY NO
The fuzzy logic works on the levels of possibilities of input to achieve the definite output.

Implementation

• It can be implemented in systems with various sizes and capabilities ranging from
small micro-controllers to large, networked, workstation-based control systems.
• It can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both.

Why Fuzzy Logic?

Fuzzy logic is useful for commercial and practical purposes.

• It can control machines and consumer products.

• It may not give accurate reasoning, but acceptable reasoning.
• Fuzzy logic helps to deal with the uncertainty in engineering.

Fuzzy Logic Systems Architecture

It has four main parts as shown −

• Fuzzification Module − It transforms the system inputs, which are crisp numbers,
into fuzzy sets. It splits the input signal into five steps such as −
 LP x is Large Positive

MP x is Medium Positive

S x is Small

MN x is Medium Negative

LN x is Large Negative

• Knowledge Base − It stores IF-THEN rules provided by experts.

• Inference Engine − It simulates the human reasoning process by making fuzzy
inference on the inputs and IF-THEN rules.
• Defuzzification Module − It transforms the fuzzy set obtained by the inference
engine into a crisp value.

The membership functions work on fuzzy sets of variables.

Membership Function

Membership functions allow you to quantify linguistic term and represent a fuzzy set
graphically. A membership function for a fuzzy set A on the universe of discourse X is
defined as μA:X → [0,1].
Here, each element of X is mapped to a value between 0 and 1. It is called membership
value or degree of membership. It quantifies the degree of membership of the element
in X to the fuzzy set A.
 • x axis represents the universe of discourse.
• y axis represents the degrees of membership in the [0, 1] interval.
There can be multiple membership functions applicable to fuzzify a numerical value. Simple
membership functions are used as use of complex functions does not add more precision in
the output.
All membership functions for LP, MP, S, MN, and LN are shown as below −

The triangular membership function shapes are most common among various other
membership function shapes such as trapezoidal, singleton, and Gaussian.
Here, the input to 5-level fuzzifier varies from -10 volts to +10 volts. Hence the
corresponding output also changes.

Example of a Fuzzy Logic System

Let us consider an air conditioning system with 5-level fuzzy logic system. This system
adjusts the temperature of air conditioner by comparing the room temperature and the
target temperature value.
Algorithm

• Define linguistic Variables and terms (start)

• Construct membership functions for them. (start)
• Construct knowledge base of rules (start)
• Convert crisp data into fuzzy data sets using membership functions. (fuzzification)
• Evaluate rules in the rule base. (Inference Engine)
• Combine results from each rule. (Inference Engine)
• Convert output data into non-fuzzy values. (defuzzification)

Development

Step 1 − Define linguistic variables and terms

Linguistic variables are input and output variables in the form of simple words or sentences.
For room temperature, cold, warm, hot, etc., are linguistic terms.
Temperature (t) = {very-cold, cold, warm, very-warm, hot}
Every member of this set is a linguistic term and it can cover some portion of overall
temperature values.
Step 2 − Construct membership functions for them
The membership functions of temperature variable are as shown −

Step3 − Construct knowledge base rules

Create a matrix of room temperature values versus target temperature values that an air
conditioning system is expected to provide.
RoomTemp.
Very_Cold Cold Warm Hot Very_Hot
/Target

Very_Cold No_Change Heat Heat Heat Heat

Cold Cool No_Change Heat Heat Heat

Warm Cool Cool No_Change Heat Heat

Hot Cool Cool Cool No_Change Heat

Very_Hot Cool Cool Cool Cool No_Change

Build a set of rules into the knowledge base in the form of IF-THEN-ELSE structures.

Sr. No. Condition Action

1 IF temperature=(Cold OR Very_Cold) AND target=Warm THEN Heat

2 IF temperature=(Hot OR Very_Hot) AND target=Warm THEN Cool

3 IF (temperature=Warm) AND (target=Warm) THEN No_Change

Step 4 − Obtain fuzzy value

Fuzzy set operations perform evaluation of rules. The operations used for OR and AND are
Max and Min respectively. Combine all results of evaluation to form a final result. This result
is a fuzzy value.
Step 5 − Perform defuzzification
Defuzzification is then performed according to membership function for output variable.
Application Areas of Fuzzy Logic

The key application areas of fuzzy logic are as given −

Automotive Systems

• Automatic Gearboxes
• Four-Wheel Steering
• Vehicle environment control
Consumer Electronic Goods

• Hi-Fi Systems
• Photocopiers
• Still and Video Cameras
• Television
Domestic Goods

• Microwave Ovens
• Refrigerators
• Toasters
• Vacuum Cleaners
• Washing Machines
Environment Control

• Air Conditioners/Dryers/Heaters
• Humidifiers
Advantages of FLSs

• Mathematical concepts within fuzzy reasoning are very simple.

• You can modify a FLS by just adding or deleting rules due to flexibility of fuzzy logic.
• Fuzzy logic Systems can take imprecise, distorted, noisy input information.
• FLSs are easy to construct and understand.
• Fuzzy logic is a solution to complex problems in all fields of life, including medicine,
as it resembles human reasoning and decision making.

Disadvantages of FLSs

• There is no systematic approach to fuzzy system designing.

• They are understandable only when simple.
• They are suitable for the problems which do not need high accuracy.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP) refers to AI method of communicating with an
intelligent system using a natural language such as English.
Processing of Natural Language is required when you want an intelligent system like robot
to perform as per your instructions, when you want to hear decision from a dialogue based
clinical expert system, etc.
The field of NLP involves making computers to perform useful tasks with the natural
languages humans use. The input and output of an NLP system can be −

• Speech
• Written Text

Components of NLP

There are two components of NLP as given −

Natural Language Understanding (NLU)

Understanding involves the following tasks −

• Mapping the given input in natural language into useful representations.

• Analyzing different aspects of the language.

Natural Language Generation (NLG)

It is the process of producing meaningful phrases and sentences in the form of natural
language from some internal representation.
It involves −
• Text planning − It includes retrieving the relevant content from knowledge base.
• Sentence planning − It includes choosing required words, forming meaningful
phrases, setting tone of the sentence.
• Text Realization − It is mapping sentence plan into sentence structure.
The NLU is harder than NLG.

Difficulties in NLU

NL has an extremely rich form and structure.

It is very ambiguous. There can be different levels of ambiguity −
• Lexical ambiguity − It is at very primitive level such as word-level.
 • For example, treating the word “board” as noun or verb?
• Syntax Level ambiguity − A sentence can be parsed in different ways.
• For example, “He lifted the beetle with red cap.” − Did he use cap to lift the beetle or
he lifted a beetle that had red cap?
• Referential ambiguity − Referring to something using pronouns. For example, Rima
went to Gauri. She said, “I am tired.” − Exactly who is tired?
• One input can mean different meanings.
• Many inputs can mean the same thing.

NLP Terminology

• Phonology − It is study of organizing sound systematically.

• Morphology − It is a study of construction of words from primitive meaningful units.
• Morpheme − It is primitive unit of meaning in a language.
• Syntax − It refers to arranging words to make a sentence. It also involves
determining the structural role of words in the sentence and in phrases.
• Semantics − It is concerned with the meaning of words and how to combine words
into meaningful phrases and sentences.
• Pragmatics − It deals with using and understanding sentences in different situations
and how the interpretation of the sentence is affected.
• Discourse − It deals with how the immediately preceding sentence can affect the
interpretation of the next sentence.
• World Knowledge − It includes the general knowledge about the world.

Steps in NLP

There are general five steps −

• Lexical Analysis − It involves identifying and analyzing the structure of words.
Lexicon of a language means the collection of words and phrases in a language.
Lexical analysis is dividing the whole chunk of txt into paragraphs, sentences, and
words.
• Syntactic Analysis (Parsing) − It involves analysis of words in the sentence for
grammar and arranging words in a manner that shows the relationship among the
words. The sentence such as “The school goes to boy” is rejected by English syntactic
analyzer.
 • Semantic Analysis − It draws the exact meaning or the dictionary meaning from the
text. The text is checked for meaningfulness. It is done by mapping syntactic
structures and objects in the task domain. The semantic analyzer disregards
sentence such as “hot ice-cream”.
• Discourse Integration − The meaning of any sentence depends upon the meaning
of the sentence just before it. In addition, it also brings about the meaning of
immediately succeeding sentence.
• Pragmatic Analysis − During this, what was said is re-interpreted on what it actually
meant. It involves deriving those aspects of language which require real world
knowledge.

Implementation Aspects of Syntactic Analysis

There are a number of algorithms researchers have developed for syntactic analysis, but we
consider only the following simple methods −

• Context-Free Grammar
• Top-Down Parser
Let us see them in detail −
Context-Free Grammar

It is the grammar that consists rules with a single symbol on the left-hand side of the rewrite
rules. Let us create grammar to parse a sentence −
“The bird pecks the grains”
Articles (DET) − a | an | the
Nouns − bird | birds | grain | grains
Noun Phrase (NP) − Article + Noun | Article + Adjective + Noun
= DET N | DET ADJ N
Verbs − pecks | pecking | pecked
Verb Phrase (VP) − NP V | V NP
Adjectives (ADJ) − beautiful | small | chirping
The parse tree breaks down the sentence into structured parts so that the computer can
easily understand and process it. In order for the parsing algorithm to construct this parse
tree, a set of rewrite rules, which describe what tree structures are legal, need to be
constructed.
These rules say that a certain symbol may be expanded in the tree by a sequence of other
symbols. According to first order logic rule, if there are two strings Noun Phrase (NP) and
Verb Phrase (VP), then the string combined by NP followed by VP is a sentence. The rewrite
rules for the sentence are as follows −
S → NP VP
NP → DET N | DET ADJ N
VP → V NP
Lexocon −
DET → a | the
ADJ → beautiful | perching
N → bird | birds | grain | grains
V → peck | pecks | pecking
The parse tree can be created as shown −
Now consider the above rewrite rules. Since V can be replaced by both, "peck" or "pecks",
sentences such as "The bird peck the grains" can be wrongly permitted. i. e. the subject-verb
agreement error is approved as correct.
Merit − The simplest style of grammar, therefore widely used one.
Demerits −
• They are not highly precise. For example, “The grains peck the bird”, is a syntactically
correct according to parser, but even if it makes no sense, parser takes it as a correct
sentence.
• To bring out high precision, multiple sets of grammar need to be prepared. It may
require a completely different sets of rules for parsing singular and plural variations,
passive sentences, etc., which can lead to creation of huge set of rules that are
unmanageable.

Top-Down Parser

Here, the parser starts with the S symbol and attempts to rewrite it into a sequence
of terminal symbols that matches the classes of the words in the input sentence until it
consists entirely of terminal symbols.
These are then checked with the input sentence to see if it matched. If not, the process is
started over again with a different set of rules. This is repeated until a specific rule is found
which describes the structure of the sentence.
Merit − It is simple to implement.
Demerits −

• It is inefficient, as the search process has to be repeated if an error occurs.

• Slow speed of working.
Expert Systems
Expert systems (ES) are one of the prominent research domains of AI. It is introduced by
the researchers at Stanford University, Computer Science Department.

What are Expert Systems?

The expert systems are the computer applications developed to solve complex problems in
a particular domain, at the level of extra-ordinary human intelligence and expertise.
Characteristics of Expert Systems

• High performance
• Understandable
• Reliable
• Highly responsive

Capabilities of Expert Systems

The expert systems are capable of −

• Advising
• Instructing and assisting human in decision making
• Demonstrating
• Deriving a solution
• Diagnosing
• Explaining
• Interpreting input
• Predicting results
• Justifying the conclusion
• Suggesting alternative options to a problem
They are incapable of −

• Substituting human decision makers

• Possessing human capabilities
• Producing accurate output for inadequate knowledge base
• Refining their own knowledge

Components of Expert Systems

The components of ES include −

 • Knowledge Base
• Inference Engine
• User Interface
Let us see them one by one briefly −

Knowledge Base

It contains domain-specific and high-quality knowledge.

Knowledge is required to exhibit intelligence. The success of any ES majorly depends upon
the collection of highly accurate and precise knowledge.
What is Knowledge?
The data is collection of facts. The information is organized as data and facts about the task
domain. Data, information, and past experience combined together are termed as
knowledge.
Components of Knowledge Base
The knowledge base of an ES is a store of both, factual and heuristic knowledge.
• Factual Knowledge − It is the information widely accepted by the Knowledge
Engineers and scholars in the task domain.
• Heuristic Knowledge − It is about practice, accurate judgement, one’s ability of
evaluation, and guessing.
Knowledge representation
It is the method used to organize and formalize the knowledge in the knowledge base. It is
in the form of IF-THEN-ELSE rules.
Knowledge Acquisition
The success of any expert system majorly depends on the quality, completeness, and
accuracy of the information stored in the knowledge base.
The knowledge base is formed by readings from various experts, scholars, and
the Knowledge Engineers. The knowledge engineer is a person with the qualities of
empathy, quick learning, and case analyzing skills.
He acquires information from subject expert by recording, interviewing, and observing him
at work, etc. He then categorizes and organizes the information in a meaningful way, in the
form of IF-THEN-ELSE rules, to be used by interference machine. The knowledge engineer
also monitors the development of the ES.

Inference Engine

Use of efficient procedures and rules by the Inference Engine is essential in deducting a
correct, flawless solution.
In case of knowledge-based ES, the Inference Engine acquires and manipulates the
knowledge from the knowledge base to arrive at a particular solution.
In case of rule based ES, it −
• Applies rules repeatedly to the facts, which are obtained from earlier rule application.
• Adds new knowledge into the knowledge base if required.
• Resolves rules conflict when multiple rules are applicable to a particular case.
To recommend a solution, the Inference Engine uses the following strategies −

• Forward Chaining
• Backward Chaining
Forward Chaining
It is a strategy of an expert system to answer the question, “What can happen next?”
Here, the Inference Engine follows the chain of conditions and derivations and finally
deduces the outcome. It considers all the facts and rules, and sorts them before concluding
to a solution.
This strategy is followed for working on conclusion, result, or effect. For example, prediction
of share market status as an effect of changes in interest rates.
Backward Chaining
With this strategy, an expert system finds out the answer to the question, “Why this
happened?”
On the basis of what has already happened, the Inference Engine tries to find out which
conditions could have happened in the past for this result. This strategy is followed for
finding out cause or reason. For example, diagnosis of blood cancer in humans.

User Interface

User interface provides interaction between user of the ES and the ES itself. It is generally
Natural Language Processing so as to be used by the user who is well-versed in the task
domain. The user of the ES need not be necessarily an expert in Artificial Intelligence.
It explains how the ES has arrived at a particular recommendation. The explanation may
appear in the following forms −

• Natural language displayed on screen.

• Verbal narrations in natural language.
• Listing of rule numbers displayed on the screen.
The user interface makes it easy to trace the credibility of the deductions.
Requirements of Efficient ES User Interface
• It should help users to accomplish their goals in shortest possible way.
 • It should be designed to work for user’s existing or desired work practices.
• Its technology should be adaptable to user’s requirements; not the other way round.
• It should make efficient use of user input.

Expert Systems Limitations

No technology can offer easy and complete solution. Large systems are costly, require
significant development time, and computer resources. ESs have their limitations which
include −

• Limitations of the technology

• Difficult knowledge acquisition
• ES are difficult to maintain
• High development costs

Applications of Expert System

The following table shows where ES can be applied.

Application Description

Design Domain Camera lens design, automobile design.

Diagnosis Systems to deduce cause of disease from observed data,

Medical Domain
conduction medical operations on humans.

Comparing data continuously with observed system or with

Monitoring Systems prescribed behavior such as leakage monitoring in long petroleum
pipeline.

Process Control Systems Controlling a physical process based on monitoring.

Knowledge Domain Finding out faults in vehicles, computers.

Detection of possible fraud, suspicious transactions, stock market

Finance/Commerce
trading, Airline scheduling, cargo scheduling.
Expert System Technology

There are several levels of ES technologies available. Expert systems technologies include −
• Expert System Development Environment − The ES development environment
includes hardware and tools. They are −
o Workstations, minicomputers, mainframes.
o High level Symbolic Programming Languages such as LISt Programming
(LISP) and PROgrammation en LOGique (PROLOG).
o Large databases.
• Tools − They reduce the effort and cost involved in developing an expert system to
large extent.
o Powerful editors and debugging tools with multi-windows.
o They provide rapid prototyping
o Have Inbuilt definitions of model, knowledge representation, and inference
design.
• Shells − A shell is nothing but an expert system without knowledge base. A shell
provides the developers with knowledge acquisition, inference engine, user
interface, and explanation facility. For example, few shells are given below −
o Java Expert System Shell (JESS) that provides fully developed Java API for
creating an expert system.
o Vidwan, a shell developed at the National Centre for Software Technology,
Mumbai in 1993. It enables knowledge encoding in the form of IF-THEN rules.

Development of Expert Systems: General Steps

The process of ES development is iterative. Steps in developing the ES include −

Identify Problem Domain

• The problem must be suitable for an expert system to solve it.

• Find the experts in task domain for the ES project.
• Establish cost-effectiveness of the system.
Design the System
• Identify the ES Technology
• Know and establish the degree of integration with the other systems and databases.
• Realize how the concepts can represent the domain knowledge best.
Develop the Prototype
From Knowledge Base: The knowledge engineer works to −

• Acquire domain knowledge from the expert.

• Represent it in the form of If-THEN-ELSE rules.
Test and Refine the Prototype
• The knowledge engineer uses sample cases to test the prototype for any deficiencies
in performance.
• End users test the prototypes of the ES.
Develop and Complete the ES
• Test and ensure the interaction of the ES with all elements of its environment,
including end users, databases, and other information systems.
• Document the ES project well.
• Train the user to use ES.
Maintain the System
• Keep the knowledge base up-to-date by regular review and update.
• Cater for new interfaces with other information systems, as those systems evolve.

Benefits of Expert Systems

• Availability − They are easily available due to mass production of software.

• Less Production Cost − Production cost is reasonable. This makes them affordable.
• Speed − They offer great speed. They reduce the amount of work an individual puts
in.
• Less Error Rate − Error rate is low as compared to human errors.
• Reducing Risk − They can work in the environment dangerous to humans.
• Steady response − They work steadily without getting motional, tensed or fatigued.
Robotics
Robotics is a domain in artificial intelligence that deals with the study of creating intelligent
and efficient robots.

What are Robots?

Robots are the artificial agents acting in real world environment.

Objective

Robots are aimed at manipulating the objects by perceiving, picking, moving, modifying the
physical properties of object, destroying it, or to have an effect thereby freeing manpower
from doing repetitive functions without getting bored, distracted, or exhausted.

What is Robotics?

Robotics is a branch of AI, which is composed of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical

Engineering, and Computer Science for designing, construction, and application of robots.

Aspects of Robotics

• The robots have mechanical construction, form, or shape designed to accomplish a

particular task.
• They have electrical components which power and control the machinery.
• They contain some level of computer program that determines what, when and
how a robot does something.

Difference in Robot System and Other AI Program

Here is the difference between the two −

AI Programs Robots

They usually operate in computer- They operate in real physical world

stimulated worlds.

The input to an AI program is in Inputs to robots is analog signal in the form of

symbols and rules. speech waveform or images
 They need general purpose computers They need special hardware with sensors and
to operate on. effectors.

Robot Locomotion

Locomotion is the mechanism that makes a robot capable of moving in its environment.
There are various types of locomotions −

• Legged
• Wheeled
• Combination of Legged and Wheeled Locomotion
• Tracked slip/skid

Legged Locomotion

• This type of locomotion consumes more power while demonstrating walk, jump, trot,
hop, climb up or down, etc.
• It requires more number of motors to accomplish a movement. It is suited for rough
as well as smooth terrain where irregular or too smooth surface makes it consume
more power for a wheeled locomotion. It is little difficult to implement because of
stability issues.
• It comes with the variety of one, two, four, and six legs. If a robot has multiple legs
then leg coordination is necessary for locomotion.
The total number of possible gaits (a periodic sequence of lift and release events for each
of the total legs) a robot can travel depends upon the number of its legs.
If a robot has k legs, then the number of possible events N = (2k-1)!.
In case of a two-legged robot (k=2), the number of possible events is N = (2k-1)! = (2*2-1)!
= 3! = 6.
Hence there are six possible different events −

• Lifting the Left leg

• Releasing the Left leg
• Lifting the Right leg
• Releasing the Right leg
• Lifting both the legs together
• Releasing both the legs together
In case of k=6 legs, there are 39916800 possible events. Hence the complexity of robots is
directly proportional to the number of legs.
Wheeled Locomotion

It requires fewer number of motors to accomplish a movement. It is little easy to implement

as there are less stability issues in case of more number of wheels. It is power efficient as
compared to legged locomotion.
• Standard wheel − Rotates around the wheel axle and around the contact
• Castor wheel − Rotates around the wheel axle and the offset steering joint.
• Swedish 45o and Swedish 90o wheels − Omni-wheel, rotates around the contact
point, around the wheel axle, and around the rollers.
• Ball or spherical wheel − Omnidirectional wheel, technically difficult to implement.

Slip/Skid Locomotion

In this type, the vehicles use tracks as in a tank. The robot is steered by moving the tracks
with different speeds in the same or opposite direction. It offers stability because of large
contact area of track and ground.
Components of a Robot

Robots are constructed with the following −

• Power Supply − The robots are powered by batteries, solar power, hydraulic, or
pneumatic power sources.
• Actuators − They convert energy into movement.
• Electric motors (AC/DC) − They are required for rotational movement.
• Pneumatic Air Muscles − They contract almost 40% when air is sucked in them.
• Muscle Wires − They contract by 5% when electric current is passed through them.
• Piezo Motors and Ultrasonic Motors − Best for industrial robots.
• Sensors − They provide knowledge of real time information on the task
environment. Robots are equipped with vision sensors to be to compute the depth
in the environment. A tactile sensor imitates the mechanical properties of touch
receptors of human fingertips.

Computer Vision

This is a technology of AI with which the robots can see. The computer vision plays vital
role in the domains of safety, security, health, access, and entertainment.
Computer vision automatically extracts, analyzes, and comprehends useful information
from a single image or an array of images. This process involves development of algorithms
to accomplish automatic visual comprehension.

Hardware of Computer Vision System

This involves −

• Power supply
• Image acquisition device such as camera
• A processor
 • A software
• A display device for monitoring the system
• Accessories such as camera stands, cables, and connectors

Tasks of Computer Vision

• OCR − In the domain of computers, Optical Character Reader, a software to convert

scanned documents into editable text, which accompanies a scanner.
• Face Detection − Many state-of-the-art cameras come with this feature, which
enables to read the face and take the picture of that perfect expression. It is used to
let a user access the software on correct match.
• Object Recognition − They are installed in supermarkets, cameras, high-end cars
such as BMW, GM, and Volvo.
• Estimating Position − It is estimating position of an object with respect to camera
as in position of tumor in human’s body.

Application Domains of Computer Vision

• Agriculture
• Autonomous vehicles
• Biometrics
• Character recognition
• Forensics, security, and surveillance
• Industrial quality inspection
• Face recognition
• Gesture analysis
• Geoscience
• Medical imagery
• Pollution monitoring
• Process control
• Remote sensing
• Robotics
• Transport

Applications of Robotics

The robotics has been instrumental in the various domains such as −

• Industries − Robots are used for handling material, cutting, welding, color coating,
drilling, polishing, etc.
• Military − Autonomous robots can reach inaccessible and hazardous zones during
war. A robot named Daksh, developed by Defense Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), is in function to destroy life-threatening objects safely.
• Medicine − The robots are capable of carrying out hundreds of clinical tests
simultaneously, rehabilitating permanently disabled people, and performing
complex surgeries such as brain tumors.
• Exploration − The robot rock climbers used for space exploration, underwater
drones used for ocean exploration are to name a few.
• Entertainment − Disney’s engineers have created hundreds of robots for movie
making.
Neural Networks
Yet another research area in AI, neural networks, is inspired from the natural neural
network of human nervous system.

What are Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)?

The inventor of the first neurocomputer, Dr. Robert Hecht-Nielsen, defines a neural network
as −
"...a computing system made up of a number of simple, highly interconnected processing
elements, which process information by their dynamic state response to external inputs.”

Basic Structure of ANNs

The idea of ANNs is based on the belief that working of human brain by making the right
connections, can be imitated using silicon and wires as living neurons and dendrites.
The human brain is composed of 86 billion nerve cells called neurons. They are connected
to other thousand cells by Axons. Stimuli from external environment or inputs from
sensory organs are accepted by dendrites. These inputs create electric impulses, which
quickly travel through the neural network. A neuron can then send the message to other
neuron to handle the issue or does not send it forward.

ANNs are composed of multiple nodes, which imitate biological neurons of human brain.
The neurons are connected by links and they interact with each other. The nodes can take
input data and perform simple operations on the data. The result of these operations is
passed to other neurons. The output at each node is called its activation or node value.
Each link is associated with weight. ANNs are capable of learning, which takes place by
altering weight values. The following illustration shows a simple ANN −
Types of Artificial Neural Networks

There are two Artificial Neural Network topologies − FeedForward and Feedback.
FeedForward ANN
In this ANN, the information flow is unidirectional. A unit sends information to other unit
from which it does not receive any information. There are no feedback loops. They are used
in pattern generation/recognition/classification. They have fixed inputs and outputs.

FeedBack ANN
Here, feedback loops are allowed. They are used in content addressable memories.
Working of ANNs

In the topology diagrams shown, each arrow represents a connection between two neurons
and indicates the pathway for the flow of information. Each connection has a weight, an
integer number that controls the signal between the two neurons.
If the network generates a “good or desired” output, there is no need to adjust the weights.
However, if the network generates a “poor or undesired” output or an error, then the system
alters the weights in order to improve subsequent results.

Machine Learning in ANNs

ANNs are capable of learning and they need to be trained. There are several learning
strategies −
• Supervised Learning − It involves a teacher that is scholar than the ANN itself. For
example, the teacher feeds some example data about which the teacher already
knows the answers.
For example, pattern recognizing. The ANN comes up with guesses while
recognizing. Then the teacher provides the ANN with the answers. The network then
compares it guesses with the teacher’s “correct” answers and makes adjustments
according to errors.
• Unsupervised Learning − It is required when there is no example data set with
known answers. For example, searching for a hidden pattern. In this case, clustering
i.e. dividing a set of elements into groups according to some unknown pattern is
carried out based on the existing data sets present.
• Reinforcement Learning − This strategy built on observation. The ANN makes a
decision by observing its environment. If the observation is negative, the network
adjusts its weights to be able to make a different required decision the next time.
Back Propagation Algorithm
It is the training or learning algorithm. It learns by example. If you submit to the algorithm
the example of what you want the network to do, it changes the network’s weights so that
it can produce desired output for a particular input on finishing the training.
Back Propagation networks are ideal for simple Pattern Recognition and Mapping Tasks.

Bayesian Networks (BN)

These are the graphical structures used to represent the probabilistic relationship among a
set of random variables. Bayesian networks are also called Belief Networks or Bayes
Nets. BNs reason about uncertain domain.
In these networks, each node represents a random variable with specific propositions. For
example, in a medical diagnosis domain, the node Cancer represents the proposition that a
patient has cancer.
The edges connecting the nodes represent probabilistic dependencies among those random
variables. If out of two nodes, one is affecting the other then they must be directly connected
in the directions of the effect. The strength of the relationship between variables is
quantified by the probability associated with each node.
There is an only constraint on the arcs in a BN that you cannot return to a node simply by
following directed arcs. Hence the BNs are called Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs).
BNs are capable of handling multivalued variables simultaneously. The BN variables are
composed of two dimensions −

• Range of prepositions
• Probability assigned to each of the prepositions.
Consider a finite set X = {X1, X2, …,Xn} of discrete random variables, where each
variable Xi may take values from a finite set, denoted by Val(Xi). If there is a directed link
from variable Xi to variable, Xj, then variable Xi will be a parent of variable Xj showing direct
dependencies between the variables.
The structure of BN is ideal for combining prior knowledge and observed data. BN can be
used to learn the causal relationships and understand various problem domains and to
predict future events, even in case of missing data.
Building a Bayesian Network
A knowledge engineer can build a Bayesian network. There are a number of steps the
knowledge engineer needs to take while building it.
Example problem − Lung cancer. A patient has been suffering from breathlessness. He
visits the doctor, suspecting he has lung cancer. The doctor knows that barring lung cancer,
there are various other possible diseases the patient might have such as tuberculosis and
bronchitis.
Gather Relevant Information of Problem

• Is the patient a smoker? If yes, then high chances of cancer and bronchitis.
• Is the patient exposed to air pollution? If yes, what sort of air pollution?
• Take an X-Ray positive X-ray would indicate either TB or lung cancer.
Identify Interesting Variables
The knowledge engineer tries to answer the questions −

• Which nodes to represent?

• What values can they take? In which state can they be?
For now let us consider nodes, with only discrete values. The variable must take on exactly
one of these values at a time.
Common types of discrete nodes are −
• Boolean nodes − They represent propositions, taking binary values TRUE (T) and
FALSE (F).
• Ordered values − A node Pollution might represent and take values from {low,
medium, high} describing degree of a patient’s exposure to pollution.
• Integral values − A node called Age might represent patient’s age with possible
values from 1 to 120. Even at this early stage, modeling choices are being made.
Possible nodes and values for the lung cancer example −

Node Type Value Nodes Creation

Name

Polution Binary {LOW,

HIGH,
MEDIUM}

Smoker Boolean {TRUE,

FASLE}

Lung- Boolean {TRUE,

Cancer FASLE}
 X-Ray Binary {Positive,
Negative}

Create Arcs between Nodes

Topology of the network should capture qualitative relationships between variables.
For example, what causes a patient to have lung cancer? - Pollution and smoking. Then add
arcs from node Pollution and node Smoker to node Lung-Cancer.
Similarly if patient has lung cancer, then X-ray result will be positive. Then add arcs from
node Lung-Cancer to node X-Ray.

Specify Topology
Conventionally, BNs are laid out so that the arcs point from top to bottom. The set of parent
nodes of a node X is given by Parents(X).
The Lung-Cancer node has two parents (reasons or causes): Pollution and Smoker, while
node Smoker is an ancestor of node X-Ray. Similarly, X-Ray is a child (consequence or
effects) of node Lung-Cancer and successor of nodes Smoker and Pollution.
Conditional Probabilities
Now quantify the relationships between connected nodes: this is done by specifying a
conditional probability distribution for each node. As only discrete variables are considered
here, this takes the form of a Conditional Probability Table (CPT).
First, for each node we need to look at all the possible combinations of values of those parent
nodes. Each such combination is called an instantiation of the parent set. For each distinct
instantiation of parent node values, we need to specify the probability that the child will
take.
For example, the Lung-Cancer node’s parents are Pollution and Smoking. They take the
possible values = { (H,T), ( H,F), (L,T), (L,F)}. The CPT specifies the probability of cancer for
each of these cases as <0.05, 0.02, 0.03, 0.001> respectively.
Each node will have conditional probability associated as follows −

Applications of Neural Networks

They can perform tasks that are easy for a human but difficult for a machine −
• Aerospace − Autopilot aircrafts, aircraft fault detection.
• Automotive − Automobile guidance systems.
• Military − Weapon orientation and steering, target tracking, object discrimination,
facial recognition, signal/image identification.
• Electronics − Code sequence prediction, IC chip layout, chip failure analysis,
machine vision, voice synthesis.
• Financial − Real estate appraisal, loan advisor, mortgage screening, corporate bond
rating, portfolio trading program, corporate financial analysis, currency value
prediction, document readers, credit application evaluators.
• Industrial − Manufacturing process control, product design and analysis, quality
inspection systems, welding quality analysis, paper quality prediction, chemical
product design analysis, dynamic modeling of chemical process systems, machine
maintenance analysis, project bidding, planning, and management.
• Medical − Cancer cell analysis, EEG and ECG analysis, prosthetic design, transplant
time optimizer.
• Speech − Speech recognition, speech classification, text to speech conversion.
• Telecommunications − Image and data compression, automated information
services, real-time spoken language translation.
• Transportation − Truck Brake system diagnosis, vehicle scheduling, routing
systems.
• Software − Pattern Recognition in facial recognition, optical character recognition,
etc.
• Time Series Prediction − ANNs are used to make predictions on stocks and natural
calamities.
• Signal Processing − Neural networks can be trained to process an audio signal and
filter it appropriately in the hearing aids.
• Control − ANNs are often used to make steering decisions of physical vehicles.
• Anomaly Detection − As ANNs are expert at recognizing patterns, they can also be
trained to generate an output when something unusual occurs that misfits the
pattern.
Issues
AI is developing with such an incredible speed, sometimes it seems magical. There is an
opinion among researchers and developers that AI could grow so immensely strong that it
would be difficult for humans to control.
Humans developed AI systems by introducing into them every possible intelligence they
could, for which the humans themselves now seem threatened.

Threat to Privacy

An AI program that recognizes speech and understands natural language is theoretically

capable of understanding each conversation on e-mails and telephones.

Threat to Human Dignity

AI systems have already started replacing the human beings in few industries. It should not
replace people in the sectors where they are holding dignified positions which are
pertaining to ethics such as nursing, surgeon, judge, police officer, etc.

Threat to Safety

The self-improving AI systems can become so mighty than humans that could be very
difficult to stop from achieving their goals, which may lead to unintended consequences.
Terminology
Here is the list of frequently used terms in the domain of AI −

Sr.No Term & Meaning

1 Agent
Agents are systems or software programs capable of autonomous, purposeful and
reasoning directed towards one or more goals. They are also called assistants, brokers,
bots, droids, intelligent agents, and software agents.

2 Autonomous Robot
Robot free from external control or influence and able to control itself independently.

3 Backward Chaining
Strategy of working backward for Reason/Cause of a problem.

4 Blackboard
It is the memory inside computer, which is used for communication between the
cooperating expert systems.

5 Environment
It is the part of real or computational world inhabited by the agent.

6 Forward Chaining
Strategy of working forward for conclusion/solution of a problem.

7 Heuristics
It is the knowledge based on Trial-and-error, evaluations, and experimentation.

8 Knowledge Engineering
Acquiring knowledge from human experts and other resources.
9 Percepts
It is the format in which the agent obtains information about the environment.

10 Pruning
Overriding unnecessary and irrelevant considerations in AI systems.

11 Rule
It is a format of representing knowledge base in Expert System. It is in the form of IF-
THEN-ELSE.

12 Shell
A shell is a software that helps in designing inference engine, knowledge base, and user
interface of an expert system.

13 Task
It is the goal the agent is tries to accomplish.

14 Turing Test
A test developed by Allan Turing to test the intelligence of a machine as compared to
human intelligence.