The first day of the conference comprises a range of tutorials and other events, to be held on Tuesday 10th December. Delegates will find these events to be especially valuable where there is a current need to consider the introduction of new AI technologies into their own organisations.
There are three streams, each with a morning and an afternoon session, and an all-day workshop (the seventh UK CBR Workshop). Delegates are free to choose any combination of morning and afternoon sessions to attend.
If you think that planning is all about building block-towers then this tutorial is your wake-up call! The last 5-7 years have seen unprecedented change in planning research and, if you only know about STRIPS, you are missing out on all the fun. This tutorial will give you a chance to catch up and find out what you have been missing. The tutorial includes coverage of the latest developments in metric and temporal planning as well as the foundations laid over the past few years that have led to these amazing new systems. Amongst other application areas, planning technology has a vital role to play in space technology (it is no coincidence that NASA has one of the biggest planning research groups in the world). This tutorial will show how you could help to put planners in space.
Stream 1: Afternoon
Applied Knowledge-Based Engineering
Dr Craig B. Chapman, University of Warwick
It has been confidently predicted that knowledge-based engineering (KBE), combined with solid modelling and analytical prototyping, will be the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process enabler for engineers. KBE will in the year 2010 be to companies what CAE/CAD/CAM was in the 1990s. This tutorial will give an introduction to the topic of knowledge-based engineering, highlighting the methods and tools being used. Industrial case studies from the aerospace, automotive and defence industries will be presented and discussed.
This tutorial will present a framework of ideas, under development since 1987, that provides a unified view of several AI-related topics including natural language processing, probabilistic reasoning, fuzzy pattern recognition, representation and use of ontologies, planning and problem solving, unsupervised learning, and aspects of mathematics and logic. This framework, called “information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search” (ICMAUS), is realised in the form of computer models that provide examples for the tutorial. The tutorial will describe the background to the ideas, the elements of the ICMAUS framework, and its range of applications. Further information may be found at http://www.cognitionresearch.org.uk/sp.htm.
Stream 2: Afternoon
Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing for Practical Applications
Dr Lars Nolle, The Nottingham Trent University
Real-world optimisation problems, e.g. in engineering, often require robust solutions. This tutorial will demonstrate how two well-known optimisation methods from the field of computational intelligence can be used for such technical applications. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are based on the concepts of inheritance, mutation and survival of the fittest, while simulated annealing (SA) is modelled on the physical processes of atomic alignment (i.e. annealing) of a metal. This practical session will show how epistasis, i.e. the degree of parameter interaction, can be used to select a suitable algorithm for a particular optimisation problem. The tutorial will demonstrate how to construct chromosome representations of pattern space to be used with GAs and how to select suitable parameters for GAs and SA for practical applications.
Knowledge management has emerged as an important area for the application of artificial intelligence. It is a topic of interest to both researchers and to corporations, as both work to understand knowledge, its capture and its reuse. The tutorial will give:
Increasingly, firms are looking for an edge against their competition. A number of AI-based approaches are providing that edge by exploiting the ability to facilitate integration across companies for e-business and to interpret and understand data.
The Web is providing an infrastructure that can be leveraged using AI. In addition, with information overload, there is a need to use AI to be able to process the available information.
Papers are welcome on any use of artificial intelligence for business applications. The deadline is September 30th 2002. Click here for further information.
UK CBR7: the 7th UK CBR Workshop
The workshop embraces all aspects of case-based reasoning and its practical applications. Possible topics include but are not restricted to: