Link to audio file (38:11)

In this episode we dive into the revolution brought on by the field of probabilistic robotics with Claudio Mattiussi who is Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in Lausanne, Switzerland. We then launch a most “uncertain” competition to see how our listeners are able to cope with uncertainty in estimating the cleaning capabilities of our Roomba robot.

Claudio Mattiussi

As a Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the EPFL in Lausanne Switzerland, Claudio Mattiussi has been looking into the world of evolutionary computation, neural networks and machine learning applied to tasks such as reverse engineering gene regulatory networks, synthesizing neural networks, and designing electronic circuits. Thanks to his experience with real-world applications and years in industry, Mattiussi has become aware of the need to deal with uncertainty, which is present in most environments and living beings. As a solution, he presents the probabilistic or Bayesian approach to perceiving the world, with a touch of history, philosophy and projection. Rather than being against good old fashion artificial intelligence (GOFAI), or Brooks’ Behavior Based approach, he proposes the “uncertain” revolution using the probabilistic paradigm as being a compromise for the future.

Finally, he discusses how the probabilities can be used to make decisions on robot behavior using neural structures and evolutionary techniques.

Uncertain Contest

For a detailed view on some of the subjects presented in this show, win the new book on “Bio-Inspired Artificial Intelligence: Theories, Methods, and Technologies”
written by Dario Floreano and Claudio Mattiussi, out on the 30th of September 2008.

To make you apply your own probabilistic approaches to a concrete problem, we’ll be asking you to guess (or compute) the percentage of dirt collected by a Roomba robot in its own “uncertain” environment. We’re waiting for your vote by Wednesday, September 24th at 9AM GMT.

All the details for the competition can be found on our forum.

Links:

• Download mp3 (24MB)
• Subscribe to Robots using iTunes
• Subscribe to Robots using RSS
• Claudio Mattiussi’s Homepage
• The Laboratory of Intelligent Systems
• Book on Bio-Inspired Artificial Intelligence

Check out the Robots Forum for pictures, links, videos and some ongoing discussion for this episode’s news, including the most recent iRobot headlines, Rod Brooks’ new Heartland Robotics as well as the gigantic robot spider roaming Liverpool.

View and post comments on this episode in the forum