A knowledge server for reasoning about temporal constraints between classes and instances of events

An outstanding example of early Reformation dress, notice the geometric fabric design, the fur-trimmed collar of the coat, and the decorative shir

Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Spring Symposium on Practical Approaches to Scheduling and Planning

The symposium presented issues involved in the development of scheduling systems that can deal with resource and time limitations. To qualify, a system must be implemented and tested to some degree on non-trivial problems (ideally, on real-world problems). However, a system need not be fully deployed to qualify. Systems that schedule actions in terms of metric time constraints typically represent and reason about an external numeric clock or calendar and can be contrasted with those systems that represent time purely symbolically. The following topics are discussed: integrating planning and scheduling; integrating symbolic goals and numerical utilities; managing uncertainty; incremental rescheduling; managing limited computation time; anytime scheduling and planning algorithms, systems; dependency analysis and schedule reuse; management of schedule and plan execution; and incorporation of discrete event techniques

A Generic Library of Problem Solving Methods for Scheduling Applications

In this thesis we propose a generic library of scheduling problem-solving methods. As a first approximation, scheduling can be defined as an assignment of jobs and activities to resources and time ranges in accordance with a number of constraints and requirements. In some cases optimisation criteria may also be included in the problem specification. Although, several attempts have been made in the past at developing the libraries of scheduling problem-solvers, these only provide limited coverage. Many lack generality, as they subscribe to a particular scheduling domain. Others simply implement a particular problem-solving technique, which may be applicable only to a subset of the space of scheduling problems. In addition, most of these libraries fail to provide the required degree of depth and precision, which is needed both to obtain a formal account of scheduling problem solving and to provide effective support for development of scheduling applications by reuse. Our library subscribes to the Task-Method-Domain-Application (TMDA) knowledge modelling framework, which provides a structured organisation for the different components of the library. In line with the organisation proposed by TMDA, we first developed a generic scheduling task ontology, which formalises the space of scheduling problems independently of any particular application domain, or problem solving method. Then we constructed a task-specific, but domain independent model of scheduling problem-solving, which generalises from the variety of approaches to scheduling problem-solving, which can be found in literature. The generic nature of this model was demonstrated by constructing seven methods for scheduling, as alternative specialisation of the model. Finally, we validated our library on a number of applications to demonstrate its generic nature and effective support for the analysis and development of scheduling applications

Representation and recognition of action in interactive spaces

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-258).This thesis presents new theory and technology for the representation and recognition of complex, context-sensitive human actions in interactive spaces. To represent action and interaction a symbolic framework has been developed based on Roger Schank's conceptualizations, augmented by a mechanism to represent the temporal structure of the sub-actions based on Allen's interval algebra networks. To overcome the exponential nature of temporal constraint propagation in such networks, we have developed the PNF propagation algorithm based on the projection of IA-networks into simplified, 3-valued (past, now, future) constraint networks called PNF-networks. The PNF propagation algorithm has been applied to an action recognition vision system that handles actions composed of multiple, parallel threads of sub-actions, in situations that can not be efficiently dealt by the commonly used temporal representation schemes such as finite-state machines and HMMs. The PNF propagation algorithm is also the basis of interval scripts, a scripting paradigm for interactive systems that represents interaction as a set of temporal constraints between the individual components of the interaction. Unlike previously proposed non-procedural scripting methods, we use a strong temporal representation (allowing, for example, mutually exclusive actions) and perform control by propagating the temporal constraints in real-time. These concepts have been tested in the context of four projects involving story-driven interactive spaces. The action representation framework has been used in the Intelligent Studio project to enhance the control of automatic cameras in a TV studio. Interval scripts have been extensively employed in the development of "SingSong ", a short interactive performance that introduced the idea of live interaction with computer graphics characters; in "It/I", a full-length computer theater play; and in "It", an interactive art installation based on the play "It /I" that realizes our concept of immersive stages, that is, interactive spaces that can be used both by performers and public.by Claudio Santos Pinhanez.Ph.D

The 1991 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence

The purpose of this annual conference is to provide a forum in which current research and development directed at space applications of artificial intelligence can be presented and discussed. The papers in this proceeding fall into the following areas: Planning and scheduling, fault monitoring/diagnosis/recovery, machine vision, robotics, system development, information management, knowledge acquisition and representation, distributed systems, tools, neural networks, and miscellaneous applications

Proceedings of the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics, volume 1

The theme of the Conference was man-machine collaboration in space. Topics addressed include: redundant manipulators; man-machine systems; telerobot architecture; remote sensing and planning; navigation; neural networks; fundamental AI research; and reasoning under uncertainty