Engineering emotionally intelligent agents

[Introduction]: Traditionally, philosophers have defined emotions to be interruptions to otherwise logical states of being (Smith & Kirby, 2000). The recent resurgence of research in the emotional realm in both psychology and cognitive science agrees with the view developed by the late Charles Darwin who, in the late 1800s, conceived that emotions play an important part in our cognition and serve to provide us with the mechanisms for adaptive behaviour in a dynamically complex world (Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). One relevant line of research is the realm of Affective Computing. This relatively new domain examines the effect that emotions have on human intelligence and endeavors to use this to further enhance the field of artificial intelligence (AI). How the concept of emotions might heighten the intelligent functioning of artificial beings is still unclear, but through the variety of research programs that currently exist, areas that might benefit are being identified. In this domain much work is being done to develop artificial intelligences capable of identifying, processing and synthesizing emotions. Picard (1997) suggests that emotions are an integral part and a natural progression for AI. She further states that: ‘... the inability of today’s computers to recognize, express, and have emotions, severely limits their ability to act intelligently and interact naturally with us’. Emotional decision making provides a good solution for computer systems that face the problem of enumerating and evaluating multitudinous choices within an acceptable time frame. One application of AI that is benefiting by integrating emotional decision making mechanisms is that of intelligent agents. The word agent is used within the AI domain to refer to a number of different applications. The most popular use of the term pertains to an autonomous artificial being that has the ability to interact intelligently within a temporally dynamic environment

Artificial life possibilities: a Star Trek perspective

The Star Trek series has inspired not only armchair fans, but also the researchers who are trying to better the human race, developing the devices of the future, and struggling to conquer space travel. The Star Trek series was also the inspiration for this book, which examines the artificial intelligences portrayed in the shows. The question we'll be asking throughout this book is, 'How do we get from where we are now to the point where we are able to create truly exceptional artificial beings such as Holodeck characters, Lieutenant Commander Data, and the Emergency Medical Hologram?' In order to answer this, we'll examine where we are right now and extrapolate where we are heading. Throughout the book a passion for Star Trek is integrated with academic research from the AI, A-Life, and Robotics domains, which are presented in an easy to understand way-- bypassing the technobabble and mind-blowing mathematics. The book examines the characteristics and capabilities of Star Trek's artificial life forms and compares them with current technologies in an attempt to predict if we'll ever create such advanced beings. It is written to provide both the serious Trekker and the occasional voyeur with a handbook of the current techniques and devices available in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, and artificial life. It examines the development of artificial life forms such as Data and the EMH from the bottom up, including their physical creation programming, and metaphysical aspects such as personality and emotions to determine if such beings might some day be a reality. CONTENTS: Preface Introduction Part I Body Chapter 1 Positrons, Neurons, and the Android Brain Chapter 2 Physical Beings Chapter 3 Holographic Beings Chapter 4 Sensing the Environment Part II Mind Chapter 5 Presence of Mind Chapter 6 Representing and Storing Knowledge Chapter 7 Thinking and Reasoning Chapter 8 Beyond Their Original Programming Part III Soul Chapter 9 Imagination and Creativity Chapter 10 Humor Chapter 11 Emotions Chapter 12 How to Make Friends and Influence Humans Epilogue Chapter 13 Intelligence and Fooling the Turing Testers Chapter 14 Future’s End (VOY#150,151

Emotional influences on perception in artificial agents

This paper proposes a model of emotionally influenced perception in an affective agent. Via a multidimensional representation of emotion, a mechanism called the affective space is used to emotionally filter sensed stimuli in the agent's environment. This filtering process allows different emotional states in the agent to create dissimilar emotional reactions when the agent is exposed to the same stimuli. In humans, emotion cannot be a mechanism that enhances intelligence and then isolated from other psychological and physiological functions. As this paper suggests, emotion is an integral part of the human as a biological being and therefore they cannot be turned on and off on a whim. However, this luxury is afforded to the artificial agent. This approach builds on contemporary affective agent architectural concepts as it not only gives an agent the ability to use emotion to produce human-like intelligence, but it also investigates how emotion should affect the agent's other abilities, such as perceptio

Distributed web-based critiquing of electronically submitted assessment

The increased use of Internet technologies in education has in the past, been primarily focused on the student's needs. Very little research and development has looked at the course management and administrative needs of the teacher. It is usually the case that when learning management systems (LMS) are introduced into a course, the teacher's work load is increased. The assessment critiquing tool (Classmate) discussed in this paper has been developed with the teacher in mind. The tool manages the distribution, critiquing, mark recording, feedback generation and final grading of electronically submitted assignments through an online environment designed to marry with existing LMS technology. This paper will investigate the architecture of Classmate, illustrate its use and discuss the advantages of the systems us

An online assistant for remote, distributed critiquing of electronically submitted assessment

This paper outlines the architecture for an online assessment management system implemented at the University of Southern Queensland. The system assists teams of academics in the management and marking of electronically submitted student assignments in large-scale classes. The system designed to provide a flexible yet structured method for providing feedback to students also offers semi-automatic file handling and grade recording. The system, Classmate, allows a team of markers to access and mark student assignments through a web interface designed to parallel paper-based marking systems. An online authoring tool replaces the red pen on paper analogy. A pilot study conducted on the use of Classmate has found the system to be of use in providing students with consistent feedback, allowing traditional assignment interactions and reducing trivial and repetitive assignment marking tasks