Most artificial intelligence seems artificially dumb. Sure, Deep Blue can beat a chess grandmaster two games out of three, but could it get out of the way of an oncoming bus? AI researchers are coming to understand that if we want more than idiot savants, we'll need to build our machines from the ground up--a behaviour-based approach. Rolf Pfeifer, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Zurich and Christian Scheier, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Zurich and Caltech, have put together Understanding Intelligence, the definitive introduction to this approach for students, amateurs and professionals alike. As they admit, there are plenty of gaps in our knowledge, so they take pains to make our ignorance as well as our knowledge explicit and encourage thinking beyond the text with "Issues to Think About" at the end of each chapter.

Delving into neural networks, subsumption architecture, principles and design of intelligent systems, and future applications, the authors strive to exhaust the literature and compress it into concise, readable text with plenty of illustrations where appropriate. Given the freshness of the material, it feels less like a textbook and more like a treasure map--we don't know what we'll find when we get there but we know it's going to be good. Whether robotics is a career, a hobby or a side interest for you, Understanding Intelligence will help you get to work from the bottom up. --Rob Lightner, amazon.com --This text refers to the Hardback edition.

Synopsis
Evolutionary theory says that the brain has evolved not to do mathematical proofs but to control behaviour and ensure survival. Researchers agree that intelligence always manifests itself in behaviour - thus it is behaviour that must be understood. A new field has grown around the study of behaviour-based intelligence, also known as embodied cognitive science, "new AI" and "behaviour-based AI". This book provides a systematic introduction to this new way of thinking. After discussing concepts and approaches such as subsumption architecture, Braitenberg vehicles, evolutionary robotics, artificial life, self-organization and learning, the authors derive a set of principles and a framework for the study of naturally and artificially intelligent systems, or autonomous agents. This framework is based on a synthetic methodology whose goal is understanding by designing and building. The text includes the background material required to understand the principles underlying intelligence, as well as information of intelligent robotics and simulated agents so readers can begin experiments and projects on their own. The reader is guided through a series of case studies that illustrate the design principles of embodied cognitive science

Synopsis
Recent decades have produced much research in artificial systems that exhibit important properties of mind. But what exactly is this dramatic new work and how does it change the way we think about the mind, or even about who or what has mind? Stan Franklin guides the reader through the contemporary interdisciplinary matrix of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, artificial neural networks, artificial life, and robotics that is producing a new paradigm of mind. Along the way, Franklin makes the case of a perspective that rejects a rigid distinction between mind and non-mind in favour of a continuum from less to more mind, and for the role of mind as a control structure with the essential task of choosing the next action. Selected stops include the best of the work in these different fields, with the key concepts and results explained in just enough detail to allow readers to decide for themselves why the work is significant. The book includes animal minds, Allan Newell's SOAR, the three Artificial Intelligence debates, John Holland's genetic algorithms, Wilson's Animat, Brooks' subsumption architecture, Jackson's pandemonium theory, Ornstein's multimind, Marvin Minsky's society of mind, Patti Maes's behaviour networks, Gerald Edelman's neural Darwinism, Drescher's schema mechanisms, Pentti Kanerva's sparse distributed memory, Douglas Hofstadter and Melanie Mitchell's Copycat, and Agre and Chapman's deictic representations

This volume is a theoretical and practical approach to the design of computer technology. The design and development of new technology is situated in an implicit understanding of human nature and work. The authors assert that the deep questions of design are those encountered when it is recognized that in designing tools we are designing new ways of being.

This is an excellent text which describes an approach to using computers to perform an enabling role within corporate enterprises by using their ability to allow clearer understanding between participants in the workplace. The other aspect of this book looks at current methods of creating AI systems and their fundamental weaknesses. Having read this as part of my MSc. in Information Technology I have re-read it several times and I would recommend it to all those involved in complex system design, implementation and support. In addition a book such as Checklands Soft Systems Methodolgy will give a good introduction to how the systems described in Understanding Computers and Cognition can be designed to meet the demands of "real world" environments

Synopsis
The Essence of Artificial Intelligence provides a concise and accessible introduction to the topic for students with no prior knowledge of AI. Taking a pragmatic approach to the subject, this book de-mystifies and makes AI concrete and transparent. Examples and Algorithms are given throughout and can be sensibly implemented in a range of different languages. Offering a less formal/ mathematical treatment of the subject than many of its competitors, The Essence of Artificial Intelligence provides an overview of all the key subjects covered in one semester. *Concise coverage of the major topics in AI. *Simple clear descriptions of key techniques and algorithms. *Complete glossary provided. *Web site to support the book: http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk / -alison/essence.html. *Chapter 3 (Expert Systems) contains 3 case studies which look at the medical expert systems MYCIN, Internist and Pathfinder.

Understanding Artificial Intelligence
"Scientific American", Rodney Brooks

Synopsis
More than just a Steven Spielberg film, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the proposition that human brains are nothing more than machines, albeit extremely complicated ones, whose abilities will someday be duplicated-and surpassed-by computers. Such a goal may seem elusive now, but these essays present the wide spectrum of knowledge already compiled in pursuit of this dream. Essays include "Th Rise of Robots," estimating that by 2050, robot brains based on computers will rival human intelligence.