Artificial Intelligence

The movie I, Robot presents us with a future that one day robot may take out humanity. Despite worries that robot will take jobs from human, we could hope that human life will be more efficient and convenient with the help of AI.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intelligence exhibited by machines and the main is programming. Scientist claim that intelligence is the ability to adapt one's behavior to fit a new circumstance. That means that the heart of AI is to make computer thinks rationally. Last year, an Go computer program called Alpha Go beat the world Go champion. This is considered to be a great leap of AI because playing Go requires more than just computation and repetition.

Intelligence requires many different components that are: learning, reasoning and problem-solving.
Learning is quite simple, which is performed by trial-and-error. Like the journal that I wrote earlier, the Eight Queen is a perfect example of trial-and-error program, when the program gets the right answer and memorize that, it learns.

Reasoning is the ability that one can distinguish from its judgement. An easy example is that: he is either in the dorm or dhall. So if he is not in dorm, he is in dhall. AI should be able to come out with this kind of conclusion based on its deductive base and also distinguish the relevance from the irrelevance.

One last component is problem-solving. Given a problem like finishing a math problem or wining a chess game, it should be able to solve the problem based on its learning and reasoning.

Although in our life nowadays there are a lot of examples of these kinds of programs like Siri, games that are able to solve some problems, they still can't satisfy scientist's expectation of AI: machine that can think and act rationally. This field is still very potential for us to explore.





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Reference:
1. http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/pages/reference%20articles/what%20is%20ai.html
2.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2906336/emerging-technology/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html

Snapchat and Facial Recognition Technology

Snapchat has been really popular since I came to America. There are a lot of people around me using it so I downloaded it to see why people are so crazy about it. It turned out that it is really fun using it. When you are taking selfie, it will automatically change your expression into something else, some are mimic of animal or some strange things. Although it seems a little bit weird, it works really well because the APP can recognize your facial expression clearly and when you move your head, it moves with you! So I was really curious about how Snapchat managed to do that.

It turns out that, Snapchat's lenses utilized a type of special selfie "filter." Basically, the APP spotted us based on contrast patterns seen in people's faces. However it is really hard to spot specifically how people's faces look like. Snapchat's system analyzed thousands of faces to spot where eyes, nose, and lips are. After that, it can set up different masks that can move with these spots accordingly.

Although it is really interesting to have this kind of technology for fun, it is also a little bit scary to have such tech in our life. If you can have a mask that will fit your face so well, why not people can try to put your face someone else's face? It may also offend people's privacy because your expression is analyzed so clearly and who knows what you can do with those data.

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(Here is a video about how Snapchat works)

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Photo Reference:
1.http://petapixel.com/2016/06/30/snapchats-powerful-facial-recognition-technology-works/
2.http://uatoday.tv/techandscience/deal-of-the-year-snapchat-buys-ukrainian-startup-looksery-for-usd-150-mln-494701.html

Siri

Previously when I was talking about machine learning, I mentioned a little bit about Siri as an example of our cell phone interacting with us. This time I want to talk more about how this amazing APP works.

Siri is a personal virtual assistant APP since iPhone 4S. It came as an APP to provide information and handle tasks for iPhone users, and it becomes more familiar with your preferences as you use more and more of it. 

How Siri works is really like what we learn in class. It records your voice and analyze the frequency and waves. And then it will translate those into codes. Then it will have a special program to identify the words, phrases and patterns. The command line argument and scanner input is just like this, but very elementary. It takes in input, and translate it into whether int, double or String and then run the program we coded to get the result that we want. In Siri, this becomes tremendously complex. There are thousands of possibilities for input, the algorithm has to run through thousand times to determine which possibility fits the input.

Then after it finds the input, it will run through the program according to the keywords of the phrases. For example, if it reads "weather today", it will run the weather program and output today's weather. Of course the reality is far more complex than this simple example. Sometimes even when we ask some really tricky questions, Siri is able to answer it or even make joke about it！

I still remember when I first learned about Jarvis in the Iron Man, it was amazing and unbelievable for me to think of a machine or program that can stay with me and assist me in such detail. But as technology goes on innovating, that may some days become true.  

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Writing Reference:

1.http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/siri.htm

2.http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/workshop/howitworks/how-siri-works.html

Photo Reference:

https://techcrunch.com/topic/product/siri/

Fingerprint Scanner

           
Have you ever experienced this: you forgot the password for one app because you have so many different kinds of passwords, either a combination of numbers and letter or something that requires capital letter or slash or some buzzard combination. At the same time you also have to worry that someday someone will hack your phone or app because they find a way to find your password. But actually we human have a unique "built-in" keyword: fingerprint.

On people's skin, there are tiny "ridges" and "valleys" that make us easier to grasp. And DNA and environmental factors that affect the formation of fingerprint so each person has a unique fingerprint pattern, even a twins. So the unique characteristic of fingerprint makes it a great password for us: it is a key that you will never forget and lose.

Most fingerprint system analyzes some specific fingerprint features, commonly known as minutiae. That is analyzers focus on the pints on the fingerprint where one ridge line split into two. Scanner systems usually use complex algorithm to to analyze these minutiae.Several minutiae points are scanned in memory when people first registered,and after that if a scanned fingerprint matches these minutiae then it will be considered a match and then log in for the device.
           



Sources:
1.http://www.androidauthority.com/how-fingerprint-scanners-work-670934/
2.http://gizmodo.com/how-the-iphone-5ss-fingerprint-scanner-works-and-what-1265703794
3.http://biometrics.mainguet.org/types/fingerprint/fingerprint_algo.htm

Machine Learning

Nowadays, people are not surprised that when they type in their names several times, next time when you start typing, your name is already in the recommendation list. But we have wondered if our cell phone, computer or even microwave around can actually learn and grow as we do. Siri is a great example for our phone interact with us, learn about our preference and interact accordingly with us. The world is moving towards a more automatic world with more and more convenient technology. Machine learning is a subfield of computer science that is derived from pattern recognition and computational learning theory that "gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed".(Arthur Samuel, 1959). So computer learn from previous computations to produce reliable and repeatable decisions and results.

The result of machine learning is actually everywhere in our daily life. Here are a few examples of machine learning applications that we are so familiar with:

1. The self-driving car. Self-driving car is the essence of machine learning for its program has system to analyse the condition of the road and learn from the drivers preferences and adjust according to the distance or other aspects on the road.

2.Online recommendation of  Amazon or Netflix. Those online stores and website have system to analyze your preference based on the past consumption history or movie watched to guess your preferences and recommend accordingly.

3.Fraud detection. This is one of the more obvious, important uses in our world today. We depend on our computer to analyze whether it is safe or not to react.

Growing interest in machine learning is because of things like growing volumes and varieties of available data, computational processing that is cheaper and more powerful data storage. All of these things mean it's possible to quickly and automatically produce models that can analyze bigger, more complex data and deliver faster, more accurate results – even on a very large scale. And thus high-value predictions can guide better decisions and smart actions in real time without human intervention.



Photo Reference:
1.https://www.toptal.com/machine-learning/machine-learning-theory-an-introductory-primer
2.https://www.springboard.com/blog/machine-learning-online-courses/


Writing Reference:
1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shelly-palmer/can-machines-really-learn_b_6872428.html?
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning

Turning Test

After computer was introduced, there has always been a topic that people talk about: whether computer can overpower human? Last year we had AlphaGo that beats the best Go player Lee Sedol and this topic is brought back to people's mind again. Actually, this topic has been raised several years ago by Alan Turing. 

Basically the Turing test is to test whether a computer is able to think like a human. It was designed to be a rudimentary way of determining whether or not a computer counts as "intelligent". The test, as Turing designed it, is carried out as a sort of imitation game. On one side of a computer screen sits a human judge, whose job is to chat to some mysterious interlocutors on the other side. Most of those interlocutors will be humans; one will be a chatbot, created for the sole purpose of tricking the judge into thinking that it is the real human.

In Turing's test, if the human being conducting the test is unable to consistently determine whether an answer has been given by a computer or by another human being, then the computer is considered to have "passed" the test.

In June 8, 2006, a Russian-designed program called Eugene, passed the Turing test for the first time by letting the judge believed that it was a 13-year-old boy. And it was considered the cornerstone for Artificial Intelligence.

I think this test is really an interesting one that not only relates to computer science but also relates to thinking. Alan Turing proposed that if a computer can act, react and interact with an individual, it should be considered to be conscious. This also changes how people look at the world. It is impossible for us to think of what we will be facing in the next ten years.

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Photo Reference:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Turing_Test_version_3.png

Writing Reference:
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
2.http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Turing-Test

Eight Queens Puzzle

The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens are able to attach each other. Each queen in the chess game is able to attach anything that's in its row, column or diagonal. The eight queens puzzle is an example of the more general n queens problem of placing n non-attacking queens on an n×n chessboard that n is not 2 or 3.

Finding the solution may seem easy but it really costs a lot of troubles. So it is a good question for us to use computer science to solve this puzzle. It is  a good example of a problem which can be solved with a recursive algorithm. This puzzle is a tried-and-failed puzzle I believe. Placing one queen on the chessboard and then eliminate the row, column and diagonal's possibility  of putting  the next queen. Then put the next queen randomly in the rest of the position and repeat. If till the end there are no 8 queens on the chessboard, clean the chessboard and put the first queen on the chessboard randomly and repeat the previous process.

I believe that this puzzle can be solved with the combination of if and for loop. Combined with the function that we just learned, I believe that this can be a great project for us to practice.

Drone Technology

Drone technology can be one of the most exciting innovation in the 21 century. It is light, small and quiet flying device that can do a lot of job we can't do. Military uses drone to detect and spy, we can use drone for entertainment and it has many different use of drone technology. Drone is equipped with different technology such as infra-red cameras, GPS and laser.

Like its predecessors, remote control helicopters, drone is controlled by remote control system or a ground cockpit, but drones have some level of autonomy — meaning they can fly, hover, or navigate without input from a pilot. People on the ground can control drones like a command line for the program. They input direction and speed and drones accept them and operate accordingly.

While drone technology is developing, its use is not only limited to military. Amazon recently announced that it would launch a delivery system called "Prime Air", designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less. It is another new interesting application for the drone technology that brings more convenience to our life.

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Photo Reference:
1.http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/10/one_major_problem_with_the_faa_drone_registry_diy_drones.html

2.https://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011

Writing Reference:

1.https://www.dronezon.com/learn-about-drones-quadcopters/what-is-drone-technology-or-how-does-drone-technology-work/

2.https://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011

3.http://time.com/3769831/this-is-how-drones-work/

CG - How to make it?

People like to watch movie. And for some people like animate, they also want to watch their favorite characters on the scene.  The first animate movie that I watched was Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and I was deeply shocked by the movie because all the scenes and characters are so real. It feels like is I am watching a real life movie.

To accomplish that, a key technique, CG--Computer generated, is needed for those special effects in films. And it is a complex process that takes several steps in order to complete an animation.

The most important part of CG animation is to create the CG model and lay out. The characters and backgrounds for the scene will “get rendered” in 3D. Animators use computers to build a basic model of each 3D character in the scene. They will usually use a reference source, such as a 2D drawing or clay sculpture, while creating the 3D model. Sometimes, they also use modeling done in a green room to study the actions and movement patterns, which makes it easier for the animations to look realistic.

Once the characters and backgrounds are made, it begins to layout. Characters are placed in the correct spots, and the camera angles for every frame are decided. Then, a rough cut of the scene is played out in 3D. There is no lighting, details, or motions on the characters yet. 

It’s kind of like playing house with a Barbie doll. The model can be picked up and moved to different spots, but there is no actual animation aside from pushing a character from one place to another. This gives animators a basic idea of how the scene will look in 3D. After a screening of the scene, some things may be altered and tweaked to fit in the next scene. 

So one scene for a animate movie is made. The concept behind it seems easy but to actually generate a character model or background through computer takes tremendous hard work. And thanks to the modern computer technology, we are able to enjoy animates that look just like realistic. 

Reference:

1.http://sim4130.cgsociety.org/art/blade-master-realtime-character--modeling-3d-935405

2.http://felixhonda.com/cg-model-ac-game-charater/

3.http://multimediamcc.com/old-students/ashaver/3d_process.html

4.https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/CG

About our computer: What is a mouse?

Once up a time, when you see a mouse, the first thing you would do is definitely scream or jump on the desk or run away. Today, the mouse actually jump on your desk: it also has a long tail and a round body, but it is one of the most useful items on your desk now.

To better understand the device that we use to write program, it is useful to learn how every part of the computer works and what they can do that will help us have a better use of it.

A mouse is something you push along your desktop to make a cursor move on your screen. So its job is to figure out how much you're moving your hand and in which direction. There are two main kinds of mice and they do this job in two different ways, either using a rolling rubber ball (in a ball-type mouse) or by bouncing a light off your desk (in an optical mouse). Nowadays, most of the computer are equipped with an optical mouse because it is more precise and more durable.

An optimal mouse has a LED light that bounces light off that surface onto a sensor called complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS). The sensor sends each image to a digital signal processor (DSP) for analysis. It is able to detect patterns in the images and see how those patterns change compared to the previous ones. Based on the change in patterns over a sequence of images, the DSP determines how far the mouse has moved and sends the corresponding coordinates to the computer.

As for how a mouse can be useful in computer science during programming, it allows us to gain more information and command from the users. All what we have covered in class is to make programs that relate to "command line" or "scanner" that input numbers or strings. Mouse can be another great source of command that allows us to realize more different ways of getting information.

Java has a lot of different operations related to mouse movement. There is a class "MouseEvent" that traces a mouse action occurred in a component. And there are a lot of different types that we can use to improve our program. As we learn more and more into computer science and java, mouse is going to be a useful tool for us to program. 

Reference:

1.http://www.explainthatstuff.com/computermouse.html

2.http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question631.htm

        

Every day, you type in dozens of messages on your mobile phone, and most of the time, you do it wrong—you mistype, misspell, or make some other kind of error that will make you embarrass. Most of the time, your phone steps in to save the day. Thanks to the genius of autocorrect, you can feel free to type "thw" or "unviersity" without embarrassment.

So how does autocorrect works? The basic algorithm behind autocorrect is pretty simple. The system is essentially the same as a word processor's spell checker—as you type, the system checks each word against a built-in dictionary, and it suggests alternatives when it doesn't find a match. Many phones will also try to predict what you're going for and suggest a word before you've finished typing it.

A correct dictionary and an accurate "language model" that determines which words to suggest are the essential part of autocorrect. To build a dictionary suitable for users would be to collect and analyze a large sample of words that people actually type in to their devices. The dictionary will pay attention to when you recorrect a corrected word, and learn never to offer that faulty choice again. For example, it will also note the proper nouns in your address book and avoid suggesting alternatives for those.

         Here is a quote from the internet about how to transform a word that you put in.

         So we can tell that there are so many possibilities of transformation for a word. It is easy for autocorrect to make the wrong suggestion. And actually during my research I have found a lot of funny autocorrect fails in the internet. But we shouldn't expect too much from the autocorrect because we are actually the source of its dictionary. The computer just did the memorizing and parsing to find out the most often used suggestion for us. The system isn't going to be perfect but it is really useful. 

(A Funny autocorrect fail)

Photo Reference:

1.http://www.iphonelife.com/blog/31961/tip-day-how-teach-ios-autocorrect-new-words

2.www.damnyouautocorrect.com/

Writing Reference:

1.https://www.quora.com/How-are-typing-auto-correct-or-suggest-algorithms-implemented

2.http://smallbusiness.chron.com/googles-autocorrect-work-59730.html

What is Wireless?

On September 7th, Apple held its 2016 announcement and released the newest Apple product including iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2. These are all we have expected because it is the time for Apple to introduce its new product. However one expected change is that, the new iPhone 7 will not have a traditional headphone and promote the use of wireless earphone called Airpods. The firm said it had taken "courage" to make this move because people have been used to use their headphone. This is definitely one big change in the cell phone industry.

However what is "wireless" and how can we listen to music or make phone call without having a wire connecting the cell phone and earphone? Lets take a look of what "wireless" is.

Wireless networks are computer networks that are not connected to each others by cables or wires. The use of wireless enables companies to avoid introducing cables into their rooms as connection for the equipment. The basis of computer wireless system is radio wave, an implementation that takes place at the physical level of network structure.It take a wireless transmitter to generate radio waves that contain information or data and a receiver to capture those radio waves, extract the desired signals and then play them.

Wireless technology is rapidly evolving and is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of people around the world. Wireless network enables us to use internet anywhere rather than relying on the cables that restrict us. And it is a a huge leap for the computer science technology. It widens the range of what computer can do. With the benefit of wireless network, scientists are able to develop more advanced technologies that relate to the physical world.



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Photo Reference
1.http://www.businessinsider.com/airpods-apple-unveils-new-wireless-earbuds-2016-9
2.https://millgate.co.uk/network-wireless-networking

Writing Reference
1.How does a transmitter and receiver work? https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-transmitter-and-receiver-work
2.Wireless network https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26186/wireless-network

Auto Pilot

One of the major breakthrough technologies in 2016 is Tesla's Auto Pilot. Tesla Version 7.0, nicknamed "Auto Pilot," uses sensors, as well as a camera, a front radar, and digitally controlled brakes, to help avoid collisions—essentially allowing the car to take over and stop before crashing. The most important function of the auto pilot is that it can automatically gather data to upgrade its system to react more quickly to different situations.

It gives drivers something similar to what airline pilots employ in flight. The car could manage its speed, steer within and even change lanes, and park itself. But it is important to note that the Auto Pilot system is actually not autonomous driving. The control system uses radar and forward-facing cameras to track the positions of cars in the road ahead and adjust the speed of the car accordingly. It automatically set up the safe distance for the drivers and allows them to react in advance to avoid collisions. 

But the Auto Pilot system is not 100% safe, in July a Tesla Auto Pilot crashed in Montana. The driver ignored several alerts to take control of the vehicle before accident. The accident proves that Auto Pilot still needs more programming and upgrade, but it is technologically feasible and the future is near.

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Photo Reference

http://www.smellmyclutch.com/first-fatality-teslas-autopilot-system/

Writing Reference

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2016: Tesla Auto Pilot

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600772/10-breakthrough-technologies-2016-tesla-autopilot/

Watch it in reality! - Virtual Reality (VR)

As technology gradually changes  people's way of living, Virtual Reality (VR) revolution has already begun. Virtual reality (or VR) is a computer technology that uses software-generated realistic images, sounds and other sensations to replicate an a real environment or an imaginary setting, and allows users to interact with the the virtual environment.

For those who like to watch matches like Dota 2, they can have a completely different experience. They can put on a VR headset, jump into each game and watch from afar or stand in the middle of the battles going on around you at full scale.                            (Check out the following video for more experience of VR.)

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Picture reference: 

  http://thenextweb.com/opinion/2015/12/05/vr-web-browsing-might-ultimately-be-   one-of-samsung-and-oculus-best-tricks/

Writing reference:  

  1.Spectate in style with VR Spectator mode for Dota             2 https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/28/dota2-spectator-mode-vr-available/

  2.Virtual reality tech may make ‘going shopping’ in real life a thing of the past

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/virtual-reality-tech-may-make-going-   shopping-in-real-life-a-thing-of-the-past