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/