CSC 4500 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Spring 2008

Class Meeting:M-W 1:30 - 2:45 (Mendel G88)
Lab Hour: Tu 2:30-3:45 Mendel 156
Office Hours: T 1:00-2:30, and by appt.

Course Description: Welcome to CSC 4500! This course is an introduction to the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within the organizing concept of "intelligent agent" we will survey basic approaches and techniques used in modern AI applications and research: search, knowledge representation, planning, reasoning under uncertainty, machine learning, and robotics. There will be a robotics lab using the LEGO MindStorms® robot kit, in which you'll have an opportunity to integrate the AI theory from the lectures into the practical design of intelligent agents.

Course Objectives: After taking this course, you should expect to be able to:

• encounter a problem, reformulate it in terms of Òsearch,Ó select an appropriate search algorithm, and solve the problem;
• understand how to represent various types of knowledge symbolically; understand several methods for reasoning logically with these representations.
• construct basic programs that plan, or search for a sequence of actions appropriate to a situation before taking any action.
• understand the primary issues behind robotic perception
• understand the role of probability in intelligent systemsÕ design
• feel comfortable writing and debugging LISP programs
• understand the basics behind intelligent agent design
• understand the differences between and the complementary roles of symbolic and subsymbolic AI approaches.