Intro to AI

Intro to AI (grad)

4005-750, Winter 20102, MW 12-2

In this course we will explore several different types of computing that generally fall into the category of "artificial intelligence". These include searching of various kinds (including game search), planning, neural networks, logic, probabilistic reasoning, and robotics, and perhaps other topics of common interest.

Please note: this is the web page for the graduate course I am teaching this quarter.
Make sure you are in the right place! If anything here is unlabeled or unclear please let me know.

Contact info:

Instructor: Zack Butler
Email: zjb-AT-cs-DOT-rit-DOT-edu
Office hours: MW 9-11
Course webpage: http://www.cs.rit.edu/~zjb/courses/grad-ai/

Assignments

Along the way there will be several opportunities for assessment (read: graded assignments):

Five homework assignments, due in class on Mondays of week 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 (the last one may actually come a bit sooner). These may not be equally weighted, if so, I will say so in advance. These will be hard-copy, though small-to-medium amounts of coding may appear.
Two coding projects, in which you will implement a particular algorithm to solve a given (perhaps slightly under-specified!) problem within the AI domain. The first will be some type of search, written in your choice of Lisp, Scheme or Python. The second will be some type of machine learning, written in your choice of C++ or Java.
A short report (3-5 pages) and presentation (7-10 minutes) on an extension of something covered in class. Details are here.
A midterm exam given in the fifth week.
A final exam.

The homeworks and projects will be posted here when they are released. Your grade will be calculated based on these items at the rate of: HW 20%, Projects 30%, Report+Pres 10%, Midterm 15%, Final 25%.

Tentative schedule

Attendance

You are expected and encouraged to attend class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what was covered during that class - I will try to be prompt with posting homework and projects on the course web page, but the lectures will contain important content that may not be mentioned elsewhere.

Readings

The course textbook is Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 3rd ed., by Russell and Norvig. I will be assigning homework out of the book as well as readings, so you should make sure to get a copy - it is also an excellent reference (in fact, there will be many chapters of the book that we will not have a chance to address!).

Academic honesty

The CS department policy on academic honesty (which itself references the RIT policy) will be enforced. In this class, all homework assignments and projects are to be completed on your own (of course discussions with me are welcome). If you have any questions about a particular situation, please ask!