Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: jcarnice@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu
Subject: Neural nets and slaved computers
Message-ID: <1994Mar27.022713.1@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu>
Lines: 33
Sender: news@dmi.stevens-tech.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: Stevens Institute Of Technology
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 1994 07:27:13 GMT

					<>

	  Can anyone doing active research on this subject please tell me about
	current projects combining neural networks with Von Neuman machines?

	  I imagine that an excellent way to implement neural networks that
	control robots and use built-in computer terminals as a resource.

	  In this, I envision a human analogy.  A man's mind is a very rational
	one and is good at problem-solving.  On the other hand, men find that
	machines are invaluable tools for helping them to solve problems.  The
	computer is an excellent example.  It's not hard to imagine a man of
	ten years from now walking down the street with a computer the size of
	a daily planner in his coat pocket that has a voice interface and a
	set of glasses he can put on for graphics display for use as a
	cellular phone, calculator, planner, and public-database-searching
	tool.

	  Now try to picture teaching a neural network not to memorize
	"2 + 2 = 4" but teaching it how to use a calculator to solve
	problems.  In other words, make the neural net like a programmer,
	solving problems like "walking on terrain X" and creating routines
	for a slaved computer system to use, just like subconscious acts that
	a human engages in.  The human conscious is dedicated to solving new
	problems, not thinking about old ones that it has already solved.
	You don't think about walking until it gets different (or painful :) )

	  So who's working on this and what do you think of the philosophy?


						-James Vincent Carnicelli II
						 Stevens Institute of Technology
						 Hoboken, New Jersey
