Robust Intelligence  (RI)

SYNOPSIS

The Robust Intelligence ( RI ) program encompasses all aspects of the computational understanding and modeling of intelligence in complex, realistic contexts. In contrast to systems that use limited reasoning strategies or address problems in narrow contexts, robust intelligence may be characterized by a systems flexibility, resourcefulness, use of a variety of modeling or reasoning approaches, and use of real-world data in real time, demonstrating a level of intelligence and adaptability seen in humans and animals. The RI program advances and integrates the research traditions of artificial intelligence, computer vision, human language research, robotics, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, and related areas.

Researchers across all areas of RI are addressing progressively richer environments, larger-scale data, and more sophisticated computational and statistical approaches, looking to nature in many cases to model cognitive and computational processes. Interactions across traditional disciplines are also of increasing importance. For example, speech and dialogue research seeks to understand the cognitive psychological underpinnings of conversation that contribute to the robustness of human speech perception and intention understanding. Computer vision is exploring approaches developed in language processing to represent the semantic information in images and video in ways useful for mining, navigation, and robotic interaction, and working with ideas developed in computer graphics and physics-based modeling to understand and depict collections of images. A cognitive architecture may bridge sophisticated planning and problem solving modules with perception and action modules, perhaps accounting for certain human or animal behaviors. Robotic systems need to understand and interact with humans in unfamiliar and unstructured environments. Computational understanding of neurons, networks, and the brain increasingly draws on computer vision, robotics, and machine learning, and provides insights into the coding, representations, and learning underlying intelligent behavior in nature.

These examples are meant to convey the general goals of RI, not to limit its scope. The program supports projects that will advance the frontiers of all RI research areas, as well as those that integrate different aspects of these fields.

More information on topics of interest to the RI program is available at:
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/iis/ri_pgm.jsp

Robust Intelligence (RI) Staff

Funding Opportunities for the Robust Intelligence Program:

Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS): Core Programs.  NSF 08-575

THIS PROGRAM IS PART OF

Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS): Core Programs