ICT219Intelligent Systems

Unit Information

Semester 2, 2007

Unit coordinatorDr. Graham MannSchool of Information TechnologyRoom: ECL 2.061Phone: 9360 7270Email: g.mann@murdoch.edu.au

© Published by Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, 2007.

Originally written by Graham Mann, 2005Revised by Graham Mann July, 2007

This publication is copyright. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act no part of it may in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other means be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be broadcast or transmitted without the prior written permission of the publisher.

CONTENTS

UNIT INFORMATION

ONE Introduction 1TWO Resources for the unit 6THREE Assessment 9

Intelligent SystemsICT219

Unit Information

This information should be read in conjunction with the online learning materials which can be found on

your MyUnits page.

ONEIntroduction

Unit overview

Welcome to Intelligent Systems. This unit offers an introduction to the fundamental concepts, techniques and applications of intelligent systems in a relatively new approach, called nouvelle game AI. Computer games are a popular pastime and represent an ever-growing proportion of the software market. The practical need for intelligence in game software - in particular to the creation of non-player-characters which react to objects, events and situations in a realistic, lifelike manner - motivates our study of the theory and practice of artificial intelligence (AI), the uses of which extend far beyond games. Topics included are: introduction to artificial intelligence and applications; the nouvelle game AI approach; robots, agents and artificial life; reflective and reactive agents; state machines; problem representation and problem solving strategies; knowledge representation schemes; machine learning; rule-based systems; neural computing; fuzzy logic; genetic algorithms.

Prerequisites

You will need to have completed B104 Principles of Computer Science. A knowledge of C or C++ program will important, as there is little time in the unit for teaching of this specific skill. Some online tutorials are offered to students who feel the need to strengthen their programming skill.

Aims and objectives

The broad aims of this unit are to introduce:

To understand artificial intelligence history and basic concepts To understand the role of AI in computer games and the nouvelle game AI

approach in comparison to other approaches To be able to define and describe agents, animats and discuss intelligent

behaviour in general terms To understand basic theory of and be able to program state machines To understand basic theory of and be able to program rule-based systems To understand basic theory of and be able to program fuzzy systems To understand basic theory of and be able to use machine learning

techniques such as artificial neural networks and evolutionary computation To be able to apply these the methods in computer game scenarios To be able to integrate these techniques in hybrid systems

Learning objectives

On successful completion of the unit you should:

be familiar with important artificial intelligence theory and terms including agents, artificial life, reactive and reflective behaviour, expert systems, the representation of knowledge, sensors and actuators in robots and simulations, game platforms and their uses, the constraints imposed by game performance on AI methods, etc.

be familiar with the basic programming principles for agents and animats, become aware of the current scope and limitations of AI understand the basics of game software development, especially as it

applies to the use of AI recognise the importance of representation and search in problem solving, know how to use off-the-shelf intelligence modules, including rule-based

systems, artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic systems and evolutionary systems to control the behaviour of a game non-player character,

know the various strengths and weaknesses of these techniques,

Graduate Attributes

This unit will contribute to the development of the following Graduate Attributes:

1. Information and Communications Technology Skills2. Problem solving.

Unit coordinator

Your coordinator for ICT219 is Dr. Graham Mann. Graham studied at the University of Western Australia (psychology) and the University of New South Wales (artificial intelligence). He teaches artificial intelligence and human computer interaction at Murdoch University. His current research interests include robotics and Mars mission simulations.

Contact details

Email: g.mann@murdoch.edu.auRoom: ECL 2.061

Tel: (08) 9360 7270 Fax: (08) 9360 2941

or, if not available, contact the IT Secretary, Rosie Price

Email: R.Price@murdoch.edu.auRoom: ECL 3.037Tel: (08) 9360 6120 Fax: (08) 9360 2941

Administrative contact

Mrs. Kuan LimDivisional Executive OfficerTel: (08) 9360 2890 Fax: (08) 9310 2994

TutorYou will be notified of your tutor at the beginning of the unit.Please write your tutor’s name and contact details here.

How to study this unit

The following topics are covered:

Artificial intelligence, games and the nouvelle AI approach Reactive & reflective agents; game development and game platforms; FEAR; Quake

2, a simple FPS game; GunTactyx, a programming warrior robot teams Sensing and moving; Obstacle avoidance; reactive animat; problem solving; search Controlling behaviour using state machines Knowledge representation; rule-based systems; a rule-based animat Machine learning; neural networks neural animat Fuzzy logic, fuzzy animat Evolutionary and genetic algorithms; Genetic animat

Learning activities

On-campus students (D enrolments)

There is one two-hour lecture and one two-hour laboratory per week. Consultations with staff members will also be available. You will probably need to spend further time in the laboratory or on a home machine to complete the lab exercises and programming assignment. The programming assignment, in particular, can be demanding, and students are advised to

begin this work as soon as it is released. Consult the unit website for times and locations of classes. You should sign up for your lab on sheets which will be posted in the laboratory during Week 1. You will be informed of your laboratory timeslot by week 2.

Off-campus students (X enrolments)

Off-campus students must download the unit materials from the website and study these in their own time. It is important for off-campus students to set up their computers with the necessary software early in the semester, in order to be ready for the exercises (see link on the unit website). It’s also important to try to keep up with the weekly material and readings, so as not allow study to build up to a point where it is difficult to catch up. Your tutor can help you study during the semester. X mode enrolment students will be informed by mail. All students will be able to email or telephone their tutors to get individual help with study and lab work.

Attendance

On-campus students are expected to attend and participate in the lectures and laboratory sessions and attendance records may be kept for statistics, but attendance itself is not assessed. Off-campus students may sometimes attend lectures and laboratory sessions, but are reminded that the number of machines in laboratories is limited, and a machine may not always be free for them to use.

Technical Help

For problems with the lab computers, contact the IT Services Help Desk: itservicedesk@student.murdoch.edu.au or phone 9360 2000. Make sure you are clear about your question or the nature of your problem before emailing (eg write down the exact error message you are getting) - the help desk is very busy and cannot spend much time on non-specific enquires.

Unit updates

Based on experience with the unit in previous year and in consultation with tutors and students, the unit has been changed to incorporate new, more up-to-date material on gaming technology and the history of computer games. In addition the order of some of the AI techniques has been reorganised to better reflect their relative importance for game development. Finally a new, simpler programming game platform called GunTactyx will be trialled for some laboratory sessions and a possible project option in future.

Unit timetable

Week Topic Content Due Dates

1 Games, AI and AI in games. A brief history of computer games and artificial intelligence

2 Reactive & reflective agents; game development and game platforms; FEAR; a simple FPS game

3 Obstacle avoidance; a reactive animat; problems solving; search

4 State machines; control of animats by states One Week Break

5 Emotive states; an emotive animat6 Knowledge representation; rule-

based systems; a rule-based animat 7 The project; Game development;

AI methodology and evaluationLabs for Weeks 2 - 7 due 28th Sept.

One Week Break 8 Machine learning; neural networks9 Neural networks; a neural net

animat10 Evolutionary programming and

genetic algorithmsProject due 26th Oct.

11 A genetic animat Labs for Weeks 8-11 due 2nd Nov.12 Revision and Exam Preparation

TWOResources for the unit

Unit materials

To undertake study in this unit, you will need:

Essential textbook

Champandard, A.J. AI Game Development. New Riders Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 1-5927-3004-3.

Other references Buckely, J.J., and Feuring, T., Fuzzy and Neural: Interactions and

Applications, Physica-Verlag, 1999. Kartalopoulos, S.V., Understanding Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic:

Basic Concepts and Applications, IEEE Press, 1996. Negnevitsky, M., Artificial Intelligence: A Guide to Intelligent Systems,

Addison Wesley, Pearson Education Limited, 2002. Rubin, S. (Ed.) AI Game Programming Wisdom. Charles River Media,

2002. Rubin, S. (Ed.) AI Game Programming Wisdom 2. Charles River Media,

2004. Russell, S. and Norvig, P. Artificial Intelligence - A Modern Approach.

Prentice Hall, 2003.

ICT219 Unit Information 1

Online Resources The WebCT login page for online access to this unit is at

http://online.murdoch.edu.au/

The Unit Welcome Page can be accessed from your MyUnits page.http://online.murdoch.edu.au/public/ICT219/

External Studies Guidehttp://external.murdoch.edu.au/support/index.html

Library resources

There are 539 books in the Murdoch Library catalogue on the subject of artificial intelligence, from introductory works to detailed studies of particular techniques. Students are encouraged to make time to look these over for topics of interest. Only a few will mention AI in connection with modern-style computer games - that is a relatively new topic. Most are around the Dewey numbers 006.3 or 001.535.

You may also care to look into some academic journals about intelligent systems, such as AI Magazine, IEEE Intelligent Systems, Intelligence and the Journal of Automated Reasoning.

On the subject of computer games there are 340 library books, including some quite recent titles, about design, programming as well as psychosocial and economic aspects of the industry. There are also a number of periodicals on this subject, such as the conservative International Computer Games Association Journal and the online Journal of Media and Culture, which is easy to access on via the web.

Electronic Course Material & Reserve infohttp://prospero.murdoch.edu.au/search~S1/

Past exam papers are available from the library website athttps://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/exams/i.html

Computing resources

On-campus students (D enrolments)

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Students on campus will be using one of the School of IT's undergraduate computer laboratories. For this semester's location, please check the unit website.

Off-campus students (X enrolments)

Students working off campus will need to equip themselves with the right hardware and software for the exercises. The AI game software in the unit runs on the School of IT's student lab computers which are IBM-type machines running Windows XP. The software may run on earlier versions of Windows such as Windows 2000, but this is not guaranteed. The software, which consists of a Visual Studio 6.0 C++ compiler, Quake II engine, FEAR platform, Guntactyx platform and other software will be provided to you by CD-ROM and/or by download via the unit website. Instructions on how to set up your machine will also be provided.

It is the student's responsibility to provide themselves with the needed computer resources. Every effort will be made to help students get up and running, but there is a limit to what can be done over email and the telephone. It is strongly recommended that students begin installation as soon as the software is made available. Although the software package has been successfully installed on a good number of common machines in the past, it is not possible to guarantee that all of the software would run on any home computer.

ICT219 Unit Information 3

THREEAssessment

Assessment components

You will be assessed by project, practical exercises and a final examination:

Assignment Description Value Due DateAssignment Programming, analysis and

written submission 35% 26th Oct., 2007

Lab work Short analysis and report 15%28th Sept, 2007;2nd Nov., 2007

Examination Essay Response Questions 50% To be arranged

Assessment details

Laboratory Exercises

There are eleven laboratory exercises to be completed during the semester as follows:

Week Topic Content1 No lab.

2 Setup & familiarisation withQuake II, FEAR, Visual C++

3 Setup & familiarisation with Guntactyx;obstacle detection and avoidance

4 State-driven simple reactive animat

One Week Break5 State-driven emotional animat6 Development methodology; planning for

the project7 Rule-based animat

One week break8 The Java NN Simulator9 Neural network-based animat

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10 GAs & the Travelling Salesman Problem11 Genetic animat12 No lab

Details of labs will be available from the unit website during the semester. Off campus students should mail packets of completed lab sessions (hard copy plus any disks required) to their tutor via the External Studies Office by the two due dates.

Project

The project will involve the design, implementation and behavioural evaluation of an AI-driven game character, or animat, with documentation, using one or more of the methods described in the unit. The marking will be such that students can get a Pass or Credit if they make a reasonable effort at documenting and implementing a solution to a problem at the level of the laboratory exercises ie. targeting, emotional behaviour, seeking or fleeing, etc. To obtain a Distinction or High Distinction, students will need to show some extra creativity and innovation in your choice of a problem and solution. Marks will be allotted according to the following components of the task:

Written Report (Choice of problem, Quality of analysis, Clarity of report) Design - (AI-related, Innovation of solution) Implementation (Quality of code, Comments and documentation) Performance on the Challenges (Observations of behaviour and code operation)

Details of the assignment will be made available to students during the semester (watch the unit website).

Final examination

The final examination will be a three-hour paper covering all aspects of the unit. The exam will consist of about five essay-style questions which, in general, cannot be answered by quoting verbatim from the textbook, but which require an understanding of the material covered during the unit. You will be advised about the format of the examination and provided with tips for preparation during the revision lecture. Past exam papers are available from the University library at https://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/exams/i.html.

The University requires that all students sitting end-of-semester examinations (including those held off-campus) must show their Murdoch University Student Card for identification purposes. NO OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFICATION WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Students may inspect their marked examination scripts and discuss the marking with the Unit Coordinator within 14 days of the posting of results (Degree Regulation 43).

For further information about examinations, refer to http://www.murdoch.edu.au/oss/exams

ICT219 Unit Information 5

Assignment submission

A professional standard of presentation of written work is expected from all students. Written work must be typed or word processed, printed on A4 paper and the pages stapled together. CDROMs containing code should be labelled with the student's name and student ID (use a felt-tipped pen or put it into a envelope). The pages and disks must be enclosed in a plastic envelope. A fully filled-in and signed assignment attachment sheet MUST form the first page of every submission. There are different sheets for off-campus students. Assignment attachment sheets may be downloaded from the unit website. Marks may be lost if these presentation requirements are not met.

On-campus students (D enrolments)

Submit completed assignments by 3:00pm on the due date to the School of IT Secretary in ECL3.037. It is acceptable to physically mail your assignment, but ensure that it arrives by the due date, or late penalties may apply. The address is School of IT Secretary, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150.

Off-campus students (X enrolments)

Off-campus students must submit their work via the External Studies Office. Assignments and tutorials should be submitted by post. Lab work may be submitted by email if it does not require many or large code file attachments (if so, please put onto CD-ROM and physically post them with a printed submission). Do not separate sections and send parts by email and others by mail. If emailed, do not also send in your hard copy. Should there be problems with the receipt of either emailed assignments the sender will be informed. It is essential to keep copies of all work submitted, in case of accidental loss or misaddressing, etc.

Each submission of work should be accompanied by the correct assignment attachment sheet with all sections completed. Assignments submitted without the attachments will not be processed. Students often forget to complete their name and address details. This is most important, as assignments are returned in window-faced envelopes. It is recommended that you keep a supply of assignment attachments on hand. Please ask if you require a further supply of assignment attachments.

SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS BY EMAIL

The address for submission of assignments by email is: assignments@murdoch.edu.au

Note: all assignments submitted by email must include an electronic assignment attachment. Please do not alter the size or shape of this document. When you fill in your details please ensure that you enter the name of your tutor. This enables the assignment to be forwarded immediately. The declaration can be completed using italics.

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Electronic assignment attachments may be downloaded from:http://external.murdoch.edu.au/offcampus.html

Attached documents must follow a standard naming convention. For example:p-atkinson-ict219-pr.doc For the first part of the filename use initial-surname Then unit code Then whatever assignment number was specified in your study guide (or an abbreviation

– eg pr for project report) Give code attachments a clear name with a proper extension.

Further information on the submission of assignments by email can be found at: http://external.murdoch.edu.au/offcampus.html

Extensions

If you believe that you will be unable to submit a piece of assessment by the due date you must request, in writing, an extension at least one week before the due date from the unit coordinator. A good reason must be documented such as illness with a doctor's certificate.. You may use a Request for Extension form which can be downloaded from the unit website. Unless you have specific approval for an extension, overdue work may have 5 percent deducted per day late.

Please note that the final deadline for submission of all unit work is fixed at the Friday of Week 13. Extensions beyond this deadline date can be granted only in exceptional circumstances in accordance with the deferred assessment procedures in Degree Regulation 46, which may be found in the University Handbook.

Backup copies

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of all project and laboratory work. This is in any event good computing practice. Extensions may not be granted due to problems of computer systems and loss of data due to disk corruption, loss of work, etc. Queries about project and practical exercises grades should be directed to your tutor in the first instance.

Determination of the final grade

In order to pass this unit, normally students must achieve satisfactory performance (at least 50%) in each of the examination, the project, and the practical submissions, as well as in the final mark. The rationale for this is that the proper study of intelligent systems should combine theoretical understanding with its application demonstrated in practical knowledge

ICT219 Unit Information 7

and skill. Where a student is unable to comply with these requirements, the unit coordinator shall have the discretion to offer suitable alternative arrangements.

The marks are combined as a weighted sum into a final mark out of 100. A letter grade is assigned for each individual piece of work, and for the unit as a whole.

The nominal ranges for the various letter grades are as follows:

Notation Grade Percentage Range

HD High Distinction 80 – 100D Distinction 70 – 79C Credit 60 – 69P Pass 50 – 59N Fail Below 50S Supplementary Assessment 45 – 49*

*The award of the grade of S shall be at the discretion of the Unit Coordinator.

University policy on assessment

Assessment for this unit is in accordance with the provisions of Degree regulations 40–48. Check these in the current Murdoch University Handbook and Calendar or http://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/legsln/regs/bachelor.html#assessment

Assessment roles and responsibilities

Please refer to the University Policy on Rights and Responsibilities of Students and Staff http://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/policies/assessment.html#8

Academic Integrity

Murdoch University encourages its students and staff to pursue the highest standards of integrity in all academic activity. Academic integrity involves behaving ethically and honestly in scholarship and relies on respect for others’ ideas through proper acknowledgement and referencing of publications.

Lack of academic integrity, including the examples listed below, can lead to serious penalties.

Find out more about how to reference properly and avoid plagiarism at:http://www.murdoch.edu.au/teach/plagiarism

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Plagiarism Inappropriate or inadequate acknowledgement of original work including:

Material copied word for word without any acknowledgement of its source

Material paraphrased without appropriate acknowledgement of its source

Images, designs, experimental results, computer code etc used or adapted without acknowledgement of the source.

Ghost writing An assignment written by a third party and represented by a student as her or his own work.

Collusion Material copied from another student’s assignment with her or his knowledge.

Purloining Material copied from another student’s assignment or work without that person’s knowledge.

Adapted from Section 9.3 of the Assessment Policy, Plagiarism and Collusionhttp://www.murdoch.edu.au/admin/policies/assessmentlinks.html#9.

Plagiarism-checking softwareThe University uses software called Turnitin which checks for plagiarism. The Coordinator may have added a link to Turnitin in your online unit. Please note that when you or your Unit Coordinator submit assignments electronically to Turnitin, a copy of your work is retained on the database to check collusion and future plagiarism. The University has a legal agreement with Turnitin that it will not share or reproduce student work in any form.

Non-discriminatory language

Please refer to:http://www.murdoch.edu.au/teach/studyat/non_disc.html

ICT219 Unit Information 9

Conscientious objection in teaching and assessment(This relates to an objection based on an individual’s deep moral conviction of what is right and wrong)

For guidelines on conscientious objection, seehttp://www.murdoch.edu.au/vco/secretariat/admin/gdelines/consciobj.html

IEEE WA Section University Student Award

A prize of $250 is offered by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers WA Section for the best student performance in this unit. The recipient will receive this prize during the Division of Arts Award Ceremony which is usually held in early March (before the Graduation Ceremony). The name of the prize is recorded on the student's academic transcript.

This award is for the best project work submitted by a student of the unit ICT219 Intelligent Systems, subject to the following condition:

The winner of this award has to achieve an overall grade for the unit of at least a Credit or above.

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