Toward Robots That Reason: Logic, Probability & Causal Laws

This book discusses the two fundamental elements that underline the science and design of artificial intelligence (AI) systems: the learning and acquisition of knowledge from observational data, and the reasoning of that knowledge together with whatever information is available about the application at hand. It then presents a mathematical treatment of the core issues that arise when unifying first-order logic and probability, especially in the presence of dynamics, including physical actions, sensing actions and their effects. A model for expressing causal laws describing dynamics is also considered, along with computational ideas for reasoning with such laws over probabilistic logical knowledge.

Explains the need for integrating logic and probability in AI systems and the challenges that arise in doing so Presents a model for capturing causal laws that describe dynamics and computational reasoning ideas Includes both high-level ideas and detailed exercises that employ technical applications

Autorentext

Vaishak Belle, Ph.D., is a Chancellor's Fellow and Reader at The University of Edinburgh School of Informatics. He is also an Alan Turing Institute Faculty Fellow, a Royal Society University Research Fellow, and a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy of Scotland. Dr. Belle directs a research lab on artificial intelligence at The University of Edinburgh, specializing in the unification of symbolic logic and machine learning. He has co-authored over 50 scientific articles on AI, and has won several best paper awards.

Inhalt
Preface.- Acknowledgments.- Introduction.- Representation Matters.- From Predicate Calculus to the Situation Calculus.- Knowledge.- Probabilistic Beliefs.- Continuous Distributions.- Localization.- Regression & Progression.- Programs.- A Modal Reconstruction.- Conclusions.