Syllabus for CS 484: Bio-Inspired AI Spring 2011

Professor: Dr. Alan Garvey

Section 01: TTh 9:30-10:20am

Office Hours

• MWF 9:30-10:20am, 11:30am-1:20pm

Contact Information:

• Office: Violette Hall Rm 2166
• Office Phone: x7600
• Email: agarvey@truman.edu
• Webpage: http://vh216602.truman.edu/agarvey/

Textbook

• Primary text: Bio-Inspired AI by Dario Flordano and Caludio Mattiussi, MIT Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-262-06271-8
• A Python book that I like is: Learning Python by Mark Lutz, O'Reilly Media Inc. 2009, Fourth Edition

Prerequisites

The prerequisite for this class is permission from the instructor. Generally I have given permission to anyone who has taken CS 480 Artificial Intelligence. I would be willing to consider other possible prerequisites. This is a 400-level computer science class and I will expect you to be able to learn things on your own outside of class, as well as keep up with material that is presented at a fairly rapid pace in class.

Course Objectives

1. Look at (mostly) recent work in AI that is inspired by biological systems or concepts.
2. Introduce biological topics such as evolution, cells, neural networks, developmental systems, immune systems and behavior.
3. Understand and sometimes build AI systems that explore and use these biological ideas.
4. Explore a particular bio-inspired AI topic in more detail through a significant software project.

Class Attendance

I would like you to come to class. We will be exploring these topics together and having us all together will help. I understand that you will occasionally have to miss class. However, whether you are in class or not you will be responsible for all deadlines and all materials taught or assigned. Graded activities such as tests, quizzes, in-class projects, etc. . . may not be made up. Exceptions to this will be at my discretion and must be arranged with me before the missed class. Be aware that in class I will cover significant amounts of material that is not covered by the textbook.

Grading

• 35% for homework and programming assignments (two significant programming assignments, plus some amount of other stuff)
• 30% for one in-class exam and the final exam
• 25% for your semester-long project (project will be evaluated at a few points during the semester)
• 10% for the class that you lead

Honesty

Anyone submitting work to be graded which, in my estimation and beyond reasonable doubt, is not his or her work alone will receive an F. No group work is allowed unless I explicitly indicate that you can work in groups. When you do hand in group work, you must always indicate that it is group work and who was involved in it. You are welcome to discuss assignments with anyone, but all work you hand in must be your own. Corrolary: If you provide work you produce to others, you are aiding and abetting their dishonesty and thus being dishonest yourself. Providing your work to others or giving answers to others is not acceptable.

ADA Statement

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Disability Services office (x4478) as soon as possible.

Organization of the class

This is still under development, but my best idea so far of how this class will work is:

• We will spend some amount of class time going through sections of the BioAI book. At first I will lead these classes. Later in the semester, pairs of students will lead the class for the day, both using the textbook slides and bringing in other relevant material.
• As much as possible we will try to look at actual working programs (often Java applets) that demonstrate ideas we are discussing in class. We should all be on the lookout for relevant online examples.
• You will have two significant programming assignments, one involving Genetic Algorithms and the other involving Neural Networks. These will both be fairly structured (by me) and will be done in Python. The Genetic Algorithm assignment will go out around January 20 (or perhaps January 25). The Neural Network assignment will be somewhat later in the semester.
• There may be a few homework assignments or brief quizzes, especially if I think that people are not reading and absorbing the material in the book. This will not be a major component of the class.
• I'm think that we will have one in-class exam (probably roughly half way through the semester) and a final exam. I guess I am open to the possibility of take-home exams, especially for the final. This whole area is still open to discussion.
• You will do a significant software project that explores one of the ideas not otherwise covered in detail in class. You will do this in groups of two or (perhaps) three. This assignment will have multiple due-dates, somewhat like the AI class project. You will be free to use whatever language and pre-existing software you choose, upon approval by me. You will present your projects in class during the later part of the semester. I'm thinking that each project will get half of a class to present, so I will have fairly high presentation expectations.
• I have assigned grading percentages to each of these components of the class. I am somewhat open to negotiating these if you would like to, although we have to settle definitively early in the semester.