CPE/CSC 480-F06 Artificial Intelligence Extra Lab Exercise : AI in the Movies and Entertainment

Note: This is an additional lab exercise to be done instead of Lab 9 during the lecture and lab time on Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006.

The use of non-human agents that seem to show "intelligent" behavior has long been a staple in the entertainment professions, starting with early robots like chess machines, talking dolls, or animals that count or speak. Since the invention of movies, intelligent non-human characters also have played significant roles.

Your task in this exercise is to select a non-human character in a movie or some other domain of the entertainment industry, and analyze the aspects of intelligence for that character. This is somewhat similar to the chatbot and Roomba analysis performed earlier, but of course the characters in this exercise tend to be much more complex and human-like in their behavior.

First, describe the character and its role in the movie. Then, as with the chatbot exercise, you need to identify at least five criteria for intelligence that you believe are especially important for your chosen character.These criteria should be more carefully chosen and described than the ones from the chatbot exercise. For each aspect, ideally you should have objective and measurable criteria that can be used to judge the intelligence of the character. Finally, you should do an overall assessment of the intelligence of your character.

Collaboration

This exercise can be done as an individual or as a team assignment, with a maximum of three members per team. If you choose to do it as a team assignment, I expect you to do at least as much work as the sum of the individuals. This can be shown through a more in-depth analysis, the consideration of more aspects of intelligence, or the analysis of multiple characters in the same piece or across related pieces (e.g. a series of movies, or movies with a similar topic).

Questions about the Assignment

If you have gneral questions or comments concerning the lab exercise, post them on the Blackboard Discussion Forum for the lab. I will check that forum on a regular basis, and try to answer your questions.

Assignment Submission

This assignment must be submitted electronically to the respective Blackboard discussion forum by the deadline specified above.

You can use the table below for this exercise, or create your own document.