(Press-News.org) CORVALLIS, Ore. – Computer scientists in the field of artificial intelligence have made an important advance that blends computer vision, machine learning and automated planning, and created a new system that may improve everything from factory efficiency to airport operation or nursing care.
And it's based on watching the Oregon State University Beavers play football.
The idea is for a computer to observe a complex operation, learn how to do it, and then optimize those operations or accomplish other related tasks. In this project, the goal is for the computer to watch video of football plays, learn from them, and then design plays and control players in a football simulation or video game.
As it turns out, football is very complex, and computers struggle to see and understand plays a coach or even an average fan would find routine.
The findings of the new study were just published in AI Magazine, a professional journal of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
"This is one of the first attempts to put several systems together and let a computer see something in the visual world, study it and then learn how to control it," said Alan Fern, an associate professor of computer science at OSU.
"Football actually makes a pretty good test bed, because it's much more complicated that you might think both visually and strategically, but also takes place in a structured setting," he said. "This makes it quite analogous to other potential applications."
Even everyday tasks that are simple for a human, Fern said, are a lot more complicated than they seem.
Consider driving home in your car, he said. What you actually have to do is walk to the parking lot, check for other traffic as you cross the street, select the correct key to put in the ignition, back it up, consider the anticipated traffic to plan a route home, slow down and move a little out of your lane to avoid the child wobbling down the street on a bicycle, make sure you have enough gas. And so on.
Then consider designing an OSU Beavers passing play, which is very fast-paced, designed to confuse the opponent, and based on complex rules; the ball could be thrown to any of several receivers and it still only works about half the time. For a computer that initially has no concept of pass routes and blocking, that's difficult.
"Using football, we created learning algorithms that allow the computer to see the plays, analyze them and learn from them," Fern said. "Ultimately these systems should be able to see what is happening, understand it and maybe even improve upon it."
The work could have multiple applications. Control and logistics planning is hugely important in industry, and even small improvements in efficiency could save billions of dollars. Computer vision and controls might be useful in hospitals or nursing homes to help monitor patients and see who needs care. Large operations such as an airport offer multiple control challenges, or the military could use such approaches to improve supply chains for troops in the field.
The research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. It is a collaboration of OSU and the Institute for the Study of Learning and Expertise in Palo Alto, Calif.
The research is still at a basic stage, the scientists said, but could have commercial applications within a few years. The new study outlines a clear "proof of concept" in action recognition, transferring that recognition into procedural knowledge, and adapting those procedures to new tasks, the scientists said in their conclusion.
"One thing I'd also like to do is return the favor to the football team," Fern said.
"The study of these football plays is helping us to create intelligent computer systems," he said. "When this is more fully developed, we should be able to actually apply it to football, maybe help coaches analyze an upcoming opponent, let the computer determine what they are doing and suggest a strategic nugget to the coach."
###
Editor's Note: Digital images are available to illustrate this story:
Computer analysis: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/6053805453/in/photostream
Quarterback passing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/6054154770/in/photostream
Receiver catching: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/6054177450/in/photostream
The study this story is based on is available online: http://hdl.handle.net/1957/22700
Football analysis leads to advance in artificial intelligence
2011-08-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
UM researcher develops successful prevention program for postpartum OCD
2011-08-19
CORAL GABLES, FL (August 18, 2011) — The birth of a baby can elicit many emotions, from joy and excitement to fear and uncertainty. But it can also trigger unexpected difficulties with anxiety, in particular with postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Psychologist Kiara Timpano from the University of Miami (UM) and her collaborators developed an effective program for the prevention of postpartum obsessive compulsive symptoms. The findings are reported online ahead of print by the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
"Postpartum depression has received much attention, ...
Research finds Greenland glacier melting faster than expected
2011-08-19
A key glacier in Greenland is melting faster than previously expected, according to findings by a team of academics, including Dr Edward Hanna from University of Sheffield.
Dr Hanna, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, was part of a team of researchers that also included Dr Sebastian Mernild from the Los Alamos Laboratory, USA, and Professor Niels Tvis Knudsen from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The team's new findings present crucial insight into the effects of climate change.
The researchers found that Greenland's longest-observed glacier, ...
SUNY Downstate researchers identify possible new targets for treating pain in women
2011-08-19
Women and men experience pain, particularly chronic pain, very differently. The ability of some opioids to relieve pain also differs between women and men. While it has been recognized since the mid-nineties that some narcotic analgesics are more effective in women than men, the reason for this difference was largely unknown.
Narcotic analgesics decrease pain by activating opioid receptors, which are located on nerves that transmit painful sensations. Since levels of mu, delta, and kappa opiate receptors—the three main types of opioid receptor in the brain and spinal ...
The first kangaroo genome sequence
2011-08-19
Kangaroos form an important niche in the tree of life, but until now their DNA had never been sequenced. In an article newly published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, an international consortium of researchers present the first kangaroo genome sequence – that of the tammar wallaby species – and find hidden in their data the gene that may well be responsible for the kangaroo's characteristic hop.
"The tammar wallaby sequencing project has provided us with many possibilities for understanding how marsupials are so different to us," says Prof Marilyn ...
Researchers investigate muscle-building effect of protein beverages for athletes
2011-08-19
Physical activity requires strong, healthy muscles. Fortunately, when people exercise on a regular basis, their muscles experience a continuous cycle of muscle breakdown (during exercise) and compensatory remodeling and growth (especially with weightlifting). Athletes have long experimented with methods to augment these physiologic responses to enhance muscle growth. One such ergogenic aid that has gained recent popularity is the use of high-quality, high-protein beverages during and after exercise, with dairy-based drinks enriched with whey proteins often taking front ...
NYU Langone researchers reveal a new mechanism of genomic instability
2011-08-19
NEW YORK, August 18, 2011 – Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have discovered the cellular mechanisms that normally generate chromosomal breaks in bacteria such as E. coli. The study's findings are published in the August 18 issue of the journal Cell.
"This study provides a new explanation on how bacteria generate mutations and adapt to stressors like antibiotics. The study is quite unusual as it touches on several different fields of molecular biology at the same time: replication, transcription, translation and DNA repair," said Evgeny Nudler, PhD, The Julie Wilson ...
DOE laboratories help develop promising new cancer fighting drug, vemurafenib
2011-08-19
DOE Laboratories Help Develop Promising New Cancer Fighting Drug, Vemurafenib
Powerful X-Rays Enable Development of Successful Treatment for Melanoma and Other Life-Threatening Diseases
WASHINGTON, DC – Powerful X-ray technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national laboratories is revealing new insights into diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to the swine flu, and, most recently, enabled the discovery of a groundbreaking new drug treatment for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The drug, Zelboraf (vemurafenib), received ...
NASA satellite data confirms Greg a hurricane, Fernanda a tropical storm
2011-08-19
Big sisters don't like being overshadowed by their younger brothers and that's what has happened in the eastern Pacific Ocean with Tropical Storm Fernanda and now Hurricane Greg. Despite the difference in strength, NASA satellite imagery shows some strong convection happening in both tropical cyclones and that they're now matched in size.
Greg grew into a hurricane today is it continues moving near the western coast of Mexico, while Fernanda has maintained tropical storm strength.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-11 caught an image of ...
Lung function declines as chest deformity deepens
2011-08-19
A common deformity that cases a depression in the chest wall inhibits lung function as the cavity grows deeper, a national study of 327 patients published in the Journal of Pediatrics found.
"These results confirm what we have observed anecdotally, that children with more severe pectus excavatum report more incidents of shortness of breath and a higher degree of exercise intolerance," said one of the study's lead authors, Dr. Robert Kelly, a pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia.
Pectus excavatum, a condition sometimes ...
Biologists' discovery may force revision of biology textbooks
2011-08-19
Basic biology textbooks may need a bit of revising now that biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material.
According to the textbooks, chromatin, the natural state of DNA in the cell, is made up of nucleosomes. And nucleosomes are the basic repeating unit of chromatin.
When viewed by a high powered microscope, nucleosomes look like beads on a string (photo at right). But in the August 19th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, UC San Diego biologists report their discovery of a novel chromatin particle halfway ...