Artificial Intelligence AKA Robots Brings Expert to Williams College for Class of 1960s Scholar Talk

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Feb. 16, 2004 – Manuela M. Veloso, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, will discuss “Autonomous Teams of Robots,” Thursday, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. in The Science Center’s Wege Auditorium. The event is one in the Class of 1960s Scholars Talk series and is open to the public.

Veloso researches in the area of artificial intelligence (AI). Her long-term research goal is the effective construction of teams of intelligent robots where cognition, perception, and action are combined to address planning, execution, and learning tasks, in particular in uncertain, dynamic, and adversarial environments.

She has developed teams of robot soccer agents in three different leagues that have been RoboCup world champions several times: simulation, CMU-built small-wheeled robots, and Sony four-legged robots.

RoboCup is an international project to promote AI, robotics, and related fields. It fosters AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined. RoboCup uses the soccer game as a central topic of research, aiming at innovations to be applied for socially significant problems and industries.

Veloso is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. She received a National Science Foundation Career Award in 1995 and the Allen Newell Medal for Excellence in Research in 1997. She was recently elected program chair of the 2007 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

She received her B.S. and M.Sc. in electrical and computer engineering from the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon in 1984 and her Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon in 1992.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs (413) 597-4279. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap/

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