NEWS RELEASE

NEW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MICROELECTRONICS LABORATORY OPENS ON THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA CAMPUS

The problem (aside from incomprehensible instruction booklets) is the software in the microcontroller – the tiny computer built into the VCR. The average house has some 100 microcontrollers these days, in everything from microwave ovens to thermostats, and more are on the way. There’s a real need for better ways of programming them.

That’s why Covington, associate director of the University of Georgia’s Artificial Intelligence Center, decided to start a new Microelectronics Laboratory, which recently began operations in a small area of the Boyd Graduate Studies Building.

"Our goal is to get human knowledge into microchips," says Covington. "We see artificial intelligence (AI) as the intersection of several fields that study human thought. AI is the computer modeling of human thinking or of human mental abilities. Back in the 1950s, its goal was to make computers think like us. Researchers have now realized that computers are useful precisely because they are not exactly like us, just as a hammer is not like a hand. We use computers to extend our minds, not to replace them."

Covington’s role as one of the most versatile faculty members on campus will only be strengthened by the new laboratory, which consists of an electronics prototyping area and three high-performance computers. His degrees are in linguistics, not in electrical engineering, though he has been fascinated by electronics since the age of six and has been working mainly with computers and electronics since 1984. (His work has led him to be named a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is also the author of numerous books, holds degrees from Cambridge and Yale, and was UGA’s co-valedictorian in 1977.)

While Covington hopes the new laboratory will lure research funding and projects from business and industry, it also offers an opportunity for experience for students in the AI master’s degree program and interested students in other departments. Many AI students arrive with an engineering background and can immediately start work on microelectronics projects.

The research programs Covington is establishing in the laboratory would make HAL, the computer-with-a-mind-of-his-own in 2001:A Space Odyssey, proud. Among the projects will be:

*Speech recognition and synthesis. At least three graduate students are already working on projects in this area. It’s a hot area because Microsoft will bundle speech synthesis and recognition with the next version of Windows.

*Defeasible logic on embedded microcontrollers. "Defeasible" logic is a system of thinking that deals with imperfect or uncertain information. Classical logic, which goes back to Aristotle, assumes that you already know everything and that you’ll never change your mind. Defeasible logic assumes that you’re still learning and that specific statements will override general ones.

"Here’s an example," said Covington. "We all know that birds fly. We all know that penguins are birds that don’t fly. In classical logic, that’s a contradiction. But in defeasible logic isn’t not, because specific facts override general ones. Instructions for controlling machines often work the same way. It all sounds very theoretical, but we’ve used it to design an air-conditioner controller."

*Smart instrumentation. Covington will be working with computer-controlled instruments to interface them to expert systems running on conventional PCs. An expert system is a computer program that interprets data much the
way a human expert does, making a diagnosis or recommendation based on the information given to it.

Covington, who for the past five years has chaired the incident handling team for computer security at UGA but is no longer involved with that effort, said he is seeking funding from the software or electronics industry, funds that could help develop a new generation of microelectronics. "The new lab helps position UGA to participate in the governor’s Yamacraw Initiative to build up the microelectronics industry in Georgia," says Covington.

The equipment and software in the center comes from grants by Hewlett-Packard and Inprise Corporation (formerly Borland International), as well as from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA.

One reason Covington started the new lab was a conversation he had with Ed Larson, UGA’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning professor of history and law. "Ed was saying that [British scientist] Michael Faraday could have anticipated Edison’s electrical inventions if he’d wanted to," said Covington. "But he was too much of a pure scientist, so he missed the opportunity. So I figured I ought to indulge my inclination to build gadgets. There’s a great need for applied artificial intelligence, not just theoretical study. We need to bridge the gap between computers and people.

"So the story of Faraday and Edison clicked with me. I already know I’m not like Einstein; I can’t spend my whole life on a single scientific problem. I’m aiming to be more like Ben Franklin. In addition to being a great statesman, he discovered electrical current and invented bifocals and the Franklin stove. I understand that kind of mind."

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(Writers/editors: Visit the web site for the new UGA Artificial Intelligence Microelectronics Laboratory at www.ai.uga.edu/~mc/microlab.html.)