Artificial intelligence
Students do exercises with Lego toys to apply
sophisticated Robotics concepts

PAULO C. NASCIMENTO

Small vehicles built with Lego game pieces, with dimensions close to that of a shoebox, move alone in different directions on the floor of a classroom at Unicamp. Equipped with wheels, claws and cranes, they avoid walls and other obstacles, and perform tasks such as picking up Styrofoam cubes and transporting them from one location to another.

What seems like child's play is, in fact, the academic exercise of applying sophisticated artificial intelligence concepts to the operation of autonomous robots, carried out by students of the Robotics elective course: Sensory and Motor Systems, offered since last year by the Institute of Computing (IC) for undergraduates in Computer Science and Computer Engineering courses, and for postgraduate students in Computer Science.

The assembly of robots, from sets manufactured by the Lego company, constitutes the practical part of the course, designed with the aim of introducing students interested in the topic to the basic principles of Robotics.

Controlled by a computer, the gadgets assembled by the students have “intelligence” to make decisions and resolve situations to which they are subjected. Some are simple in nature – turning right or left to continue moving after detecting an obstacle ahead – others are a little more complex, such as moving across a table and stopping close to the edge without falling to the ground.

They can also perform a heroic feat: identifying and rescuing “friendly humans” (actually Styrofoam blocks, colored to help the robot in identification) from inside an arena, where “enemy humans” and other robots that they need to face are mixed.

“Although the systems assembled by the students are, in a way, simple, they make it possible to work on the fundamental principles of Robotics in a concrete way, that is, the programming logic involved in the functioning of the little robot is the same as that applied to a device that performs more complex operations. ”, explains professor Luiz Marcos Garcia Gonçalves, responsible for the subject, taught throughout the second semester.

Brain – Once ready, the robots move alone using wheels or tracks similar to those of a tractor, driven by battery-powered motors. A small computer attached to its structure processes the operational program created by the students and, like a “brain”, controls their movements based on information provided by touch and light sensors.

These devices – equivalent to human vision or tactile sensations – allow automatons to recognize the environment in which they find themselves, move in different directions and, with the help of the program, decide the best way to overcome an obstacle, whether simply dodging or arranging for its removal using a tool they carry.

Subjected to performance tests during the semester, the vehicles must be capable of successfully executing previously specified tasks with varying degrees of difficulty. The level of demand of these tests (which include a robot competition at the end of the course) follows the evolution of the classes and allows evaluating the understanding and correct application of the theoretical contents of Computing, Mechanics and Electronics provided by the discipline, according to Luiz Gonçalves.

Excitement – The news offered by IC excited veterans and freshmen. For Raphael Marcos Menderico, first year in Computer Engineering, the discipline allowed him to deepen his knowledge in robot programming – a subject he is passionate about – sooner than he thought he would at University. According to him, the emphasis on practice helped him quickly assimilate the theoretical content, despite its complexity.

Sheila Moraes de Almeida, third year in Computer Science, says that the discipline expanded her opportunities to develop experiments in artificial intelligence, an area in which she already works with scientific initiation projects and in which she intends to remain as a researcher after graduation.

“The practical activity makes Robotics concepts very tangible for students, and enriches learning and knowledge construction”, argues João Vilhete Viegas d´Abreu, assistant professor of the subject. “It's very different than just watching the robot work in an abstract simulation on a computer screen,” he notes.

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The man-machine relationship

Robotics is a multidisciplinary area that uses knowledge from other sciences, such as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence, to create robots. The majority of these machines are used in industrial production lines, where they infinitely repeat a series of previously programmed operations with millimetric precision.

However, scientists at different research centers are dedicating great efforts to developing a more advanced generation of automatons, “intelligent” robots. Examples of concrete initiatives in this fascinating scientific field are: the snake robot designed by NASA engineers (the North American space agency) to work in weightless situations; the robotic dog Aibo launched by Sony; or the domestic robot created by NEC to serve as a companion mainly for elderly people who live alone, with sensors that allow it to perform various tasks, such as recognizing more than a hundred voice commands and phrases from its owners.

The “smart” robots of the future, however, will be controlled by artificial neural networks – sets of silicon microchips that seek to imitate the organization and functioning of the brain. Capable of making increasingly complex decisions, they will even be able to demonstrate emotions and feelings when interacting with humans, in a man-machine relationship frequently explored in the arts.

Science fiction literature and cinema have already produced numerous works on the subject, such as the classic The Bicentennial Man, by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), author of anthologies about robots. In the 80s, the “cult movie” Blade Runner, by director Ridley Scott, addressed the conflicting relationship between humans and replicants – highly advanced robots developed with biotechnology resources, who want to have feelings and be like their creators.

More recently, Artificial Intelligence, a film by Steven Spielberg, dealt with the adventures of a robot boy built with the ability to love his owners to the point of considering them his parents.

Respecting the due proportions, what Unicamp students do is nothing more than assemble their cybernetic creatures with the same basic concepts of artificial intelligence that governs all these robotic devices, those already materialized by science and those that, for now , populate the imagination of film writers and screenwriters. Just for now.

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