| Outcome/accomplishment:
People are fairly predictable, but systems that model human behavior have
always faced a challenge in coping with the uncertainty of human actions.
A new framework developed by researchers at an NSF-funded Engineering Research
Center (ERC) offers computerized thinking systems much greater insight
into human actions that deviate from the expected.
Impact/benefits:
In one application, NavPrescience, Inc., a spinoff company founded by faculty
and students of the Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) ERC through QoLT’s
Foundry program, is commercializing the new technology in the form of systems
that enhance a driver’s ability to safely and efficiently reach his/her
destination. In contrast to currently available personal navigation units,
the NavPrescience systems' new capabilities will give the driver far more
options and will learn the driver’s preferences for routes, road types,
and destinations.
Explanation/ background:
The QoLT Center is headquartered at Carnegie Mellon University and the
University of Pittsburgh. Researchers with QoLT have developed a
framework called Maximum Causal Entropy that overcomes many limitations
of earlier approaches used to model human behavior. The new principle does
a much better job of coping with the uncertainty of human actions in everyday
situations. It also does better with filtering the extraneous "noise" in
the data that intelligent systems use to interpret the meaning of human
actions.
By observing data about the
choices people make, the researchers can now reason about the underlying
purpose of those choices. In addition to NavPrescience, another application
has been to predict the destinations of people walking around an office
complex, so that mobile robots adjust their own paths to steer clear.
The NavPrescience system
is an outgrowth of a “translational research” project that is a partnership
between QoLT and the spinoff company. NSF’s Engineering Education and Centers
Division funds the QoLT Foundry to work with Center students and faculty
on Center-developed technologies that have the potential to be translated
into commercial products, and to spin-out firms such as NavPresience that
will speed innovation. |
