Tutorial on Alife and Adaptive Behaviour

[Phil Husbands]

AISB96 Workshop and Tutoria1l Series
31 March-2 April 1996

University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton, UK


                               One day Tutorial:

                   Artificial Life and Adaptive Behaviour
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Date of Tutorial: 31st March 1996


Presenter(s) -  Dave Cliff and Phil Husbands
                School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
                University of Sussex
                Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH
                Email: davec or philh @cogs.susx.ac.uk
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Description
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This tutorial  will  provide  an  introduction to  the  burgeoning  fields  of
Artificial Life and Adaptive Behaviour. Artificial Life is concerned with  the
use of computational methods to  both model and synthesize phenomena  normally
associated with living systems. The  related, but more focused, discipline  of
Adaptive Behaviour brings together ideas from a range of disciplines, such  as
ethology, cognitive science and robotics, to further our understanding of  the
behaviours and  underlying mechanisms  that allow  animals, and,  potentially,
robots to survive in uncertain environments.

Topics to be  covered include:  the historical  roots of  Artificial Life  and
Adaptive Behaviour; Strong Alife and Weak Alife; principles of behaviour-based
robotics; artificial  evolution and  its application  to autonomous  robotics;
modelling and synthesizing neural and other learning mechanisms for autonomous
agents;   collective   behaviour;   artificial   worlds;   software    agents;
understanding  the   origins   of  life;   applications;   the   philosophical
implications of these approaches.

The material will be  presented in lecture format  with liberal use of  video,
computer and robot demonstrations. Although  only key work will be  discussed,
extensive bibliographies and suggestions for further reading will be  provided
along with lecture notes and other supporting literature.


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Prerequisites:

None

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Tutorial Numbers:

Maximum of 50 (constrained by room size)

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Audience:

Anyone who thinks the tutorial description sounds interesting and is
willing to part with the cash. They won't be sorry.


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Tutorial Fees:

Tutorial Fees include course materials, refreshments and lunch. All
prices are in pounds Sterling.

(AISB Student fees are in parentheses)

Early Registration Deadline: 1 March 1996

                                    AISB            NON-AISB
                                    MEMBERS         MEMBERS

1 Day Tutorial                      80.00 (55.00)   100.00
LATE REGISTRATION                  100.00 (75.00)   120.00


For Full Details of Registration please contact:

AISB96 Local Organisation
COGS
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH

Tel: +44 1273 678448
Fax: +44 1273 671320

Email: aisb at cogs.susx.ac.uk

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