The Leaf (AI) Project
Encyclopedia
The Leaf Project is a group robot
development program whose objective is to develop a robot platform that supports experiments with artificial intelligence
, vision
, navigation, etc.
Leaf was created by Bruce Weimer, Alex Brown and Robin Hewitt. It is an artificial life program, inspired by Steve Grand
's computer game Creatures
, in which artificial beings hatch, develop, and interact in a simulated environment. PC version of Leaf was demonstrated in 2003, construction of the first robot began in early 2004.
Three Leaf robots were completed in 2004 and four more were built in 2006.
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
development program whose objective is to develop a robot platform that supports experiments with artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, vision
Computer vision
Computer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
, navigation, etc.
Leaf was created by Bruce Weimer, Alex Brown and Robin Hewitt. It is an artificial life program, inspired by Steve Grand
Steve Grand
Steve Grand OBE is an English computer scientist and an internationally recognised roboticist. He was the creator and lead programmer of the Creatures artificial life simulation, which he discussed in his first book Creation: Life and how to make it, a finalist for the 2001 Aventis Prize for...
's computer game Creatures
Creatures (artificial life program)
Creatures is an artificial life computer program series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge computer games developer Millennium Interactive...
, in which artificial beings hatch, develop, and interact in a simulated environment. PC version of Leaf was demonstrated in 2003, construction of the first robot began in early 2004.
Overview
Leaf:- has an artificial personality
- is an open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
project - responds to spoken commands
- responds to visual information
- can be used with just a PCPersonal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
- can be interfaced to a robot through his own circuit board
- is programmed in LISPLispA lisp is a speech impediment, historically also known as sigmatism. Stereotypically, people with a lisp are unable to pronounce sibilants , and replace them with interdentals , though there are actually several kinds of lisp...
- can use a CSLU ToolkitCSLU ToolkitThe CSLU Toolkit is a software library comprising a comprehensive suite of tools that enable exploration, learning, and research into speech and human-computer interaction.The tools include:* Audio* Display* Speech recognition* Speech generation...
animated face - uses Robin Hewitt's webcamWebcamA webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
implementation for vision - can be completely customized and users are encouraged to customize and improve him
- software is currently used in an R2-D2R2-D2R2-D2 , is a character in the Star Wars universe. An astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character throughout all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga...
replica - has a hardware/ electronic platform created by Alex Brown that supports basic mobility, sensing and control from an on-board PC
Three Leaf robots were completed in 2004 and four more were built in 2006.