Computer Engineering Commons^™

Measuring Design Metrics In Websites, Emilio Navarro, Ronan Fitzpatrick

Conference papers

The current state of the World Wide Web demands website designs that engage consumers in order to allow them to consume services or generate leads to maximize revenue. This paper describes a software quality factor to measure the success of websites by analyzing web design structure and not relying only on websites traffic data. It is also documents the requirements and architecture to build a software tool that measures criteria for determining Engagibility. A new set of social criteria to be measured for current website philosophy is also proposed.

Evolving Machine Morality Strategies Through Multiagent Simulations, David Burke

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

There is a general consensus among robotics researchers that the world of the future will be filled with autonomous and semi-autonomous machines. There is less of a consensus, though, on the best approach to instilling a sense of 'machine morality' in these systems so that they will be able to have effective interactions with humans in an increasingly complex world. In my talk, we take a brief look at some existing approaches to computational ethics, and then describe work we've undertaken creating multiagent simulations involving moral decision-making during strategic interactions. In these simulations, agents make choices about whether to cooperate …

Quadruped Gait Learning Using Cyclic Genetic Algorithms, Gary Parker, William T. Tarimo, Michael Cantor

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Generating walking gaits for legged robots is a challenging task. Gait generation with proper leg coordination involves a series of actions that are continually repeated to create sustained movement. In this paper we present the use of a Cyclic Genetic Algorithm (CGA) to learn gaits for a quadruped servo robot with three degrees of movement per leg. An actual robot was used to generate a simulation model of the movement and states of the robot. The CGA used the robot's unique features and capabilities to develop gaits specific for that particular robot. Tests done in simulation show the success of …

Fitness Biasing For Evolving An Xpilot Combat Agent, Gary Parker, Phil Fritzsche

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper we present an application of Fitness Biasing, a type of Punctuated Anytime Learning, for learning autonomous agents in the space combat game Xpilot. Fitness Biasing was originally developed as a means of linking the model to the actual robot in evolutionary robotics. We use fitness biasing with a standard genetic algorithm to learn control programs for a video game agent in real-time. Xpilot-AI, an Xpilot add-on designed for testing learning systems, is used to evolve the controller in the background while periodic checks in normal game play are used to compensate for errors produced by running the …

The Effects Of Using A Greedy Factor In Hexapod Gait Learning, Gary Parker, William T. Tarimo

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Various selection schemes have been described for use in genetic algorithms. This paper investigates the effects of adding greediness to the standard roulette-wheel selection. The results of this study are tested on a Cyclic Genetic Algorithm (CGA) used for learning gaits for a hexapod servo-robot. The effectiveness of CGA in learning optimal gaits with selection based on roulette-wheel selection with and without greediness is compared. The results were analyzed based on fitness of the individual gaits, convergence time of the evolution process, and the fitness of the entire population evolved. Results demonstrate that selection with too much greediness tends to …

Comparison Of A Greedy Selection Operator To Tournament Selection And A Hill Climber, Lee Graham, John Borbone, Gary Parker

Computer Science Faculty Publications

A new deterministic greedy genetic algorithm selection operator with very high selection pressure, dubbed the "Jugate Adaptive Method" is examined. Its performance and behavior are compared to thoseof a canonical genetic algorithm with tournament selection, and a random-restarting next-ascent stochastic hill-climber. All three algorithms are tuned using parameter sweeps to optimize their success rates on five combinatorial optimization problems, tuning each algorithm for each problem independently. Results were negative in that the new method was outperformed in nearly all experiments. Experimental data show the hill climber to be the clear winner in four of five test problems.

Why Fuzzy Transform Is Efficient In Large-Scale Prediction Problems: A Theoretical Explanation, Irina Perfilieva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Tropical (Idempotent) Algebras As A Way To Optimize Fuzzy Control, Jaime Nava

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Fuzzy control is a methodology that transforms control rules (described by an expert in words of a natural language) into a precise control strategy. There exist several versions of this transformation. The main difference between these versions is in how they interpret logical connectives "and" and "or", i.e., in other words, what reasoning method a version uses. Which of these versions should we choose? It turns out that on different stages of control, different reasoning methods lead to better control results. In this paper, we describe the choice of reasoning methods that optimize control results in terms of smoothness and …

Processing Interval Sensor Data In The Presence Of Outliers, With Potential Applications To Localizing Underwater Robots, Jan Sliwka, Luc Jaulin, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Measurements are never absolutely accurate, the measurement result X is, in general, different from the actual (unknown) values x of the corresponding quantity. In many practical problems, we only know upper bounds D on the measurement errors d = X - x. In such situations, once we know the measurement result, the only conclusion that we can make about the actual value x is that this value belongs to the interval [X - D, X + D]. There exist many efficient algorithms for processing such interval data. However, these algorithms usually assume that all the measurement results are valid. In …

Towards A "Generic" Notion Of Genericity: From "Typical" And "Random" To Meager, Shy, Etc., Ali Jalal-Kamali, Ondrej Nebesky, Michael H. Durcholz, Vladik Kreinovich, Luc Longpre

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many application areas, it is important to study "generic" properties, i.e., properties which hold for ``typical'' examples. For example, if we know the probabilities of different events, we can consider a "random" object -- i.e., an object that, crudely speaking, does not belong to any class of "unusual" events (i.e., to any class with a small probability). In other cases, "typical" may mean not belonging to an "unusual" subset which is small in some other sense -- e.g., a subset of a smaller dimension. The corresponding notion of "typicalness" has been formalized for several cases, including the case of …

Is It Possible To Have A Feasible Enclosure-Computing Method Which Is Independent Of The Equivalent Form?, Marcin Michalak, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The problem of computing the range [y] of a given function f(x1, ..., xn) over given intervals [xi] -- often called the main problem of interval computations -- is, in general, NP-hard. This means that unless P = NP, it is not possible to have a feasible (= polynomial time) algorithm that always computes the desired range. Instead, interval computations algorithms compute an enclosure [Y] for the desired range. For all known feasible enclosure-computing methods -- starting with straightforward interval computations -- there exist two expressions f(x1, ..., xn) and g(x1, ..., xn) for computing the same function that lead …

San Luis Obispo Transit Tracker System Back-End Server, Daryl Alan A. Dimalanta

Computer Engineering

This document gives the rationale, design process, technical implementation, testing procedures, and testing results of a back-end server used for the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Transit Tracker System. The SLO Transit Tracker System (SLOTTS) includes client software installed on mobile devices and a back-end server. The purpose of this system is to encourage SLO residents to utilize the transit system by having the client software present current bus location, navigation instructions, and bus schedule in a simple, fast, and easy to use mobile application.

Due to the limited central processing unit (CPU) and limited power supplied by the battery, route …

Estimating Probability Of Failure Of A Complex System Based On Inexact Information About Subsystems And Components, With Potential Applications To Aircraft Maintenance, Vladik Kreinovich, Christelle Jacob, Didier Dubois, Janette Cardoso, Martine Ceberio, Ildar Batyrshin

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many real-life applications (e.g., in aircraft maintenance), we need to estimate the probability of failure of a complex system (such as an aircraft as a whole or one of its subsystems). Complex systems are usually built with redundancy allowing them to withstand the failure of a small number of components. In this paper, we assume that we know the structure of the system, and, as a result, for each possible set of failed components, we can tell whether this set will lead to a system failure. For each component A, we know the probability P(A) of its failure with …

Product Of Partially Ordered Sets (Posets), With Potential Applications To Uncertainty Logic And Space-Time Geometry, Francisco Zapata, Olga Kosheleva, Karen Villaverde

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Orthogonal Bases Are The Best: A Theorem Justifying Bruno Apolloni's Heuristic Neural Network Idea, Jaime Nava, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

One of the main problems with neural networks is that they are often very slow in learning the desired dependence. To speed up neural networks, Bruno Apolloni proposed to othogonalize neurons during training, i.e., to select neurons whose output functions are orthogonal to each other. In this paper, we use symmetries to provide a theoretical explanation for this heuristic idea.

A Web Application For Financial Trading Simulation, Li-Chiou Chen, Lixin Tao, Padma Kadiyala

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

Estimating Mean And Variance Under Interval Uncertainty: Dynamic Case, Rafik Aliev, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, it is important to estimate themean E and the variance V from the sample valuesx₁, ..., x_n. Usually, in statistics,we consider the case when the parameters like E and V do not change with timeand when the sample values x_i are known exactly. Inpractice, the values x_icome from measurements, andmeasurements are never 100% accurate. In many cases, we onlyknow the upper bound D_i on the measurement error. Inthis case, once we know the measured value X_i, wecan conclude that the actual (unknown) value x_i belongs …

Dynamic Fuzzy Logic Leads To More Adequate "And" And "Or" Operations, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the traditional (static) fuzzy logic approach, we select an "and"-operation (t-norm) and an "or"-operation (t-conorm). The result of applying these selected operations may be somewhat different from the actual expert's degrees of belief in the corresponding logical combinations A & B and A \/ B of the original statements -- since these degrees depend not only on the expert's degrees of belief in statements A and B, but also in the extent to which the statements A and B are dependent. We show that dynamic fuzzy logic enables us to automatically take this dependence into account -- and thus, …

Auto Fall Detector, Nhut Thanh Ho

Computer Engineering

This device is named Cardea, the goddess of health in roman Mythology. The Cardea will be attached to the waist of the individual’s body to detect any falls, and will send out alarm signals to people in the surrounding area. The end goal of this project is to provide a helpful and friendly device for the elderly and their families. It is easy to maintain and dependable for long term use.

Woody: Roborodentia 2011 Robot, Felix Chung, Canh Sy, Hanson Yu

Computer Engineering

Woody is a fully autonomous robot built and designed for the 2011 Cal Poly Roborodentia competition. Woody’s goal is to score the most points in the competition by navigating the competition field, efficiently collecting ping pong balls from the racks, and shooting the balls into the goal accurately. There was no specific budget set for the project, but costs were kept low by using tools from the Computer Engineering Capstone Lab, inexpensive materials such as wood, and reusable parts from robots from previous Roborodentia competitions.