Download Keynote Speaker-3: History of Computing and AI, a

2015 17th UKSIM-AMSS International Conference on Modelling and Simulation
Keynote Speaker-3
History of Computing and AI, a Personal Viewpoint
Prof Harry Barrow, Cambridge, [email protected]
The label that most people might attach to me is “Computer Scientist”. Ever since secondary school, I have been
fascinated by computers, their power and their potential, and I have enjoyed trying to program them to behave with
some artificial intelligence.
During my long career, I have witnessed first-hand the astonishingly rapid progress of computing hardware
technology, from a few room-sized mainframes to the ubiquity of smartphone processors, and the dramatic increases in
the scale, complexity, sophistication and availability of software.
I have been privileged to work in several of the principal centres of AI research, both academic and commercial,
meeting and collaborating with some remarkable people. the research in which I have been involved has included
robotics, computer vision, programming languages, expert systems, neural networks and even experimental psychology
and neuroscience.
In this talk, I present a (personal) view of these developments, primarily focussing on the earlier history of AI and
illustrated with some highlights from my own research.
Biography
Harry Barrow has been engaged in research in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence,
in both academia and industry, for nearly 50 years, and is author of more than 80 papers and
technical reports, and inventor or co-inventor of more than a dozen patents.
1965 BA in Mathematics with Physics, Cambridge University (Emmanuel College).
1966 MSc and 1969 PhD in Communication, Keele University, Department of
Communication. Research into the human sense of touch.
1969-75 Research Fellow, Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception, Edinburgh
University. Work on design, construction and programming the Freddy 1 and 2 robot systems
and on the versatile assembly demonstration system for Freddy 2.
1975-80 Senior Computer Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Center, Stanford Research
Institute. Exploring the fundamental principles of vision in animals and machines, and
developing applied techniques for automated photo-interpretation and cartography. Member of the advisory board for
an early JPL Mars rover project.
1980-88 One of four founders of a new Schlumberger Artificial Intelligence research laboratory in Palo
Alto. Research into intelligent aids for VLSI design, expert systems for diagnosing process problems, visual inspection
of ICs, resource allocation for automatic testers, systems to aid the design of mechanisms, and the development of a
system for automatically proving correctness of integrated circuit designs. Fundamental research developing a theory
and simulation of how primate primary visual cortex might self-organise.
1988-96 Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, Sussex
University. Fundamental research into primate visual processing, developing a model in which one simple mechanism
might explain many known characteristics of the primary cortex. Application of AI and neural networks to problems of
mineral exploration using data in image format, weather forecasting using radar image sequences, x-ray interpretation,
and mechanical design.
1996-2007 Scientific Advisor at Schlumberger Cambridge Research. Research included 3-D visualisation of
reservoirs, diagnosis of drilling and production problems, error-correcting codes, navigation for
downhole robots and interpretation of drilling rig logs as activities on the rig.
2007- Officially retired, but still interested in AI, vision and neural networks, carrying out personal research and
occasional consulting.
978-1-4799-8713-9/15 $31.00 © 2015 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/UKSim.2015.109
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