Artificial Intelligence

Problem Set #1

Due:  January 31, 2012 by the start of class

Formatting and Submission Instructions

Your responses to these questions must be typed and submitted in hardcopy.  You must work alone on this assignment.

Be certain to include a statement of sources at the top of your assignment, listing all sources you consulted (websites, fellow students, etc.) while completing the assignment.  You do not need to list any course materials (textbooks, lecture notes, or the professor).

1.)  What is AI? (35 pts)

READING: Read "What is AI?" by John McCarthy.

ASSIGNMENT:  (Be sure to answer all parts.  Target your answer to less than half of a page.) 
Describe in your own words what you think AI is all about, and why you decided to take this class. Did your view of AI change after reading McCarthy's paper? Tell me what you think is most interesting or exciting about AI. Describe your own opinion for the ultimate goal of AI and the major challenges of achieving that goal. Real-world applications go a long way to motivating important research. Briefly describe one real-world application that motivates your goal for AI (try to be creative and pick an application that hasn't been mentioned yet in the text and class).


2.)  Agents and their Environments (30 pts)

Select one real or imaginable agent not discussed in class or in the readings.  Provide a PEAS description of the agent's task environment and characterize it in terms of the properties listed in Section 2.3.2.

3.)  Uninformed Search (35 pts)

Complete Exercise 3.15 (a, b, c)Complete Exercise 3.9 (a, b, c).  Be brief in your answers.