The MBC information booklet - RMIT University

CHAPTER 6 Intelligent Systems
6.1 Introduction
Chapter 6: Intelligent Systems
Students should ensure that their prerequisites are met, and relate this to the sequence
order presented by the timetables. It is quite acceptable to complete a cluster over two
years or semesters if necessary. If students wish to undertake the Intelligent Systems
specialist cluster in the Masters then it is mandatory to have a proper discrete
mathematics background as described by the course COSC1105 Computing Theory.
COSC1125 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (or its equivalent) is also required.
The amount of information in computer systems and on the world wide web is massive and
growing every day. Finding relevant information and using it in meaningful ways is
becoming more and more difficult. It is becoming increasingly clear that the only way to
deal with the tidal wave of information is to use programs which are capable of intelligent
behaviour. Many companies in such areas as manufacturing, mining, finance and
medicine have already made and saved millions of dollars by developing and using
intelligent systems.
The courses in the intelligent systems cluster are concerned with the theory and practice
of incorporating intelligent behaviour into computer programs.
COSC1163 Intelligent Agents and Agent-Oriented Systems is a seminar style subject
providing an overview of a variety of research topics in the area of building collaborative,
autonomous, intelligent programs, used for controlling robots and for building software
agents which operate in virtual environments, the web and other networks.
COSC1165 Intelligent Web Systems deals with intelligent programs and web agents for
the world wide web.
COSC2033 Evolutionary Computing is a seminar style subject which aims to give an
understanding of the research area of evolutionary computation and the current state of
the art of its application.
COSC2048 Agent-Oriented Programming and Design introduces a software engineering
methodology and a programming environment for the new programming paradigm, agent
oriented programming, which is likely to supersede object oriented programming over the
next decade.
Deductive and object-relational databases are covered in ISYS1072 Deductive and
Object-Relational Databases.
Minor theses in intelligent systems can involve applying existing theories to commercial
and industrial problems or can be cutting-edge research projects. The Intelligent Systems
group has a mobile autonomous robot which is used in some research projects. Thesis
topics are available in intelligent agents and multi-agent systems, robot soccer (RoboCup),
robot rescue simulation (RoboCupRescue), animated agent simulations, mobile agents,
co-operation amongst agents, agents in open systems, robust machine learning
algorithms, design, implementation and applications of logic programming languages,
automated proof search, resource-sensitive logics, description logics, novel applications
of logic, intelligent information retrieval, knowledge integration, neural networks, computer
vision and evolutionary computation.
The courses intended to be offered in 2006 are:
• COSC2048—Agent-Oriented Programming and Design (see page 30)
• ISYS1072—Deductive and Object-Relational Databases (see page 19)
• COSC2033—Evolutionary Computing (see page 31)
• COSC1163—Intelligent Agents and Agent-Oriented Systems (see page 31)
• COSC1165—Intelligent Web Systems (see page 31)
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