Dee Dee Strohl - Blog Post 1

HVAC & Sensors:

This is the article I discussed in my introduction blog post. It discusses the use of Keen Home’s Smart Vents. These vents have sensors for temperature and pressure which can be monitored and changed via an app. The vent is given a label in the system and is pre-programmed with the information of when the space is usually occupied. In this case, the vent is open and air flow and temperature can be adjusted if needed. When the room is in an unoccupied time, the vent closes. This technology cuts down the average run time of air vents by 22%. This technology can be partnered with other home gadget companies like Nest and Wink for a streamlined HVAC system in your home. Because I’m an AE mechanical concentration, these vents sound awesome to me especially because they can help with home energy efficiency. With the bonus of connection through an app, these vents are set to become popular in our future-centric society.

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/brilliant-air-vents-never-knew-needed/

AI, Database, & Future:

A computer system called PaleoDeepDive was tested against human scientists in the process of extracting data from scientific publications about paleontology and placing it into a database. The system worked as well, or sometimes even better than, the humans. The system was created using a probabilistic approach, meaning there isn’t always one correct answer. One of the creators explained that “computers often have trouble deciphering simple-sounding statements”. So, using this approach gives a high probability that the computer will store the data correctly. The computer scans articles and extracts relevant data to be placed in a relational database that could help scientists complete tasks more efficiently. Where the computer has an advantage is the fact that it can improve results as new information is added. Meanwhile, if the process is done by a human, the only way to check the process is to look at the articles again. To create this system a million hours of computer time was logged and access to tens of thousands of articles. At first the download volume was so immense that the system was slowed until more access was granted. The hope for the future of the project is to have a system that can quickly do the lifetime work of a paleontologist or geologist. Though the system sounds incredible and helpful, as a paleontologist, I would be worried that a computer would be taking over my job, which seems to be a common theme currently.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/software-equal-to-or-better-than-humans-at-cataloging-published-science-data

COMMENTS:

Andrew Maita:

I worked with 3D printers back in high school and it’s difficult for me to imagine that technology having the ability to print a house. I wish I had a better understanding of how the system works and what the printer looks like, because all I see in my head is the little MakerBot in my high school lab. It’ll be interesting to see how time wears on the printed structures and what we can expect for this technology for buildings in the future.

Lauren Kujawa:

Like you, I use Google every day, multiple times a day and know they are rapidly expanding their influence on society. To think that robots are going to be creating robots is a bit alarming to me; all I can see are the plots of sci-fi movies where robots take over the world. I also read an article about computers completing the jobs of professionals by quickly scanning information and creating a database. It’s daunting to think that this is the future of technology in so many fields of study.

Shuyuan Zhang:

I liked your post because it gave me a better sense of how AI is developed and how it works. Once the AI is initially built, I assume the process (both the discriminative model and generative model) cycles quickly and as time goes on, because it learns from each iteration, it begins to work even faster. Based on your post, I believe the AI discussed in the article I read used the GAN strategy to build the system. I want to learn more about each of the building methods and understand what applications they work best for.