Stanford Artificial tnteliigence Laboratory Memo AIM-228 Computer Science Department Report No ...

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Stanford Artificial tnteliigence Laboratory
July 1973
Memo AIM-228
Computer Science Department
Report No. STAN-CS-74-409
The First Ten Years of Artificial Intelligence Research at Stanford
Edited by
Lester Earnest
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROJECT
John McCarthy, Principal Investigator
HEURISTIC PROGRAMMING PROJECT
Edward Feigenbaum and Joshua Lederberg,
Co-principal Investigators
Sponsored by
ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
ARPA Order No. 457
COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Stanford University

July 1973
Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
tYlerno AIM-228
Computer Science Department
Report No. STAN-CS-74-409
The First Ten Years of Artificial Intelligence Research at Stanford
Edited by -
Lester Earnest
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROJECT
John McCarthy, Principal Investigator
HEURISTIC PROGRAMMING PROJECT
Edward Feigenbaum and Joshua Lederberg,
CoAprincipal Investigators
ABSTRACT
UnivSetrasniftoyrd at fieldrse lated ianantrdet lilfiigceinaclie n research of years ten first The
have yielded significant results in computer vision and control of manipulators, speech
recognition, citsiru e,hgnim mnaorigtoartpneserp e,ryroeht lacitamehtam yroeht fo,noitatupmoc
dna gniledom fo cina glraoc.ismeeshscecorp sihT troper sezirammus e hsttnemhsilpmoccdana
s esdeiivhopraprgoilbi bni hcae hcraeser.aera
This research runs supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of
Defense under Contract SD-153. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those
of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either
expressed or implied, of the Advanced Research Projects Agency or the U. S. Government.

CONTOETFNA TBSLE i
Section . egaP tceS noi Page
1. INTRODUCTION 1 3. CGINTISMIMRAUREGHORP
PROJECT 39
2. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
PROJECT 2 1 .y3rammu Sfo smiAdna
Accomplishments 39
2.1 Robotics 3
1.1.2 noitalupinaM 3 2.3 tnerruCytivitcA 40
21.2 Vision 5
3.3 swei VdesserpxE ybsrehtO
2.2 laciteroehTseidutS 10 Concerning DENDRAL 4 1
2.2.1 Mathematical Theory of
Computation 10 secidneppA
2.2.2 noitatneserpeRyroehT 15
3.22 lacitammarGecnerefnI 16 .A SSECCA- OT NOITATNEMUCOD74
3.2 citsirueH gnimmargorP 17 B. THESES 49
2.3.1 Theorem Proving 17
2.32 citamotuAmargorP .C MLIFSTROPER 53
noitareneG 19
2.3.3 Board Games 19 .D LANRETXE.SNOITACILBUP 55
4.3.2 cilobmySnoitatupmoC 20
. A.E .I MEMO ABSTRACTS 67
4.2. larutaNegaugnaL 22
1.4.2 hceepSnoitingoceR 22
24.2 Semantics 24
5.2 gnimmargorP segaugnaL 27
1.52 LISP 28
2.5.2LIAF 29
3.5.2LIAS 29
6.2 retupmoCseitilicaF 30
1.6.2 ylraEtnempoleveD 31
2.6.2erawdraH 32
3.6.2 erawtfoS 32
2.7 detaicossAstcejorP 35
1.7.2 rehgiH latneMsnoitcnuF 35
2.7.2 latigiDyhpargoloH 36
3.7.2 dnuoSsisehtnyS 37
4.7.2 sraM erutciPgnissecorP 38
-
.
I.
1
.1 NOITCUDORTNI departments affiliated themselves with the
Project, but without direct financial support:
auhsoJ Lederberg ,)sciteneG( John
la ieccinfeigtirlAletnI si eh tlatnemirepxedna Chowning and Leland Smith (Music), and
theoretical study of perceptual and ynohtnA nraeH.)scisyhP(
intellectual processes using computers. stI
etamitlu laog si ot dnatsred neusehtsessecorp By early 1968, there were just over 100
well enough to make a computer perceive, people on the Project, about half supported
understand and act in ways now only by ARPA. Kenneth Colby and his group
elbissop rof.snamuh joined the Project that year, with separate
gnidnuf morf the National Institute of
In the late 1950s John McCarthy and latneM .htlaeH rehtO seitivitcayltneuqesbus
Marvin Minsky organized the Artificial received some support from the National
ecnegilletni Project at M.I.T. That activity Science Foundation and the National
and another at Carnegie Tech (now Aeronautics and Space Administration.
no l)lyetMi-seriegveinnr UadCid hcum foeht Zohar Manna joined the Faculty and the
gnire ehncoriapeser ni l.aeiccniefgiitlrlaetni ,tcejor Pgniunitnoc sih krow nilacitamehtam
yroeht fo.noitatupmoc
nI 1962, McCarthy came to Stanford
University and initiated another A. I. Project In June 1973, the Artificial Intelligence
here. He obtained financial support for a Laboratory (as it is now called) had 128
llam sytivitca 6( )snosrep morf ehtdecnavdA members, with about two-thirds at least
hcraese RstcejorP ycnegA )APRA(gninnigeb partially ARPA-supported. Other Computer
enuJ ,51.3691 ecneicS ytlucaF srebmem ohw evahdeviecer
such support include Robert Floyd, Cordell
A retup meoc CnteniecmStrape Dsawdemrof ,neerG dna dlanoD.htunK
ta drofnatS ni yraunaJ .5691 yB tahtemit
there were 15 people on the Project, ehT citsirueH lardneD tcejorP retal(degnahc
including Edward Feigenbaum who had just ot citsirueH )gnimmargorP saw demrofni
.devirra Shortly, a decision was made to 1965 under the leadership of Edward
expand the seitivitca of the Project, muabnegieF dna auhsoJ .grebredeL tIsaw
yllaicepse ni eht aera fo eye-dnah.hcraeser initially an element of the A. I. Project and
Additional support was obtained from consisted of five or so people for several
APRA dna a 6-PDP retupmoc metsyssaw .sraey
ordered. Lester Earnest arrived in late 1965
to handle administrative responsibilities of The Heuristic Dendral Project became a
the expanding Project. separate organizational entity with its own
APRA tegdub ni yraunaJ 0791 dna osla
By the summer of 1966, the Project had obtained some support from the Department
nworgt ueolbaliava supmac ecaps dnadevom fo ,htlaeH ,noitacudE dna.erafleW It has
to the D. C. Power Laboratory in the dah 51 ot s0r2eb m ne.timsnhetcneorm
sllihtoof evoba- .drofnatS ehT wenretupmoc
metsys saw dereviled .ereht ruhtrAleumaS The following sections summarize
and Jerome Feldman arrived at about this accomplishments of the first 10 years (1963-
time and D. Raj. Reddy joined the faculty, .)3791 secidneppA tsil lanretxe,snoitacilbup
having completed his doctorate on speech ,seseht mlif ,stroper dna stcartsba fohcraeser
noitingocer as a member of the Project. d esctur doyopbrepr r.ufofats
Several faculty members morf other
2
I .2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE citsirueHgnimmargorP
PROJECT
ruO troppus fo s’nraeH krow on symbolic
computation led to the development of
The work of the Stanford Artificial REDUCE, now being extended at the
Intelligence Project sah been basic and ytisrevinU fo hatU dna ylediw used
deilppa hcraeser ni laicifi tercanegilletnidna .erehwesle
closely related fields, including computer
vision, speech recognition, mathematical Work in heuristic programming resulting in
theory of computation, and control of an Luckham’s resolution theorem prover. This
laicifitra.mra icsu rrentlayb outthb ee stth eorepmr oveirn
existence, and it puts us in a position to test
tenthe over funds ARPA Efxrpoemn ditures the limitations of current ideas about
sr.aey beginning June 15, 1963 have scitsirueh os ew nac og dnoyeb.meht
detnuoma ot 2.9$ .noilli mtuobA %34 fosiht
saw rof lennos r,espe‘iralas( ,segaw,)stifeneb noitatneserpeR Theory
26% for computer and peripheral equipment
,esahcrup (tnemecalper ,strap dna ,)latner%8 Work in the theory of how to represent
for other operating expenses, and 23% for information in a computer is fundamental
tceridni .stsoc rof citsirueh ,gnimmargorp rof language
understanding by computers and rof
Here is a short list of what we consider to smargorp taht nac nrael morf .ecneirepxe
have been our main accomplishments. More drofna tsSah neeb eht redael ni siht.dleif
complete discussions and bibliographies
Mathematical Theory of Computation
follow.
Robotics Our work in mathematical theory of
noitatupmoc si demia ta gnicalpergniggubed
tnempoleveD fo noisiv smargorp rof,gnidnif yb computer checking of proofs that
identifying and describing various kinds of programs meet rieht specifications.
objects in three dimensional scenes. The ,yhtraCcM ,renliM ,annaM ,dyolF,ihsaragI
sen eecdsu lsctnciejb ohtiw talf secaf dnaosla and mahkcuL have been among the leaders
devruc.stcejbo in developing the relevant mathematical
theory, and the laboratory has developed the
The development of programs rof tsrif lautc agnikcehc-fo osrmpargorp tahtnac
manipulation and assembly of objects from check proofs that actual programs meet their
parts. The latest result is the complete .snoitacificeps In particular, Robin Milner’s
ylbmessa fo n aelibom orteutaaw.pmup LCF is a practical proof checker for a
revised version of Dana Scott’s logic of
Speech Recognition elbatupmoc functions.
Development of a system for recognition of hcraeseR seitilicaF
continuous speech, later transferred to
Carnegie-Mellon University and now being eW evah depoleved a yrotarobal htiwyrev
dednapxe nopu elsewhere. good computer and program facilities and
special instrumentation for the evoba,saera
including a timesharing system with 64
enilno yalpsid.slanimret
LAICIFITRA ECNEGILLETNITCEJORP 3
We developed a mechanical arm well suited 1.2scitoboR
to manipulation research. It is being copied
dna desu yb rehto.seirotarobal Thep rojecth asp roduceds everals ubstantial
:stnemhsilpmocca na citamotuanoitalupinam
eW dengised na tneiciffe yalpsiddraobyek metsys elbapac fo gnilbmessa a retaw,pmup
that has been adopted at several tenAPRA a laser ranging apparatus, and programs
facilities. We invented a video switch for hcihw mr o sfcnioliotbpmiyrsc sfeodxelpmoc
ysamlep tstsiaydhst si g nyi.ledebediipwoc troffe rojam a desucof won evah eW .stcejbo
no scitobor ni lai.rntosiutdanmiotua
nI eht esruoc fo gnipoleve dr u,oseitilicafew
evah devorpmi ,PSIL depoleved nadednetxe 1.1.2 lloitalupinaM
loglA relipmoc dellac ,LIAS dna detaerca
document compiler called PUB (used to In 1966, we acquired and interfaced a
ecudorp siht.)troper prosthetic arm from 0hcnaR soL sogimA
Hospital. Although it had major mechanical
ruO d eytlnreaiero-ep yttxeelteT rotidedellac shortcomings, the software experience was
SOS has become an industry standard and .elbaulav A margorp saw nettirw roftniop
ruo wen yalp sriodtide ”E“ si hcum.retteb to point control of arm movements.
Computer servoing was used from the
We have written utility programs for the beginning and has proven much more
PDP- 10 and made numerous improvements versatile than conventional analog servoing.
ot gnirahs-emit .smetsys Many of our A simple system that visually located blocks
,smarg oyrlpralucitrap ,PSIL ,LIAS dna,SOS scattered on a table and sorted them into
.er adesu n isnezo df .o rsreretehuttpnomeocc stacks according to size was operational by
eht gnirps fo 7691 elgniP[.18691
We designed an advanced central processor
that is about 10 times as fast as our PDP-10. In order to move through crowded
In support of this work, we developed ,secapskrow a margorp saw nettirw otdiova
interactive design programs for digital logic selcatsbo elihw gniyrrac tuo mrastnemevom
that have since been adopted by other repeiP[ 19681. That program was fairly
hcraeser dna lairtsudni.snoitazinagro general but rather slow, since it used a local
and not very smart search technique to inch
Trairring sti yaw dnuora.selcatsbo
nI eht 3791-3 6,9d1oirep 72 srebmem foruo A hydraulic arm was designed and built
ffats dehsilbup .D.hP seseht sa laicifitrA according to stringent criteria of speed and
Intelligence Memos and a number of other strength. Kahn developed a minimum-time
graduate students received direct or indirect servo scheme, which is close to a bang-bang
.tcejorP .I .A eht morf troppus n h oaf vK7r[9 efs 1. ethecTvei fssfsaeewrpmi
(even frightening) but hard on the
The following subsections review principal equipment.
activities, _ with secnerefer to published
selcitra dna.stroper The next arm was designed with software in
d nniammni e.h1c9S6[91 tI sa wdetelpmocni
December 1970, and has proved a good
hcraeser;rotalupinam several other groups
evah edam.seipoc
4 LAICIFITRA ECNEGILLETNITCEJORP
mrA lortnoc erawtfos rof eht wen mrasaw ,no idteadtinveoirrpo ew evah a ledom foeht
tilps otni a llams lortnoc-mra ovres,margorp object.
which ran in real time mode on our PDP-6
propgtlrraaanmjneicntgo rya ancdo mputer, Arm planning is based on making complete
[Paul 197 ,31 written in a higher level motions, e.g. picking up an object and
language and running on a timeshared putting it down. If we pick up an object
-PDP 10. arbitrarily, without thought for putting it
down later, we may not be able to put it
The arm servo software contained several down as desired and may need to grasp it
new features: a) feedforward from a again. Complete trajectories are pieced
Newtonian dynamic model of the arm, rehtegot morf suoirav ,stnemges .g.e,psarg
including gravity and inertial forces; b) departure, mid-segment, approach, release.
kcabdeef sa a yllacitirc depmadcinomrah Trajectories are specified by the user in an
rotalli cgsnoidulcn iytico lneovitamrofnimorf interpretive hand language (HAL) in terms
;sretemohcat )c yr ontocietjaacrityftiidloimcaf fo sorcam ta eht level fo gnitresni a.wercs
in the servo program, which allows tniopdnE snoitisop dna snoitatneiro eranetfo
considerable change morf planned specified by positioning the arm itself in the
trajectories to domoccaeta contingency proper position and recording joint angles, a
.snoitidnoc erapmoC siht lortnocmsinahcem mrof fo gninrael“ yb .”gniod ehTegaugnal
with the usual analog servo; the kinematic se dsieviotriplica frof lortnoc gnisu hcuotdna
model and computer servo allow changes of ecrof.gnisnes
lareve ssredro fo edutingam ni ehttnelaviuqe
servo constants, to account for variations in ylbmessA pmuP
ytivarg sdaol dna laitre.nsitceffe
ruO tsrif rojam ksat saw ylbmessa fo na
The arm was designed so that solution for elibomo trueataw .pmup A mlif hcihwswohs
joint angles from position and orientation is the process in detail is available for
simple and rapid. The techniques apply to a distribution elgniP[ dna ,luaPdetamotuA“
wide range of arms; thus our work has Pump Assembly”]. We describe the task n.i
significance for industrial and other robotics some detail to show the level fo
.snoitacilppa programming.
ehT ECNATSNI-EVOM ytilibapac luaP[ The pump parts include pump base, cover,
11791 swohs a elpmis mrof fognitamotua .swe rdtcnesaksag We chose a plausible
some manipulation procedures. The routine industrial environment with tools in fixed
chooses a best grasping and departure for a places, screws in a feeder, and pump body
class of known objects. Models of these and cover on a pallet. It is located by vision,
objects are stored in order to choose all then moved by the arm to a standard
elbiss ogpnips asrngoitisop -- lellarap ,secafa position, up against some stops. Pins are
ecaf dna a lellarap ,egde .cte ehT llufegnar inserted into screw holes in the pump body
of possible departure and approach angles is ot ediug tnemngila fo teksag dna .revocfI
investigated and a solution chosen, if yrasse ceehnt d nsaehhcrae sot taes eht.snip
possible, which allows manipulation in a
e l ,g,ennsioisiwtroemh ta Onoitulo ssinesohc The gasket is placed over the guide pins and
which uses an intermediate position to yllausi vdetcepsni rof tcerro c.tnemecalpehT
regrasp the object. Thus, this facility cover is expected to be within about a
provides a method for grasping general quarter of an inch of its fixed place on the
polyhedra in arbitrary position and pallet. After locating the cover by touch, the