ROB MILNE: A TRIBUTE TO A PIONEERING AI SCIENTIST, ENTREPRENEUR AND MOUNTAINEER Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications FAIA covers all aspects of theoretical and applied artificial intelligence research in the form of monographs, doctoral dissertations, textbooks, handbooks and proceedings volumes. The FAIA series contains several sub-series, including “Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases” and “Knowledge-Based Intelligent Engineering Systems”. It also includes the biannual ECAI, the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, proceedings volumes, and other ECCAI – the European Coordinating Committee on Artificial Intelligence – sponsored publications. An editorial panel of internationally well-known scholars is appointed to provide a high quality selection. Series Editors: J. Breuker, R. Dieng, N. Guarino, J.N. Kok, J. Liu, R. López de Mántaras, R. Mizoguchi, M. Musen and N. Zhong Volume 139 Recently published in this series Vol. 138. Y. Li et al. (Eds.), Advances in Intelligent IT – Active Media Technology 2006 Vol. 137. P. Hassanaly et al. (Eds.), Cooperative Systems Design – Seamless Integration of Artifacts and Conversations – Enhanced Concepts of Infrastructure for Communication Vol. 136. Y. Kiyoki et al. (Eds.), Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases XVII Vol. 135. H. Czap et al. (Eds.), Self-Organization and Autonomic Informatics (I) Vol. 134. M.-F. Moens and P. Spyns (Eds.), Legal Knowledge and Information Systems – JURIX 2005: The Eighteenth Annual Conference Vol. 133. C.-K. Looi et al. (Eds.), Towards Sustainable and Scalable Educational Innovations Informed by the Learning Sciences – Sharing Good Practices of Research, Experimentation and Innovation Vol. 132. K. Nakamatsu and J.M. Abe (Eds.), Advances in Logic Based Intelligent Systems – Selected Papers of LAPTEC 2005 Vol. 131. B. López et al. (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Vol. 130. K. Zieliński and T. Szmuc (Eds.), Software Engineering: Evolution and Emerging Technologies Vol. 129. H. Fujita and M. Mejri (Eds.), New Trends in Software Methodologies, Tools and Techniques – Proceedings of the fourth SoMeT_W05 Vol. 128. J. Zhou et al. (Eds.), Applied Public Key Infrastructure – 4th International Workshop: IWAP 2005 Vol. 127. P. Ritrovato et al. (Eds.), Towards the Learning Grid – Advances in Human Learning Services ISSN 0922-6389 Rob Milne: A Tribute to a Pioneering AI Scientist, Entrepreneur and Mountaineer Edited by Alan Bundy School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK Assistant Editor Sean Wilson School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK Amsterdam • Berlin • Oxford • Tokyo • Washington, DC © 2006 The authors. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 1-58603-639-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2006929170 Publisher IOS Press Nieuwe Hemweg 6B 1013 BG Amsterdam Netherlands fax: +31 20 687 0019 e-mail: [email protected] Distributor in the UK and Ireland Distributor in the USA and Canada Gazelle Books Services Ltd. IOS Press, Inc. White Cross Mills 4502 Rachael Manor Drive Hightown Fairfax, VA 22032 Lancaster LA1 4XS USA United Kingdom fax: +1 703 323 3668 fax: +44 1524 63232 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] LEGAL NOTICE The publisher is not responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS RobMilne:ATributetoaPioneeringAIScientist,EntrepreneurandMountaineer v A.BundyandS.Wilson(Eds.) IOSPress,2006 ©2006Theauthors.Allrightsreserved. Foreword Thisfestschriftcelebratesthelifeofaremarkableman. RobMilnediedwhileclimbingMountEverestearlyon5thJune2005NepalTime. Hewas48.HeissurvivedbyhiswifeValandhistwochildrenAlexandRosemary. Hisuntimelydeathwasatragedy,butRobpacked96yearsoflivingintohis48years oflife.Inanyoneofhisthree“careers”—asahi-techentrepreneur,asanAIresearcher and as a mountaineer — his achievements would have been enough for most ordinary mortals. But Rob combined world-class success in all of them. This book covers all these facets of his life. Each chapter has been contributed by one or more of his close collaboratorsastheirtributetoRobandtohislegacy. Rob’s ascent of Everest was to have been the culmination of a lifetime’s ambition to climb the highest summits in each of the world’s seven continents. Everest was the lastofthesesevensummits.Hewasonly400metresfromthetopwhenhediedfroma suddenandmassiveheartattack.Hehadbeenanambitiousandsuccessfulmountaineer sincehischildhoodinColorado.AsVal,saidinaradiointerview,“Robdiedatthetop, doingwhatheloved”.Thiswastruenotjustofhismountaineering,butinallthespheres ofhislife. I first met Rob in 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was just finishing his under- graduate degree at MIT and had applied to be a PhD student at Edinburgh under my supervision.IwasvisitingMITthatSummer,sowemettodiscusshisresearchproject. Iwas quicklyintroducedtohis climbingexpertise.Heshowedmehowtoclimbaver- tical brick wall using the gaps in the bricks as hand and foot holds. He invited me to try; I declined.He came to Edinburgh that Autumn to work on machineunderstanding ofmechanicsproblemswritteninEnglishaspartofourMechoproject:oneofthefirst non-USexpertsystems.In1980,Robinitiatedhisprojecttoconquerthesevensummits byclimbingDenali(MtMcKinley)inAlaska.Iremembergettingvertigojustbyreading his subsequent article in our University Bulletin. Rob met Val at Edinburgh, and they marriedin1981. ClimbingDenalirequireddeterminationandpersistence.Robexhibitedthesequal- itiesineverythinghedid,whichiswhyheachievedsomuch.Butitwasn’talwaysthe bestapproach.WhenitcametohisPhDviva,Robsomehowgotthemisconceptionthat to concede to his examiners on any point, however minor, would destroy his chances. He,therefore,foughteverystepoftheway.Thevivalastedeighthours!Heobtainedhis PhDin1983. In 1982, Rob returned to the USA, where he worked first at the Wright-Paterson AirforceBaseandthenatthePentagon.AtthePentagon,heintroducedAIresearchinto theUSArmybyfoundingtheArmy AI Center,inwhichhewastheChief AI scientist. ReturningtoScotlandin1986,hefoundedIntelligentApplications:oneofthefirstnon- USexpertsystemcompanies.AfterexperimentingwithvariousAIproducts,IAfocused onturbinemonitoringwithits‘Tiger’product. Mostentrepreneursrunninginnovative,hi-techcompanieshavelittletimeforextra- curricularactivity,butRobfoundtimebothforhismountaineeringandhisAIresearch. vi He continued to publish in the top journals and conferences, authoring over 75 papers on knowledge-based systems, data-mining, qualitative reasoning, etc. He was a popu- larspeaker,givingmanyinvitedtalksandtutorialsatmajorconferences.Heactedasa bridgebetweenacademiaandindustry,forinstance,frequentlytalkingtoacademicson thetechnologytransferprocess. Robwasanaturalleader;hetirelesslyandselflesslygavehistimetohelporganise theactivitiesinwhichhewasinvolved.Forinstance,inboththeBritishandEuropeanAI communities,heregularlyservedonconferencecommittees,havingbeenchairofboth theBritishComputerSociety’sSpecialistGrouponAIConferenceandoftheEuropean Conference on Artificial Intelligence. He was an officer of both organisations, inclu- dingbeingthePresidentofECCAI2000-04.Hewasalsotheinspirationbehindbringing IJCAI-05toEdinburgh,beingtheLocalArrangementsChairuntilhisdeath.Robplayed akeypartinsettinguptheEuropeanNetworkofExcellenceMONET(ModelBasedand QualitativeSystems),andinasecondphaseitsTaskGroupBRIDGE(BridgingAIand ControlEngineeringmodelbaseddiagnosisapproaches)thatfocusedondiagnosis. RobplayedanactiveroleintheScottishSoftwareFederation(whichmergedtoform ScotlandIS in 2000): the industry bodies for IT and software companies in Scotland. Rob was a director of each organisation 1997–2002. He was a mentor to a number of start-upcompaniesandguidedotherentrepreneursintheireffortstoestablishsuccessful businesses.Inrecognitionofhisacademicandindustrialachievements,hewaselecteda FellowoftheRoyalSocietyofEdinburghin2003.HewasalsoactiveinScottishMoun- taineering Club, being Convener of the publications sub-committee and co-authoring a bookontheCorbetts(the219Scottishhillsbetween2500ftand3000fthigh).In1997, Rob became only the 1860th person to have climbed all the Munros (the 284 Scottish mountainsover3000fthigh).Hewasakeenwinterclimber,helpingtoestablishanum- berofhigh-gradenewclimbsthroughoutScotland. Robsummeduphisattitudetolifeinaradiointerview,bysayingthatitwasimpor- tanttowakeupeverymorningwithanexcitingchallengeinmind.Healwayssethimself ambitiousgoalsthenattainedthembypersistenceanddetermination.Ambition,persis- tenceanddeterminationarequalitiessometimesassociatedwithpeoplewhoaredifficult togetonwith.NotsoRob.Hewasoneofthemostpleasantandeasy-goingpeopleithas beenmypleasuretoworkwith.Wealreadymisshim. AlanBundy May25,2006 vii Contents Foreword v Alan Bundy Model Based Thoughts 1 Louise Trave-Massuyes Adventures in Model-Based Reasoning 29 Chris Price Combining Dimensional Analysis and Heuristics for Causal Ordering – In Memory of Dr. Rob Milne – 39 Qiang Shen and Taoxin Peng I-Ex: Intelligent Extreme Expedition Support 54 Stephen Potter, Austin Tate and Rob Milne Applied Computational Humor and Prospects for Advertising 71 Oliviero Stock and Carlo Strapparava Making Music with AI: Some Examples 90 Ramón Lopez de Mantaras Intelligent Applications Ltd: A History 1986 to 2005 101 Charlie Nicol and Linsay Turbert Rob Milne: The British Airways Years 126 Rick Magaldi Rob and the BCS SGAI 133 Ann Macintosh Rob Milne’s Contribution to the Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards 139 Ian Ritchie Rob Milne the Mountaineer 141 Rab Anderson Robert Milne – Mountain Writing & Scottish Mountaineering Publications Work 147 Ken Crocket Experience of Robert William Milne 151 Author Index 167 This page intentionally left blank Rob Milne: A Tribute to a Pioneering AI Scientist, Entrepreneur and Mountaineer 1 A. Bundy and S. Wilson (Eds.) IOS Press, 2006 © 2006 The authors. All rights reserved. Model Based Thoughts CA~EN and TIGER then and now 1 Louise TRAVE-MASSUYES LAAS−CNRS, France Abstract. This paper is in memory of Rob Milne. It recalls the scientific experience of the TIGER and TIGER SHEBA European projects that he led through the presentation of CA~EN, a model-based diagnosis software that was devised during the projects and integrated with the commercial tool TIGERTM. Several lines of more recent work that all build on CA~EN are also presented. These developments are closely related to the Qualitative Reasoning and Model Based Diagnosis communities, represented by the MONET network of Excellence in Europe. Their theories inspired this work and I like to believe that this work inspired the communities in return. Rob Milne and myself were active members of MONET. Keywords. Model-based diagnosis, causal models, interval models, industrial applications Introduction th I met Rob Milne for the first time in 1988 during the 12 IMACS World Congress on Scientific Computation in Paris, France, where I had to present a paper in the Second Generation Expert Systems session. It was the time of the International Workshop on Expert Systems and their Applications series and I got to meet Rob again in Avignon, France. Avignon surroundings being the French paradise for limestone climbers, I discovered that Rob and I not only shared a common passion for new technologies but also for climbing and mountaineering. However I could not imagine at that time that this was the start of a partnership that would stongly mark my life both professionally 2 and personally. This paper recalls the professional part of it . The real kick-off event of the TIGER and TIGER-SHEBA projects was a phone call from Scotland to Brazil in 1991. I was on sabbatical at Vitoria University and this little university offered restricted facilities. In particular, I had no phone in my room, not even in my building. So, I scrambled down the stairs of my building two per two as 1 LAAS-CNRS, 7 avenue du Colonel Roche, 31077 Toulouse, France; Email: [email protected]. 2 I would like to flash some of the climbs that we partnered in the most mythical mountains all around the world: North Face of Half Dome, Yosemite, USA, 1993; Major route at Mont Blanc, Alps, France, 1993; Spigolo of Petite Aigille d’Ansabère in the Pyrénées, France, 1994; several climbs in Ben Nevis, Cairn Gorns, Scotland; and Aconcagua (6962m), Argentina, 2003.
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