DEC 15, 2016 – What can regulators of human-autonomous systems learn from the literature of cognitive engineering? Five CEC researchers, Marc Canellas, Rachel Haga, Matthew Miller, Yosef Razin, and Dev Minotra, will try to answer this question with their paper, “An Engineer’s Cheat-Sheet for Regulators of Human-Autonomous Systems.” The paper was among the 10% of abstracts accepted to WeRobot 2017, the premier robot law conference in the country, to be held at Yale Law School, one of the top law schools in the U.S. and the world. Their paper builds off two previous articles by Canellas and Haga (2015; 2016) by addressing five major concerns of regulating human-autonomous systems: definitions, complexity, safety, transparency, and accountability.
DEC 11, 2016 – When Marc Canellas, CEC PhD candidate, looked out on the audience at his most recent presentation, he didn’t see the typical aerospace engineers or psychologists. There were Marine and Navy officers, wargaming and cybersecurity analysts for the Army and Navy, and consultants from small and large aerospace and defense firms. These were the standard members of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS), the society for active military analysts, researchers, consultants, and officers within the U.S. Department of Defense focused on operations research and decision sciences. Marc had been invited to present at the first-ever MORS Emerging Techniques Special Meeting (METSM).
DEC 10, 2016 - Matthew Miller, a CEC Ph.D. candidate, ended the Fall 2016 semester by spending 3 weeks in November conducting simulated Mars surface operations on the Big Island of Hawaii. Miller is a member of the extravehicular activity (EVA) operations research team for the NASA Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT) research program. In this capacity, he serves as an EVA flight controller and concept of operations developer for future human Mars exploration campaigns.
DEC 9, 2016 - Professor Hal Daume of of the University of Maryland used Sam Krening's recent article on her work in Interactive Machine Learning as an example of interesting new ways that Natural Language can be used in Machine learning.
OCT 24, 2016: Dr. Karen Feigh of the Cognitive Engineering Center has been elected as an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the largest and most influential aerospace engineering society.
Miller was selected as a GVU Center Foley Scholars Finalists for 2016 from a talented and diverse group of applicants representing research programs from across Georgia Tech. Finalists were selected for their research vision and the potential impact of their work. The Foley Scholarship includes a $5,000 award and gives students more visibility for their research and potential new collaborative opportunities. Now in its ninth year, the scholarship is supported by donor gifts to the James D. Foley GVU Center Endowment. The endowment was started in honor of James D. Foley, a professor of Interactive Computing, pioneer in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, and a continuing influence in the lives and research of students and faculty in the GVU Center.
SEPT 22, 2016 - Ever wondered what it's like to be an Ph.D. advisor or graduate student? CEC Professor, Dr. Karen Feigh, sat down with her advisee, and CEC Ph.D. candidate, Marc Canellas, to discuss their experiences as advisor and student for a Georgia Tech-StoryCorps partnership. In a wide-ranging coversation, they covered topics including what two traits Dr. Feigh looks for in successful graduate students, how Marc picked Tech for graduate school (hint: it wasn't his top choice at first), and the transitions from undergraduate to graduate student and on to professor.
SEPT 22, 2016 - Historically cognitive engineering has been used in a large breadth of domains (aviation, medicine, automobiles). Now, international law and autonomous weapons can be added to the list. Marc Canellas and Rachel Haga, two researchers in the CEC, have published an article in the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine (requires IEEE Xplore) showing how cognitive engineering can be used to develop effective technical regulations of autonomous weapons systems (AWS).
SEPT 20, 2016 - Have you always wanted to go to Mars, but maybe the distance was just a bit too far? Head out to Idaho to see NASA's Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains a.k.a. BASALT - one of NASA's premier Mars simulation (or analog) testing locations. One of our own, CEC Ph.D. candidate, Matthew Miller, was there this summer taking the Flight Director's seat as NASA simulated concepts of operations necessary for future human exploration on Mars. He even has a cameo in a featured YouTube video summarizing the BASALT team's work. Well, cameo might be strong, he's in the background at 0:27 in the red hat, but that is famous enough for us!
SEPT 20, 2016: "Could it be possible for a human and a robot to legally wed in the United States?" In a chapter of the recently released book, "Beyond Same-Sex Marriage," CEC and Robotics graduate student, Yosef Razin, published his thoughts on that question along with co-author Dr. Mark Goldfeder of Emory Law School. More than just a simple yes or no, the answer requires an understanding of whether robots could be legal persons subject to marriage laws in the United States and what it would mean for robots to be in consenting relationships.
