Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Principles and Applications Workshop
Conference reports
Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Principles and Applications Workshop
The “Systems, Man and Cybernetics” Chapter of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland Section of the IEEE was formed in June 2002, and held its first meeting in the City University, London, in the new Chapter. Details can be found on the Web site: http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/R.Mitchell/ieeesmc/. Following a resolution made at the first meeting, a one day inaugural workshop was held in London on 26 November, with title as above. The venue was the Royal Statistical Society.
With just over a dozen participants and a programme allowing time for discussion, the atmosphere was relaxed and constructive. The Keynote Speech was given by Professor D. Linkens of Sheffield University on: “Intelligence in Anaesthesia: Integrated Concepts for Patients, Clinicians and Machines”. He reviewed the requirements of medical anaesthesia, dealing separately with considerations of patient awareness, analgesia, and relaxation, and went on to discuss means by which depth of anaesthesia can be monitored and controlled. An operational automatic control system was described, using feedback from EEG responses to auditory stimuli as well as from blood pressure and heart rate. It was emphasised that the system operated under close supervision with ample opportunity for manual override if needed.
This was followed by “An Overview of Cybernetics” by Dr Richard Mitchell of Reading University, who is also the Newsletter Editor of the new Chapter and responsible for publicity. He described the origins of the subject and its subsequent development in various contexts, from elementary principles of feedback to modern applications in Robotics and Virtual Reality. Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis was included, as well as the extension to social and business systems by Stafford Beer, and second-order cybernetics was mentioned.
There were six further papers, three before the lunch break and three after. One was on “Principles of Vision Systems” by Dr B. Amavasai of Sheffield Hallam University, who is responsible for professional activities of the new Chapter. The focus was on artificial vision systems and their applications ranging from robot control and industrial inspection to remote surveillance and astronomy. Specific processing techniques were described,particularly in the context of robot control. Another paper was on “Human System Dependability” by Dr M. Oussalah of City University, who is responsible for educational activities of the new Chapter. The dependability of complex systems in which humans and computers interact raises many important questions. The other paper before lunch was on “Principles of Systems Assurance” by Dr A. Hessami of the consultancy firm, Atkins Global, with previous experience in British Rail and then Railtrack. Dr Hessami is the Chairman of the new Chapter.
The first paper after lunch was on “Robots, from Workhorses to Social Beings” by Dr B.R. Duffy who is affiliated to the Media Lab Europe,Dublin, in association with the famous Media Laboratory of MIT. His research is into sociable robots and he gave an account of the development of robots from Vaucanson's duck, through Grey Walter's tortoise and industrial robots and experimental AI machines such as “Shakey”, to recent innovations stressing the social aspect. He explored motivations and deprecated the suggestion of robot take-over. Another paper was on “Systematic Decision Support” by Professor B. Lehany of Coventry University. He defended the use of computer simulation as a tool for improving organisation and referred to a successful application to a hospital outpatient department. A key to success was close co-operation with the medical and administrative staff, which was achieved by exhibiting simulation results that agreed with their experience. The final paper was on “Principles of Systems Reliability and Integrity”by Professor N. Sinnadurai of the Bookham Technology company. Attention was given to ethical and legal aspects.
The organisation of the presentations was admirable. All the speakers made good use of a computer-linked projector. Participants were given a folder that included abstracts of most of the papers and biographical notes on most of the speakers. In addition, for all but one of the papers presented, the folder contained pages on which all of the projected images of the presentation were reproduced in black-and-white, with a lined area alongside for note-taking.
No definite plans for future activities of the chapter were announced, but this workshop with its interesting mix of topics was certainly a good start.
Alex M.Andrew
