CS 422 Intelligent Avatars Lab Syllabus
Spring 2010
Class meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00-10:50AM in Gates 120 (“Fishbowl”).
Staff
Instructor: Yoav Shoham (Gates 140)
Office hours: TBD
TA: Raymond Hsu (Gates 128)
Office hours: By appointment or during recitations
Assignments and Grading
Students will be graded on a combination of participation, attendance, and two project phases. Students are expected to attend all lectures and presentations.
In Phase I, students will be given a homework assignment to help learn the software infrastructure. Students will then compete against other groups on a common task that will test the degree to which their bot is successful in engaging human users. Each group will give a presentation on their approach in the competition.
In Phase II, students will have the choice of either improving their bot from Phase I or go freestyle and define a different project of their choice. Each such project requires approval, and all projects will be judged on creativity and the degree to which they illuminate an interest aspects bot-human interaction. Each group will give a presentation on their Phase II project and submit a final writeup.
On group-meeting days, each group will meet individually with the staff to review progress and deliverables for the coming week. All members of the group should be present during the groups meetings.
Recitations will be optional sessions held during the class time that students can use as office hours to ask questions and get help with their projects, but no new material will be covered.
Grading policy:
20% Participation and Attendance
40% Phase I (homework assignment, competition performance, presentation)
40% Phase II (project proposal, approach presentation, results presentation, final writeup)
Tentative Schedule
(Phase indicates approximately what you should be working on)
|
Date |
Phase |
Topic |
Due |
|
3/29 |
Intro |
Introduction and overview: Overview of the course, requirements, mechanics, and beginning coverage of software environment |
|
|
3/31 |
Intro |
Software infrastructure, continued |
1. Commitment if taking the class 2. Project teams finalized by the end of class (staff will help in the matchmaking if needed) |
|
4/5 |
I |
Recitation |
|
|
4/7 |
I |
Guest lecture by Bing Gordon, co-founder, Electronic Arts |
3. Homework assignment |
|
4/12 |
I |
(no class) |
|
|
4/14 |
I |
Group meetings |
|
|
4/19 |
I |
(no class) |
|
|
4/21 |
I |
Group meetings |
|
|
4/26 |
I |
Recitation |
|
|
4/28 |
I / II |
Phase I Competition starts; Bots unleashed |
4. Phase I code |
|
4/30 |
I / II |
Phase I Competition ends; Bots back in garage; results to be announced over the weekend |
|
|
5/3 |
I / II |
In-class presentations on Phase I (A) |
5. Phase II project proposal |
|
5/5 |
I / II |
In-class presentations on Phase I (B) Phase II project proposal approval and feedback |
|
|
5/10 |
II |
In-class presentations on Phase II approach (A) |
|
|
5/12 |
II |
In-class presentations on Phase II approach (B) |
|
|
5/17 |
II |
Guest lecture by Grace Ahn, Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab |
|
|
5/19 |
II |
Group meetings |
|
|
5/24 |
II |
(no class) |
|
|
5/26 |
II |
Group meetings |
|
|
5/31 |
II |
Memorial Day (no class) |
|
|
6/2 |
II |
Recitation |
|
|
6/7 |
II |
8:30-11:30AM Wrap-up and party In-class demos, presentations of Phase II results |
6. Phase II code 7. Final writeup |