"Towards a computational model of sketching"

4/12/2001: [time not recorded]
[location not recorded]

Abstract: Sketching is a powerful means of communication between people. While many useful multimodal programs have been created, current systems are far from achieving human-like participation in sketching. A computational model of sketching would help characterize these differences and better understand how to overcome them. The work described in this talk is a first step towards such a model. We start with an example of a sketching system, designed to aid military planners, to provide context. We then describe four dimensions of sketching, visual understanding, conceptual understanding, language understanding, and drawing, that can be used to characterize the competence of existing systems and identify open problems. Three research challenges are posed, to serve as milestones towards a computational model of sketching that can explain and replicate human abilities in this area.

About Ken Forbus: Kenneth D. Forbus is a Professor of Computer Science and Education at Northwestern University. His research interests include qualitative reasoning, analogy and similarity, cognitive simulation, reasoning system design, articulate educational software, and the use of AI in computer gaming. He received his degrees from MIT (Ph.D. in 1984). He is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and serves on the Governing Board of the Cognitive Science Society and the editorial boards of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, and the AAAI Press.

Last updated: Mon Jun 19 17:44:06 2006