F21BC Biologically Inspired Computation

Prof Michael LonesDr Wei PangAssoc Prof. Hadj Batatia

Course co-ordinator(s): Prof Michael Lones (Edinburgh), Dr Wei Pang (Edinburgh), Assoc Prof. Hadj Batatia (Dubai), Claudio Zito (Dubai).

Aims:

Traditional computation finds it either difficult or impossible to perform a certain key range of tasks associated with pattern recognition, problem solving and autonomous intelligence. Great progress towards designing software for such tasks has emerged by taking inspiration from a range of natural, mainly biological, systems.

The aims of this course are to:

  • introduce an appreciation of the former
  • introduce the main biologically-inspired algorithms and techniques which are now commonly researched and applied
  • establish a practical understanding of the real-world problems to which these techniques may be fruitfully be applied.

Detailed Information

Course Description: Link to Official Course Descriptor.

Pre-requisite course(s): F29AI Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agents or equivalnt.

Location: Dubai, Edinburgh.

Semester: 1.

Syllabus:

  • classical vs. biologically-inspired computation,
  • evolutionary algorithms (basic EA design, and how they are applied to a wide range of problems)
  • swarm intelligence (ant colony methods, particle swarm optimisation)
  • neural computation (perceptrons, multilayer perceptrons, associative networks)
  • cellular automata

SCQF Level: 11.

Credits: 15.