Intelligent Agents And Robotic Telescopes

dpp writes "Astronomers working on the eSTAR Project have used software "Intelligent Agents" to control the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and observe a dwarf nova. One of the astronomers says "The Agents can detect and respond to the rapidly changing universe faster than any human... [they] can be used to assist human observers, instead of replacing them entirely - augmenting their abilities to do science quicker, faster, and more reliably." Next up: getting results sent automatically to your 2.5G/3G mobile phone (with images!), and deploying on more telescopes including the Liverpool Telescope and the Faulkes Telescopes. The full story is at the Joint Astronomy Centre."

Comments

Intelligent Agents?

[Dimensio]

Didn't we learn from the terrible mistakes of Agent Smith?

Not ment to be tinfoil hat - just an association

[CGP314]

can be used to assist human observers, instead of replacing them entirely

All I can think of is the scene in Roger and Me where Mike goes to GM-Land and sees the animatronic car factory worker singing a song called "Me and my buddy" about the robot that replaced him.

Interesting?

[krymsin01]

Wonder how the agents decide if something is interesting or not?

Maybe this technology will automate slashdot moderation someday ;)

"Intelligent Agents"

[rf0]

A real intelligent agent would actually just swing the telescope round and get it to look into the nearest student nurses home :)

Rus