gallos_11 wrote

Are you aware that Masato bought the game you lost?

Quote

CHILDREN'S COMPUTER BRINGS AI INTO THE HOME

TOKYO Recent advances in logic-programming languages and processor and peripheral chips are making artificial-intelligence applications practical in the low-end home computer market. The first product that will seek to prove this point is the AI Computer, which Sega Enterprises Ltd. of Tokyo will start selling in Japan next month for $547.

The Sega AI Computer is built to run programs written in the Prolog AI language. It is strongly oriented toward computer-aided-instruction, especially for children, rather than the catchall hobbyist-to-professional target of other home computers. Perhaps its simplest AI application is a personal diary program that can be used two ways: in a simple word-processing mode for children with some writing facility and in a prompt mode.

In the prompt mode, the child is asked about his or her activities during the day and replies with one- and two-word answers. The computer program then writes a grammatically correct diary entry based on those replies. In more advanced CAI applications, the computer is more flexible than previous systems. It can parse a user's natural-language inputs and evaluate the person's ability level. It can then proceed to material of appropriate difficulty, rather than simply advancing one level at a time.

The success of the AI Computer will depend almost totally on the software available for it, and Sega has already forged ties with the educational community to develop courseware for 3- to 8- year-olds. Its partner in this endeavor is general trader Marubeni Corp.'s Visual Information Section, Corporate Develop ment Department, Tokyo, which is working with various educational organizations to create the programs.

Sega plans to work also with Linguaphone Institute (Japan) Ltd., Tokyo, to develop English-language instruction programs. Courseware in English should be ready next year, and the Sega AI machine then will be introduced in the U. S.

Rather than employing the Basic-language interpreters of most personal computers, Sega's AI machine uses a run-time Prolog-language interpreter residing in 128-K bytes of read-only memory. The Prolog interpreter is for running applications only — it cannot be used for programming. The company chose the Prolog AI language because of its ability to handle unformatted input and to parse natural-language input. Prolog is not especially suitable for driving displays and controlling peripherals, so Prolog functions call up fast, efficient assembly-language subroutines for these tasks.

ENHANCED MATH. Sega Prolog was developed jointly with CSKResearch Institute, the AI lab of software house Computer Services Corp., Tokyo. In addition to the assembly-language calls, the language's mathematical performance was enhanced for the AI Computer.

The computer's hardware is designed for high performance at low cost. It is built under contract by Nippon Gakki Co., Shizuoka, a leading maker of MSX- compatible computers and electronic musical instruments. The microprocessor is NEC Corp.'s V-20, an enhanced version of the Intel 8088 implemented in CMOS. The Prolog interpreter is stored in 128-K bytes of read-only memory, and main memory is 128K bytes of dynamic random-access memory. Video memory is 64-K bytes of DRAM, expandable to I28-K bytes. A Centronics compatible printer interface is standard. The system's power supply has sufficient capacity to run an optional 3 1/2-in. floppy-disk drive. The machine also comes with a tape recorder for digital input or natural-language audio output, and an eight-direction cursor controller.

The Sega Computer has a tablet on its sloping upper surface that takes overlays for various applications. One that will be used in many children's programs is a Japanese-language touchpad, which includes all phonetic-syllabary characters along with variations annotated with one of two standard marks. The technique was designed to meet the needs of young users, who might not be adept at using a traditional Japanese keyboard where the operator strikes character and mark-only keys in succession to obtain the desired syllable. For older children and adults, the computer also provides the new Japanese industrial-standard keyboard,, which fits on top of the tablet to save desk space. Applications programs are usually supplied as plug-in ROM cards with a capacity off up to 128-K bytes, although the built-in cassette tape recorder and optional 3 1/2-in floppy disk drive can also be used.

ROM versions of Basic and Logo are available for users who want to write programs in those languages. A I28-K RAM expansion kit and a I28-K RAM card are available for disk-based applications or languages that require extra memory.

-Charles L Cohen

Electronics/ July 24, 1986

TILT - n053 - avril 1988 - page014 et 015.jpg (807.9 KB)

TILT - n053 - avril 1988 - page016 et 017.jpg (865.03 KB)

TILT - n053 - avril 1988 - page018 et 019.jpg (847.02 KB)

Bock wrote

...The scan is from コベル２１ January 1987 issue...

ゴクウ　ワールド Gokou World
高島　ワールド（？） Takashima World (Treasture Island)
ジャンヌ・タルク　ワールド Jeanne D'Arc World
サファリ（？？）ワールド Safari World

Kenneth wrote

PS: Bock, you're back in Paris ?