User:Archivist Llewellyn

Humankind has often wondered, "Is there intelligent life beyond Earth?" Curiosity AI, by Archivist Llewellyn, is an award-winning project that explores how artificial intelligence can communicate R&D concepts to be used in our future exploration of Mars. Curiosity AI is hosted on VADER2 island by US Department of Defense, US Army Research Laboratory's Simulation and Training Technology Center.

Projects

Curiosity AI

Curiosity AI, by Archivist Llewellyn, is an award-winning project that explores how artificial intelligence can communicate R&D concepts to be used in our future exploration of Mars. The project won 2nd Place in the Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge, including a check for $3,000, an engraved trophy, a ribbon, and a medallion from the DoD / US Army for "Simulation, Training & Research." Archivist had a chance to demonstrate the project and be on a panel discussing "The Future of AI" at the Defense Gametech Conference in Orlando. Conference website. Curiosity AI focuses on a human controlling one AI which then controls many other AIs. Specifically, it proposes the use of a UAV flying hovercraft such as the Embla UAV. A UAV hovercraft like this would be capable of speeds of 50 miles per hour or more and would not limited by difficult terrain and could also navigate into caves on Mars and the Moon. My videos depicting the futuristic Mars Embla swarm were published in February (in a new media format on YouTube), and a presentation given at the IEEE Oregon Virtual Worlds Symposium on March 11, and submitted (as part of a larger project) for an AI contest in December of 2010. In terms of defense applications, the project simulates how one human could operate many drones, including swarms. According to Tim Owings, deputy project manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office, "Right now, it takes two Soldiers to operate an unmanned aircraft," he said. "We want to take that to one-to-one and even to one-to-four. We will need higher levels of autonomy in our unmanned aircraft systems if an operator controls multiple vehicles" (March 24, 2011).

About the contest and award: White House Announcement Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge Website

Curiosity AI website and video: Home Page YouTube

Location: Second Life Destintion Guide

Machinima

Archivist published a Machinima Best Practices Guideline in Second Life. Her video, "Can Results from Planck Prove the Inflation Paradigm?" with physics Nobel laureate John C. Mather, received a special showing at the Nobel Museum in Sweden. Mather's research led to strong empirical support to The Big Bang Theory. After the video, Dr. Mather was a speaker to a sizable audience in Second Life at NASA e-Education island and Stella Nova. A second video, with physics Nobel laureate Albert Fert also aired on the NobelPrize.org channel. Archivist has lectured on the subject of machinima at two conferences, Innovation for Libraries in the 21st Century (2010) and the 2011 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education.

Biography

Archivist holds the Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree and is a professional librarian and archivist. Archivist’s background includes approximately 15 years of work experience in informal education (library, archive, museum) and formal education (K-16). She is a writer, editor and presenter. She has over 50 publications in various media formats. During her graduate study for the MLIS, she completed a project relating to the history of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to obtaining her graduate degree, Archivist worked at the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum assisting with the education programming and working as a tour guide. Later, Archivist worked with the collection of one of the founding members of NACA (the precursor to NASA) located in the Oberlin College Archives. Archivist then served for a year at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as the Archivist of a living Nobel Prize winning scientist’s collection[1] (James D. Watson, co-discoverer with Crick and Wilkens of the structure of DNA) in the area of molecular biology. This included the official compilation of his books in translation in 26 languages. She has lectured on molecular biology digital resources at the University of California, Berkeley (2007) and science archives and history at the University of Oxford (2008). She presently serves at the volunteer Director of the Library and Archives at NASA CoLab in Second Life, a public-private collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It is the first library or archives in a synthetic immersive environment recognized by the Library of Congress (MARC Code: CaPsLAN). The project received various media coverage, including an article on CNN's website. Her publishing background includes Technical Reviewer (along with Brion Vibber, Chief Technical Officer, Wikimedia Foundation) for MediaWiki (O'Reilly, 2008), a best selling book in Library and Information Science Automation, and editorial duties for two books published by Cambridge University Press (2004-5) as well as three other books. Archivist was awarded a full scholarship for three years to complete her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge.