BigDog Overview (Updated March 2010)

Let's say you want to build a robot that walks around like a person or even a goat. There are basically two part's of that problem, building the hardware, and building the software. If you use neural networks for the software then it's going to take more resources to run, and take a while to train. However, while people may be able to write more efficient software that requires fewer resources developing that software is going to take longer and cost a lot more money. [this video] The idea that I can create software which works even if I don't understand why it works is a powerful idea. The point of AI as a field is stepping back and saying: "Computers are fast and cheap, people are slow and expensive, can't we automate this?" and continuing to do that not just to secretary's, or even coders, but also designers. As long as you can build a large enough training set and toss enough computing resources you can basically solve any problem. Granted, the need for large training set's and processing power can also be a huge limitations. But, in the end neural nets / AI is just another tool like your computer, Algebra, or a big stick. The it's a cool idea and solves useful problems is enough for people to spend a lot of time and money looking into it.