James S. Albus
reliable, independent, third-party sources. (December 2013) ) |
James Sacra Albus | |
---|---|
Born | Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. | May 4, 1935
Died | April 17, 2011 | (aged 75)
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Engineer |
Employer | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
James Sacra Albus (May 4, 1935 – April 17, 2011) was an American engineer, Senior NIST Fellow and founder and former chief of the Intelligent Systems Division of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Biography
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Albus received the B.S. degree in physics from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1957 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1958.[1] In 1972 he received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.[2]
From 1957 to 1973 Albus worked at NASA starting in 1957 as Physicist-Engineer on Project Vanguard at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC. From 1958 to 1969 he was Physicist-Engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and from 1963 Acting Head of the Video Techniques Section. From 1969 to March 1973 he was head of the Cybernetics and Subsystems Development Section.[4] In the 1960s he was associated with the early Vanguard satellite program and responsible for the optical aspect sensors on seven Goddard satellites, more than ten sounding rockets,[1] and over 15 NASA spacecraft.[2]
From 1973 to 2008 Albus worked at the
From June 2008 to 2009 he was a Senior Fellow of the
He was a member of the editorial board of the
In 1962 he received the highest NASA cash award granted to that time for the invention of the
Work
Albus made contributions to cerebellar robotics, developed a two-handed manipulator system known as the Robocrane (a crane-like variation on the Stewart platform idea), and proposed an economic concept known as "Peoples' Capitalism".[5] Peoples' Capitalism is similar to the ideas of Louis O. Kelso and discusses the question "how would we live without jobs?". Albus himself described the impact of his economic ideas as "slight".[4]
Albus's vision concerns included the following: a world without poverty, a world of prosperity, a world of opportunity, a world without pollution, a world without war, and includes a detailed plan for achievement of these goals.
Brain theory
In 1971, he published a new theory of cerebellar function[6] that modified and extended a previous theory published by David Marr in 1969.
Neural nets
Based on his cerebellar model, Albus invented a new type of neural net computer, the
RoboCrane
Albus invented and developed a new generation of robot cranes based on six cables and six winches configured as a Stewart platform.
Real-time Control System
Albus co-invented the
During the 1980s, the Albus-Barbera reference model architecture (a.k.a. RCS - for Real-time Control System) provided the fundamental integrating principle of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF.) This was an $80 million experimental automated factory-of-the-future. It was co-funded by the U.S. Navy Manufacturing Technology Program and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). The success of the AMRF was largely responsible for the Congressional Legislation that transformed NBS into NIST.[4]
Computational Theory of Mind
The 4D-RCS Reference Model Architecture is a reference model for military unmanned vehicles developed by the NIST, which describes how software components of military unmanned vehicles should be identified and organized. Albus has extended the reference model to a cognitive architecture for Intelligent Multi-Agent Systems.[8] Albus (2009) described:
This extended architecture is designed to enable any level of intelligent behavior, up to and including human levels of performance in driving vehicles and coordinating tactical behaviors between autonomous air, ground, and amphibious vehicle systems. It addresses the fundamental theoretical questions regarding whether computational processes are capable of emulating the functional processes in the brain, and provides a theoretical basis for understanding how the machinery of the brain generates the processes of the mind. Albus' work has led to a biologically plausible model of representation and computation in the human cortex.[4]
Publications
Albus has published more than 150 scientific papers,[9][10] journal articles, and government studies on intelligent systems and robotics, and authored or coauthored six books:
- 1976. ISBN 0-917480-01-5
- 1981. Brains, Behavior, and Robotics. Byte/McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-000975-9
- 2001. Engineering of Mind: An Introduction to the Science of Intelligent Systems. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-43854-5
- 2001. The RCS Handbook: Tools for Real-Time Control Systems Software Development. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-43565-1
- 2002. Intelligent Systems: Architecture, Design, and Control. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-19374-7
- 2011. Path To A Better World: A Plan for Prosperity, Opportunity, and Economic Justice. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1462035328
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
- ^ a b c IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SPACE ELECTRONICS AND TELEMETRY contributors sept 1963. Accessed August 2, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Biographical Sketch JAMES S. ALBUS. Also see https://www.nist.gov/el/ and see http://www.james-albus.org/docs/CV_10_29_10.pdf. Accessed Aug. 2009 and Nov. 2010.
- ^ James S. Albus : SEAC and the Start of Image Processing at the National Bureau of Standards Archived 2007-07-13 at the Wayback Machine A short biography from the NIST virtual museum. Accessed August 2, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h CURRICULUM VITAE FOR JAMES S. ALBUS at isd.mel.nist.gov, 2009. Accessed at archive.org, 05.2015.
- ^ James S. Albus (December 2007). "People's Capitalism - A Plan For Prosperity and Economic Justice" (PDF). Global Business and Economics Anthology. I.
- ^ Albus, J.S. (1971). "Theory of Cerebellar Function". In: Mathematical Biosciences, Volume 10, Numbers 1/2, February 1971, pgs. 25-61
- ^ Albus, J.S. (1975). "New Approach to Manipulator Control: The Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller (CMAC)". In: Transactions of the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, September 1975, pgs. 220 - 227
- ^ Samsonovich, Alexei V. "Toward a Unified Catalog of Implemented Cognitive Architectures." BICA 221 (2010): 195-244.
- ^ James S. Albus at DBLP Bibliography Server
- ^ Scientific Commons: James Albus. Accessed August 2, 2009.
External links
- Dr. James Albus Archived May 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine James Albus.org
- James S. Albus at NIST
- About Peoples' Capitalism
- Peoples' Capitalism Home includes full text of the book
- Peoples' Capitalism Home at the Wayback Machine (archived September 22, 2011)
- Toward a New World with Peoples' Capitalism on YouTube
- Peoples' Capitalism FAQ on YouTube
- Peoples' Capitalism: A Pathway to Abundance James S. Albus writes in h+ Magazine