Written by Jay Roberson
The technology can be used in a variety of ways, and Duo Lu, Maurya Narasaredigari and Medical Ali, Rider assistant professors of computer science and physics, received a National Science Foundation grant for their revolutionary idea .
With programs like ChatGPT, Lu is leveraging AI to create safer roads, even though it’s a controversial topic in academia.
“How can you quantitatively measure the safety of a section of road or a group of vehicles? If you have a newly constructed road, it would be unethical to wait until cars collide. How do I know if it’s safe based on that?” Lou asked.
Meanwhile, Narasaledigari and Ali aim to use technology as a tool to make education more accessible.
“This project will help us explore what is the most effective and comprehensive approach for online asynchronous learning environments across multiple institutions,” said Narasaledigari.
Lou’s driving force
Lu and one of his research partners, Arizona State University professor Yezhou Yang, have been working on this project for more than five years. Yang used to be Lu’s professor of computing and augmented intelligence, but now they work together.
“Over the past decade, especially in 2017-2018, there have been tragic incidents where a self-driving car crashed into a homeless woman while testing around the ASU campus. The public started becoming more aware of how safe it is and how tested all these vehicles are,” Yang said.
To improve safety throughout the project, Lu suggested using drones and adding cameras at higher elevations to better see traffic patterns. He also uses existing video footage to create his 2D and 3D maps of traffic.
“[Traffic camera operators] “The operating room is a very dark room, there are monitors on the wall that show these things, and the operator uses a remote control to check each wire,” Lu said. “I think it would be a very difficult task. So we came up with the idea of using existing facilities, existing cameras and video to study the trajectory of vehicles on the ground.”
Bharatesh Chakravarthi, a postdoctoral researcher at ASU who collaborated with Lu and Yang, explained specifically the work that AI can do for road safety.
“Our system can identify all types of vehicles, pedestrians and micro-mobility devices. If so, we would be able to detect all the unusual incidents that occur,” Chakravarti said.
According to Lu, AI is being used as an “extra set of eyes.” Although self-driving cars are given peripheral vision by a sensory method called LiDAR that uses lasers to create a 3D model of their surroundings, self-driving cars still have some blind spots. Masu.
“Many places, especially strategically important places, have cameras that can relay recognition information to self-driving cars when there are blind spots or traffic. You don’t even need to have great cognitive abilities,” Lu said.
Accessibility in asynchronous learning
Narasaredigari and Ali are conducting some of the research in Rider’s Introduction to Cybersecurity and Introduction to Computer Programming.
“Our focus is to look for courses that will be taught face-to-face in the spring of 2024, take that as our base case, and then move some courses by the same professors online,” Narasaradgarhi said. he said.
They will collect research results from six different universities and use that information to evaluate whether online learning is more effective than traditional face-to-face classes.
“In the future, if a scenario like COVID-19 starts again, that means if asynchronous classes work out well, it could replace face-to-face classes,” Ali said. “Especially in the field of computer science and cybersecurity. I mean, we have labs, but a lot of our classes can actually be taught asynchronously. That’s the main purpose of this project.”
This research focuses on marginalized students and how these learning styles impact their learning outcomes.
“We seek enrichment in education. We seek to explore and implement comprehensive and incredibly active learning approaches. Therefore, with this project, we aim to improve the quality of computing education. and increase retention rates,” Narasaledigari said.
Offering a broader range of online learning will create more opportunities for students from underrepresented groups and increase diversity and retention among schools.
technology hardships
Lu’s project uses AI strategically to reduce stress for traffic managers and further develop the intelligence of self-driving cars, but it can also cost jobs. AI has already begun to take over many aspects of daily life, including classrooms and workplaces.
“Technology is being introduced, including all these tools, including ChatGPT, which includes situational awareness, and all kinds of AI tools. Not just you, but everyone in this society is now in this huge experiment. ,” Yang said.
When it comes to online learning, teachers cannot physically see their students and therefore have no idea what their students are doing.
“But you don’t know what’s going on online. They’ll be looking at a screen, but you don’t know what’s actually going on behind it,” Narasaledigari said.
While AI has become a popular topic of discussion in the classroom, online learning has increased the opportunities for students to cheat using programs like ChatGPT.
“Students need to use ChatGPT, we need to update it, and instructors need to update themselves. ChatGPT can be a helpful resource for students. And our ratings are: It shouldn’t be the traditional way of finding answers,” Ali said.
Lu explained that AI can be a useful tool for society as a whole.
“One perspective to consider is that AI is similar to a steamship or an internal combustion engine. If you need to dig a trench, consider being able to use a shovel. You can also do that. But you can also use an excavator. So people think of this as a step forward in automation,” Lu said.
Although technology continues to advance and help society, we still need to take precautions.
“I am not saying that AI will harm us, but we need to recognize its potential and actively conduct development and research, and all this development and research should be supported by public support. We need it,” Yang said.