"THE SONAS SYSTEM"


                                    by

                           Dr. Sean O Nuallain

                                    from

                        Dublin City University (DCU)
                                 Ireland, EU
                                   and
                              Nous Research




                                 Abstract


This    talk describes a project    currently being  undertaken at
Nous Research which    focusses on  the  visual
interpretation of scene descriptions. This system accepts verbal scene
descriptions  and  re-constructs  a  three-dimensional display  of the
virtual model   of the world  that   it builds up   in the  process of
interpreting  the input.  Gestural input is also catered to.

We are working towards a system in which multi -user - and multi- modal
input are possible.  We intend to use the system as a test bed.
On the one hand, we appear interested in developing innovative
software products.  However, we also retain our interest in ontological
and epistemological issues.  Consequently,  we  -  as it were  -" hide"
research  in various parts of the Sonas system.  For example, the
merging of the multi-modal input stream may require use of a
blackboard architecture, the inspiration for Baars' "Global Workspace" (GW)
theory of consciousness. However, would a cortical columnar automata system
be more neurally realistic?
Similarly,  a host of situated  cognition
issues arise with respect to the use of any such system .  At the
most trivial level,  we now have a new way of doing semantics of
natural language processing.  We can simply scan visually on the
realised scene to determine issues like  relevance,  or whether it
the input ticket is ill-formed et al.  We have developed a number of
variations of the system, and a video of them will be shown.





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Se/an O Nuall/ain holds an M.Sc in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science
from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
He is an associate professor at Dublin City University, where he
initiated and directed the B.Sc. in Applied Computational Linguistics. He is
the author of a book on the foundations of Cognitive Science "The Search for
Mind" (1995) and the co-editor of "Two sciences of Mind"(1997). Intellect
(England) is to publish a second edition of  "The Search for
Mind" and a follow-up "Being Human" later this year. John Benjamins is to
publish, also in 2000, "Spatial Cognition" and "Language, Vision and
Music", proceedings of recent conferences Sean chaired and organised in his
capacity as CEO of Nous Research.