Page 74 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

Cryptanalysis
two ways that human eyes, or a machine vision system, can be fooled
by such a pattern. This problem is generally limited to observations of reg-
ular patterns of dots, squares, or other identical objects. It rarely occurs in
complex scenes in which geometric shapes do not repeat.
On the left in the illustration, both video sensors (shown as eyeballs)
are looking at the same point. Thus, depth is perceived correctly, even
if the views of the object appear slightly different because of the differ-
ence in viewing angle through either sensor. In the drawings in the
center and on the right, the left sensor is looking at one object in the set,
while the right sensor looks at another. Because all the objects are
evenly spaced, they seem to line up as perceived by the vision system.
If a robot manipulator acts on this incorrect information, positioning
errors are likely.
See also BINOCULAR MACHINE VISION.
CRYPTANALYSIS
Cryptanalysis is the art of breaking ciphers, which are signal-processing
schemes used to keep unauthorized people from intercepting commu-
nications or gaining access to sensitive data. With the help of computers,
cryptanalysis has become much more sophisticated than it once was. A
computer can test different solutions to a code much more rapidly than
teams of humans ever could. Beyond that, artificial intelligence (AI) can
be employed in an attempt to figure out what an enemy is thinking.
This streamlines the process of cipher breaking. It lets the cryptanalyst,
or code breaker, get a feel for the general scheme behind a cipher, and in
this way, it helps the cryptanalyst understand the subtleties of the code
more quickly.
One of the earliest cryptanalysts to use a computer was Alan Turing,
known as a pioneer in AI. In the early 1940s, during World War II, the
Germans developed a sophisticated machine called Enigma that en-
coded military signals. The machine and its codes confounded Allied
cryptanalysts, until Alan Turing designed one of the first true computers
to decode the signals.
As computers become more powerful, they can create more complex
ciphers. But they can also invent increasingly sophisticated decryption
schemes. In warfare, the advantage in encryption/decryption goes to the
side with the more advanced AI technology.
CYBERNETICS
The term cybernetics refers to the science of goal-seeking, or self-regulating,
things. The word itself comes from the Greek word for “governor.” The
fields of robotics and artificial intelligence are subspecialties within

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