Inaugurated on December 2002

The Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR ) is one of the key research centres of the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences.

The Centre for Artificial Intelligence is located at Level 3, AUT Technology Park, Ronald Trotter House, 583, Great South Road, Penrose. The Director of CAIR is Professor Wai Yeap who may be contacted at: wai.yeap@aut.ac.nz or +64 9 921 9565.

Mission: To create, develop and commercialise innovative IT products

Information Technology is a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create and manipulate information in its various forms. The centre’s primary goal is to provide strong leadership and a stimulating environment for the development of these different forms of technology in New Zealand. However, our mission statement above is also intended to reflect strongly our desire that our research will not be ivory-towered. Since AUT is the only university of technology in this country, this emphasis is an important one; our research must not only be at the leading edge but must also be practically useful.

Given the widely ranging possibilities of research in this area, the Centre has decided to stay focus in its foundation years. It has, in consultation with the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and KEDRI, decided to focus on three main areas of research and development work, namely human language technology, speech technology, and robotics. The fourth area, Mind Theory, is our hobbyhorse.

Objectives:

1. Conduct fundamental research in the areas of human language, speech and robotics and publish our results in top journals and international conferences;

2. Organise significant research forums to bring together international and national researchers to AUT to discuss leading-edge research problems; and

3. Actively seek investment funding and/or establish joint ventures internationally to develop and commercialise our research ideas.