Welcome to aiGuru.com! I'm the webmaster, Michael Zarozinski
. aiGuru.com is where I can write and post about things that interest me - not just Artificial Intelligence. I purchased the domain name aiGuru because of my life long interest in computers - especially the field of AI.

I grew up in Gardner Massachusetts during the "golden age" of quarter arcade games... my main arcade addiction was Q*bert. I @!#?@! loved that game!  I'm fortunate to have been born at a time which allowed me to see the incredible evolution of the computer and video game industry. I'm definitely a child of Moore's Law.

It was the early 1980s when I discovered the profession I wanted to pursue. My thoughts of being a marine biologist or the power forward for the Boston Celtics drifed away when I encountered Intellivision at my cousin's house. My friend Steve and I would
spend hours every Saturday playing Intellivision football. 

My addiction to video games quickly turned to a fascination with programming. I was given a TI99/ 4A and one of my first programs was an ELIZA clone.  ELIZA is a "psychiatrist" program.  Based on keywords you type it parrots back questions.  For example:

Computer: Hi. What is your name?
You: Michael
Computer: Hello, Michael. How are you this morning?
You: tired
Computer: Why are you tired?

I was quite amazed years later when I first heard about ELIZA... now ELIZA style "chatter bots" are found all over the net.

I developed games on the TI 99/4A such as a clone of the first Wizardry game, but it was too big to fit into its
memory.  My interests weren't limited to software, I loved electronics and building things like robots you could touch. I spent many hours wiring together mini-robots out of
Radio Shack components and getting shocked from old vacuum tube radios. 
It's quite amazing what fond memories I have of almost electrocuting myself. As a kid Forrest M. Mims books were my favorites... Getting Started in Electronics and the entire Mini-Notebook series.

I went on to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) where I graduated with distinction from with a degree in computer science after starting off as an electrical engineer.

My career has spanned from the Fortune 500 to start ups to developing software for fun.

I've written articles on artificial intelligence that have been published in Game Programming  Gems 2, and  AI Game Programming Wisdom.

The article in AI Game Programming Wisdom is about the Free Fuzzy Logic Library, an open source fuzzy logic class library and API that is optimized for speed critical applications, such as video games. (An Open Source Fuzzy Logic Library, AI Game Programming Wisdom Ed. Steve Rabin Charles River Media 2002. Pages 90-101)

My contribution to Game Programming  Gems 2 clearly illustrates the Combs method, which turns the exponential growth of rule based systems into linear growth. The Combs method avoids combinatorial explosion which can quickly make fuzzy logic  systems slow, confusing, and difficult to maintain. (Imploding Combinatorial Explosion in a Fuzzy System, Game Programming Gems 2 Ed. Mark DeLoura Charles River Media 2002.Pages 342-350)

 I hope you find aiGuru.com useful... don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions/comments or know of a web resource or topic area I should include!