Conversing with Computers

Conversing with computers is an idea that fascinated the general public ever since the machines became ‘popular’ and engaged the attention of scientists and information technologists even much earlier. From artificial intelligence studies at one end of the spectrum to mundane applications at the other, this is a rich field. Involved in this area are issues of language acquisition by children, grammar and conceptualization. The talk will also cover work done and systems implemented at TIFR, Tata Infotech, TCS and elsewhere in the world.

About Prof. P.V.S.Rao:

Prof. P.V.S.Rao was a member of the design team for TIFRAC, the first computer to be designed in India. He was the Project Director for implementing a computerized air defence system for India. Involving 800 person years of effort at eight different organizations, this was the most complex digital system ever to be implemented in India. Systems developed by his group have been successfully productionized by ECIL and other manufacturers and are in actual use. He has made contributions to the area of computer synthesis and recognition of human speech. He was the project coordinator of the national speech research (knowledge based computing systems) project of India, jointly supported by the UNDP and the Government of India. Prof. Rao was a Director of the Computer Maintenance Corporation and the President of the Bombay Association for the Science Education.

Prof. Rao is recipient of Padma Shri, Om Prakash Bhasin Award, VASVIK award, Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, Life Time Achievement Award from the Computer Society of India and the Millenium Medal of IEEE. He is a Fellow all three national science academies as well as Indian National Academy of Engineers, Acoustical Society of India, Computer Society of India and Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers.