Turing Institute

File:Turing Institute Board Meeting 1984.jpg

The Institute was formed in June 1983 by Donald Michie, Peter Mowforth and Tim Niblett. It was named after Alan Turing with whom Donald Michie had worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.

The organisation grew out of the Machine Intelligence Research Unit at Edinburgh University{{cite web|last=Howe|first=Jim|title=ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY: A PERSPECTIVE|url=http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/about/AIhistory.html|access-date=4 December 2013}} with a plan to combine research in artificial intelligence with technology transfer to industry. In 1983, Sir Graham Hills was instrumental in the institute moving to Glasgow where, with support from the Scottish Development Agency, it formed a close working relationship with Strathclyde University.{{cite web|title=The Turing Institute|url=http://strathclyde.ica-atom.org/turing-institute|access-date=10 December 2013}} Lord Balfour of Burleigh{{clarify|date=May 2019}} (chairman) and Shirley Williams joined the board along with a growing team of researchers and AI specialists. Notable amongst these was Stephen Muggleton who was responsible for work developing inductive logic programming.

Professor Jim Alty{{cite web|title=Professor Jim Alty|url=http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/a/13232/James%20Lenton+ALTY.aspx|publisher=Debretts|access-date=20 December 2013}} moved his Man Machine Interaction (HCI) group (later the Scottish HCI Centre) to the Turing Institute in 1984. The move included a significant expansion of the postgraduate school at the institute. Alty joined the Turing Institute Board and became chief executive. The HCI Centre and the institute collaborated on a wide range of projects.

File:Turing Institute Library.jpg

In 1984, following the UK Government Alvey Report on AI, the institute became an Alvey Journeyman centre{{cite journal|title=Cooperation creates products for profit|journal=New Scientist|date=2 July 1987|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esWe5fuCCRoC&q=%22Alvey+Journeyman%22&pg=PA47|access-date=5 December 2013|last=Oakley|first=Brian |via=Google Books}} for the UK. Under the guidance of Judith Richards, companies such as IBM (see: John Roycroft), Burroughs, British Airways, Shell and Unilever{{cite book|last=McKee|first=Sean|title=Mathematical Methods for Industrial Problems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKE-2OGT1TkC&q=%22unilever%22+%22%22+%22turing+institute%22&pg=PA70|access-date=11 December 2013|page=70|isbn=978-90-6764-122-7|year=1990 |via=Google Books}} seconded researchers to develop new industrial AI applications.{{cite news|title=World First for Scotland in Computer Intelligence|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19840508&id=ygI-AAAAIBAJ&pg=3301,1721581|newspaper=Glasgow Herald|access-date=10 December 2013|date=8 May 1984 |via=Google News }}
- {{cite web|website=LinkedIn |title=Peter Butcher|url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/pjbutcher|access-date=10 December 2013}}

The Turing Institute Library was formed in 1983 and grew by selling access by subscription to its information services.{{cite journal|last=Wilkinson|first=Julia |title=Database in Artificial Intelligence|journal=Online Information Review|year=1986|volume=10|issue=5|pages=307–315|doi=10.1108/eb024224}} The library developed a large searchable electronic database of content from most of the main AI research and development centres around the world. Library affiliates logged into the system by dial-up and received weekly summaries of newly added items that could be ordered or downloaded as abstracts.{{cite news|last=Watson|first=Ian|title=New AI Information Service|url=https://digital-library.theiet.org/deliver/fulltext/cae/6/4/19890026.pdf|newspaper=Computer-Aided Engineering Journal|date=August 1989}}

The publisher Addison-Wesley developed a close working relationship and published the Turing Institute Press series of books.{{Cite book|last=Tyugu|first=Enn|title=Knowledge Based Programming|publisher=Turing Institute Press|id= {{ASIN|020117815X|country=uk}}}}
- {{Cite book|last=Alen|first=Shapiro|title=Structured Induction in Expert Systems|publisher=Turing Institute Press|id= {{ASIN|0201178133|country=uk}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Muggleton|first=Stephen|title=Inductive Acquisition of Expert Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNZQAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Turing Institute Press|isbn=978-0-201-17561-5|year=1990|via=Google Books}}
{{cite book|last=Muggleton|first=Stephen|title=Inductive Logic Programming|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/594313|publisher=Turing Institute Press|access-date=10 December 2013|isbn=978-0-12-509715-4|year=1992|series=A.P.I.C. Studies in data processing}}

In 1984, Alty wrote a text book{{cite book|last1=Alty |first1=J.L. |first2=M.J. |last2=Coombs |year=1984 |title=Expert Systems: Concepts and Examples |publisher=NCC Publications |location=Manchester, UK |isbn= 0-85012-399-2}} which was adopted by many universities and a much-cited paper on expert systems (with Mike Coombs).{{cite journal |last1=Alty |first1=J.L. |first2=M.J. |last2=Coombs |name-list-style=amp |year=1984 |title=Expert Systems: An Alternative Paradigm |journal=International Journal of Man-Machine Studies |volume=20 |pages=21–44 |doi=10.1016/S0020-7373(84)80004-8}}

Throughout its existence, the institute organised a wide range of workshops and international conferences. Notable among these were the Turing Memorial Lecture Series whose speakers included Tony Hoare, Herbert Simon,{{cite web|title=Letter to Professor H.A. Simon|url=http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=62402|publisher=Turing Institute|access-date=18 December 2013|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222204911/http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=62402|url-status=dead}} and John McCarthy. Major conferences included The British Association's 147th conference in 1985, BMVC'91,{{cite book|editor-last=Mowforth|editor-first=Peter|title=BMVC 91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bK6jMQEACAAJ&q=mowforth++bmvc+91|publisher=Springer - Verlag|access-date=10 December 2013|isbn=978-3-540-19715-7|date=1991-10-07 |via=Google Books}} IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control (1992){{cite book|title=Proceedings of the 1992 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QBWAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Computer Society Press of the IEEE|access-date=20 December 2013|isbn=978-0-7803-0546-5|date=July 1992 |via=Google Books}} and the Machine Intelligence Series.{{cite web|last=Michie|first=Donald|title=Machine Intelligence Series|url=http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi.html|publisher=Turing Institute Press|access-date=10 December 2013}}

The institute won research funding from the Westinghouse Corporation after it developed a machine learned rule-based system to improve the efficiency of a nuclear power plant.{{cite web|last=Clark|first=Peter|title=Applications of Machine Learning|url=http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/papers/appml.pdf|publisher=EWSL|access-date=16 December 2013|page=1|date=October 1994|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923223139/http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/papers/appml.pdf|url-status=dead}} The research funding was used to launch the Freddy 3 advanced robotics project{{cite journal|last=Blackburn|first=J. F.|title=The Turing Institute|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA170980.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107045628/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA170980 |archive-date=7 January 2014|journal=European Science Notes |publisher=Defence Technical Information Center, US Office of Naval Research|access-date=11 December 2013|page=327|year=1986}} aimed at studying robot learning and robot social interaction. Barry Shepherd developed much of the Freddy 3 software infrastructure.{{cite book|last=Kaynak|first=Okyay|title=Developing hypermedia front-ends for robot teleoperation tasks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kMcgU0RxhHsC&q=%22shepherd%22+freddy+%22turing+institute%22&pg=PA87|publisher=NATA ASI|access-date=16 December 2013|pages=74–94| date=August 1992 |isbn=978-3-540-56993-0 |via=Google Books}} Tatjana Zrimec used the system to investigate how playing robots could develop structured knowledge about their world{{cite book|last=Zrimec|first=Tatjana|title=Learning by an autonomous agent in the pushing domain|pages=19–29|url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=164610|publisher=ACM|access-date=16 December 2013|year=1993|isbn=978-0-262-72017-5}} while Claude Sammut used the system to investigate machine learning and control{{cite web|last=Sammut|first=Claude|title=Controlling a black-box simulation of a spacecraft|url=http://aaaipress.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/viewFile/884/802|work=AI Magazine |access-date=16 December 2013|year=1991}} and helped develop reinforcement learning.{{cite web|last=Sammut|first=Claude|title=Reinforcement Learning|url=http://www.cse.unsw.com/~claude/research/machine_learning/reinforcement_learning/|publisher=University of New South Wales|access-date=16 December 2013}} Ivan Bratko made several visits to the Turing Institute undertaking research in machine learning and advanced robotics.{{cite journal|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|title=AI and Robotics; Flexibility and Integration|journal=Robotica|volume=5|issue=2|pages=93–98|year=1987|doi=10.1017/S0263574700015058|s2cid=34964990 }}

File:Donald Michie teaching.jpg

File:Freddy 2.jpg

File:Danny Pearce with Hyperlook.jpg

The institute undertook several projects for the US military (e.g. personnel allocation for the US Office of Naval Research), credit card scoring for a South African bank{{cite web|title=Applications of Machine Learning and Rule Induction|url=http://cis.csuohio.edu/~munakata/class/665/reading/pdf/LangleyNov95.pdf|work=Proceedings of the ACM|publisher=ACM|access-date=16 December 2013|author1=Pat Langley|author2=Herbert A. Simon|page=59|date=November 1995|archive-date=7 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107020114/http://cis.csuohio.edu/~munakata/class/665/reading/pdf/LangleyNov95.pdf|url-status=dead}} and seed sorting for the Scottish Agricultural Sciences Agency.{{cite web|title=Machine vision for statutory seed certification|url=http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&ProjectID=9144|publisher=UK Government (DEFRA)|access-date=16 December 2013}} Other large projects included the ESPRIT Machine Learning Toolbox developing CN2{{cite journal|last1=Clark|first1=Peter|first2=Robin|last2=Boswell|title=Rule induction with CN2: some recent improvements|journal=Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference (EWSL-91)|year=1991|pages=151–163|url=http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/papers/newcn.pdf|access-date=20 December 2013|archive-date=8 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108015426/http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/papers/newcn.pdf|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite web|last=Graner|first=Nicolas|title=The Machine Learning Toolbox Consultant|url=http://www.comp.rgu.ac.uk/staff/smc/papers/aitools94.pdf|publisher=Robert Gordon University|access-date=19 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107035415/http://www.comp.rgu.ac.uk/staff/smc/papers/aitools94.pdf|archive-date=7 January 2014}} and electrophoretic gel analysis with Unilever.{{cite web|last=van Hoff|first=Arthur|title=Semi-automatic analysis of two-dimensional electrophoretic gels|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222015660|publisher=The Turing Institute|access-date=19 December 2013}}

In 1984, the institute worked under contract from Radian Corp{{cite CiteSeerX |last=Muggleton|first=Stephen|title=Machine intelligibility and the duality principle|citeseerx = 10.1.1.45.4007|page=8|year=1996}} to develop code for the Space Shuttle auto-lander.{{cite book|author=Donald Michie|title=The Superarticulacy Phenomenon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFTWIEEQ6OkC&q=%22space+shuttle+auto+lander%22&pg=PA427|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=16 December 2013|page=427|isbn=978-0-521-35944-3|date=1990-04-26 |via=Google Books}} The code was developed with an inductive rule generator, Rulemaster,{{cite book|last=Sadagopan|first=S.|title=Management Information Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8VpmF-PWSAC&q=rulemaster+expert+system+shell&pg=PA169 |publisher=PHI |access-date=18 December 2013|page=169|format=pdf|isbn=978-81-203-1180-0|date=1997-01-01 |via=Google Books}} using training examples from a NASA simulator.{{cite book|last=Michie|first=Donald|title=The fifth Generation's Ubridged Gap|year=1994|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=978-3-211-82637-9|pages=434–435|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YafIDVd1Z68C&q=shuttle+%22rulemaster%22+%22turing%22&pg=PA434|editor=Rolf Herken |via=Google Books}}

A similar approach was later used by Danny Pearce to develop qualitative models to control and diagnose satellites for ESA as well as optimising gas flow in the North Sea for Enterprise Oil.{{cite web |last=Pearce |first=Danny |title=Knowledge Base Validation|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/180979|publisher=IEEE|access-date=17 December 2013|format=PDF|year=1991|pages=3/1–3/4 }}
- {{cite book |last=Pearce|first=Danny|chapter=Induction of on-board fault management for remote and autonomous systems|publisher=IEEE|year=1992|doi=10.1109/ISIC.1992.225135|title=Proceedings of the 1992 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control|pages=458–462|isbn=978-0-7803-0546-5|s2cid=61707575}} Similar approaches based on pole-balancing automata {{cite CiteSeerX |last=Michie|first=Donald|title=Building Symbolic Representations of Intuitive Real-time Skills from Performance Data|pages=385–418|citeseerx = 10.1.1.47.5673 |year=1994}} were used to control submersible vehicles{{cite web|title=Annual Review of Activities |url=http://www.rochesteravionicarchives.co.uk/documents/1/ZZ_1351962638_DDBR0094%20(W&O).pdf |publisher=GEC Avionics|year=1985|page=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226172846/http://www.rochesteravionicarchives.co.uk/documents/1/ZZ_1351962638_DDBR0094%20%28W%26O%29.pdf|archive-date=26 February 2014}} and develop a control system for helicopters carrying sling loads.{{Cite journal|last1=Hayes-Michie|first1=Jean|title=Simulator-mediated acquisition of a dynamic control skill|journal=AI & Society|volume=12|issue=1–2|pages=71–77|year=1998|doi=10.1007/BF01179779|last2=Michie|first2=Donald|s2cid=43593522}} Stephen Muggleton and his group developed inductive logic programming and was involved in the practical use of machine learning for the generation of expert knowledge.{{cite book|last=Muggleton|first=Stephen|title=Inductive Acquisition of Expert Knowledge|year=1990|publisher=Turing Institute Press|isbn=978-0-201-17561-5}} Applications included the discovery of rules for protein folding (with Ross King){{cite journal |last1=Muggleton |first1=Stephen |last2=King |first2=R. D. |last3=Sternberg |first3=M. J. E. |title=Protein Secondary Structure Prediction using logic-based machine learning |journal=Protein Engineering |year=1992 |volume=5 |pages=647–657 |doi=10.1093/protein/5.7.647 |pmid=1480619|issue=7}} and drug design{{cite journal|last1=King|first1=R. D.|last2=Muggleton |first2=S. |last3=Lewis |first3=R. A. |last4=Sternberg |first4=R.J.E. |title=Drug Design by Machine Learning|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA|year=1992|volume=89|pages=11322–11326 |doi=10.1073/pnas.89.23.11322 |pmid=1454814|issue=23|pmc=50542|doi-access=free}} as well as systems such as CIGOL that were capable of discovering new concepts and hypotheses.{{cite web|last=Muggleton|first=Stephen|title=A strategy for constructing new predicates in first order logic|url=http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/Papers/ewsl88.pdf|publisher=Imperial College, London|access-date=19 December 2013}}

In 1986, Alty's HCI group won a major ESPRIT 1 contract to investigate the use of knowledge based systems in process control interfaces called GRADIENT (Graphical Intelligent Dialogues, P600),{{cite book |title=The Project Synopses Advanced Information Processing|year=1988| series= European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology |publisher= Directorate General XIll Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation Commission of the European Communities |volume=4| pages=38–39|url= http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/projects.htm}} (with Gunnar Johannsen of Kassel University, Peter Elzer of Clausthal University and Asea Brown Boveri) to create intelligent interfaces for process control operators. This work had a major impact on process control interface design. The initial pilot phase report (Alty, Elzer et al., 1985) was widely used and cited. Many research papers were produced.{{cite journal |author1=Alty, J. |author2=Johannsen |year=1989 |title=Knowledge Based Dialogue for Dynamic Systems |journal=Automatica |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=829–840 |doi=10.1016/0005-1098(89)90051-4}}
- {{cite journal |last=Johannsen |first=J.L. |author2=Alty |name-list-style=amp |year=1991 |title=Knowledge Engineering for Industrial Expert Systems |journal=Automatica |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=97–114 |doi=10.1016/0005-1098(91)90009-Q}} A follow-on large ESPRIT research project was PROMISE (Process Operators Multimedia Intelligent Support Environment) working with DOW Benelux (Netherlands), Tecsiel (Italy) and Scottish Power (Scotland).{{cite journal|last=Alty|first=J.L.|author2=Bergan, M.|author3=Craufurd, P.|author4=Dolphin, C|year=1993|title=Experiments using multimedia interfaces in process control: some initial results|journal=Computers and Graphics|volume=17|issue=3|pages=205–218|url=https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/3378,|issn=0097-8493|access-date=4 January 2014|doi=10.1016/0097-8493(93)90069-L}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In 1987, the Turing Institute won a project to build a large, scalable, network-available user-manual for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). The worldwide-web-like system was launched in 1988.{{cite journal|last=Niblett|first=Tim|author2=Van Hoff A. |title=Programmed Hypertext and SGML|journal=The Turing Institute| date=September 1989 |url=http://www.ist-world.org/ResultPublicationDetails.aspx?ResultPublicationId=61860b378c8b4a349e1e65160c463871|access-date=18 December 2013}} Its success as a global hypertext resource for its users led to SWIFT sponsoring the Turing Memorial Series of Lectures.{{cite web|title=Turings Legacy: even bigger than you think; a brief history|url=http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/45108|publisher=British Computer Society|access-date=18 December 2013}} The close working relationship came to an end, in part, when a key member of the SWIFT team, Arnaud Rubin, was killed by a terrorist bomb on Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.

One of the strongest business relationships the institute had was with Sun Microsystems. Sun funded a series of projects where the key institute personnel were Tim Niblett and Arthur van Hoff. Several projects concerned the development of new user-interface tools and environments, including GoodNeWS, HyperNeWS, and HyperLook.{{cite web|last=Pearce|first=Danny|title=HyperNeWS: an interactive interface design tool|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/199004|publisher=IEEE|access-date=19 December 2013|date=November 1989|pages=5/1–5/3 }}{{cite web|last=Dion|first=Marc|title=Evaluation of HardSys/HardDraw.|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA276218.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107042651/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA276218|archive-date=7 January 2014|publisher=Defence Research Establishment, Ottawa|access-date=19 December 2013|page=7| date=May 1993 }}{{cite web | url=https://donhopkins.medium.com/hyperlook-nee-hypernews-nee-goodnews-99f411e58ce4 | title=SimCity, Cellular Automata, and Happy Tool for HyperLook (nee HyperNeWS (nee GoodNeWS)) | first=Don | last=Hopkins | date=May 22, 2018 | access-date=October 22, 2024 | publisher=Medium}} HyperLook was written in PostScript and PDB (an ANSI C to PostScript compiler developed at the institute){{cite web|title=PDB – ANSI-C to PostScript compiler|url=http://compilers.iecc.com/comparch/article/93-01-152}} and it ran on Sun's NeWS Windowing System.{{cite web|last=Hopkins|first=Don|title=HyperLook (aka HyperNeWS (aka GoodNeWS))|url=http://www.art.net/studios/Hackers/Hopkins/Don/hyperlook/index.html|publisher=Art.net|access-date=19 December 2013}} Don Hopkins, while studying at the Turing Institute, ported SimCity to Unix with HyperLook as its front-end.{{cite web|last=Hopkins|first=Don|title=HyperLook SimCity Manual|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/77164708/HyperLook-SimCity-Manual|publisher=DUX Software|access-date=19 December 2013}}

Arthur van Hoff left the institute in 1992 and joined Sun Microsystems where he authored the Java 1.0 compiler, the beta version of the HotJava browser and helped with the design of the Java language.{{cite web|last=van Hoff|first=Arthur|title=JAOO|url=http://gotocon.com/brisbane-2009/archives/alltimespeakers/show_speaker.jsp?OID=348|access-date=19 December 2013}}

Throughout the 1980s, the Turing Institute Vision Group developed multi-scale tools and applications.{{cite journal|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|author2=Jan Jelinek |author3=Jin Zhengping |title=An appropriate representation for early vision|journal=Pattern Recognition Letters| date=February 1987 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=175–182|url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=34309&preflayout=tabs|access-date=20 December 2013|doi=10.1016/0167-8655(87)90038-9|bibcode=1987PaReL...5..175M|url-access=subscription}}
- {{cite journal|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|author2=Jin Zhengping |title=Implementation for noise suppression in images|journal=Image and Vision Computing| date=February 1986 |volume=4 |issue=1|pages=29–37|url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=19828|doi=10.1016/0262-8856(86)90005-3|url-access=subscription}} A series of 3D industrial applications was developed and deployed using the multi-scale signal matching (MSSM) technology, specifically:

• 3D head modelling{{cite journal|last=Jin|first=Zhengping|author2=Peter Mowforth |title=A discrete approach to signal matching|journal=Research Memo TIRM-89-036| date=January 1989 |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Discrete-Approach-Signal-Matching/dp/B0018OUW8W|access-date=20 December 2013}}
• Robot navigation{{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Jonathan|author2=Peter Mowforth |title=Proceedings of the third international conference on Industrial and engineering applications of artificial intelligence and expert systems - IEA/AIE '90 |chapter=Data fusion in 3D through surface tracking |year=1990 |volume=1 |pages=163–168 |doi=10.1145/98784.98815 |isbn=978-0-89791-372-0 |s2cid=15633227}}
• Real time robot camera stereo vergence{{cite book|last=Undbekken|first=Ketil|title=Design of an anthropomorphic robot head |year=1991 |publisher=Springer |location=Glasgow |isbn=978-3-540-19715-7|pages=387–391|url=http://www.bmva.org/bmvc/1991/bmvc-91-057.pdf}}
• Terrain modelling{{cite web|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|title=Data Conversion for GIS|url=http://www.mva-org.jp/Proceedings/CommemorativeDVD/1992/papers/1992403.pdf |work=IAPR Workshop 1992|publisher=Machine Vision Association |access-date=20 December 2013| date=December 1992 }}
• Scene of crime capture of 3D footprints for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Maxillofacial reconstruction and denture cast digital archiving with Glasgow Dental School{{cite web |last=Mowforth|first=Peter |author2=Ashraf Ayoub |author3=Joseph Jin |author4=Kersheed Moos |author5=Tim Niblett |author6=Paul Siebert |author7=Colin Urquhart |author8=David Wray |title=A Three-Dimensional Imaging System for Clinical Applications |website=University of Glasgow |date=July 1995 |url=http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/publications/PAPERS/7496/med-elec.print.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107032123/http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/publications/PAPERS/7496/med-elec.print.PDF |archive-date=2014-01-07 |access-date=20 December 2013}}
• Brain model labelling with Guy's Hospital{{cite journal|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|author2=Jin Zhengping |title=Model Based Tissue Differentiation in MR Brain Images|journal=Alvey Vision Conference|year=1989|series=5244c|pages=67–71|url=http://www.bmva.org/bmvc/1989/avc-89-012.pdf|access-date=20 December 2013}}
• Hyper-resolution methods to improve CCTV image quality for Strathclyde Police
• High-speed target tracking for the UK Ministry of Defence
• Virtual backgrounds and camera photogrammetry for BBC broadcast TV.{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Graham|title=A versatile camera position measurement systems for virtual reality TV production|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1997_12|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 December 2013}}
• 3D car body shape reconstruction from wax models; Ford Motor Company, Dearbourn, USA
• With Sun Microsystems using a stereo pair of miniature cameras to create and re-project a normalised straight-on view for teleconferencing.{{cite web |last=Cockshot |first=Paul |title=Parallel Vision Stereo Algorithm|url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/72079/1/72079.pdf|publisher=Glasgow University|access-date=20 December 2013|page=1}}

Various other robot projects were undertaken at the Turing Institute where key researchers included Paul Siebert, Eddie Grant, Paul Grant, David Wilson, Bing Zhang and Colin Urquhart.For example:
- {{cite journal|last=Mowforth|first=Peter|author2=Paul Siebert |author3=Jin Zhengping |author4=Colin Urquhart |title=A head called Richard |journal=Proceedings of the British Machine Vision Conference| date=September 1990 |pages=361–365|url=http://www.bmva.org/bmvc/1990/bmvc-90-064.pdf|access-date=20 December 2013}}
- {{cite journal|last=Grant|first=Paul|author2=Peter Mowforth |title=Economical and Cautious Approaches to Local Path Planning for a Mobile Robot|journal=Proceedings of the Alvey Vision Conference|year=1989|pages=297–300|url=http://www.bmva.org/bmvc/1989/avc-89-053.pdf|access-date=20 December 2013}}
- {{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |title=Array tactile sensing: integration, calibration and application |publisher=The Turing Institute|oclc=17425044}}

In 1990, the Turing Institute organised and ran the First Robot Olympics with the venue at the University of Strathclyde.{{cite news|last=Willard|first=Tim|title=No Relay Race on This Olympic Field|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-17-fi-2345-story.html|access-date=20 December 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=1991-07-17}}

From 1989 onwards, the company faced financial difficulties that caused it to close in 1994.{{cite web|title=Column 467-468: The Turing Institute |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-06-14/Writtens-15.html|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=11 December 2013}}

A 1973's James Lighthill Report. (Artificial Intelligence: A General Survey: British Science Research Council) an evaluation of academic research on AI, formed the basis for UK government funding and support, stated "in no part of the field have discoveries made so far produced the major impact that was then promised". Therefore AI research was to be reduced.

Peter Mowforth, a former member of the Turing team stated, "Someone decided that Britain only really needed three computers as there wasn't much future in it! Not for the last occasion, at a time when Scotland ruled the roost globally, the plug was pulled."{{cite web|title=Obscure research unit in Scotland flying the space shuttle and the invention of the internet|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/13189678.connected-scientist-whose-life-inspires-major-new-film-obscure-research-unit-scotland-flying-space-shuttle-invention-internet/ |publisher=Heraldscotland|access-date=16 November 2014}} Faced with the decline of heavy industry, Britain's failure to invest in cutting-edge science that could prove economically transformative only began to be reversed in the late 80s, in reaction to Japanese advances in software design.

The technological and commercial empowerment that should have followed was never fulfilled. The institute went out of business in 1994, amid questions in the House of Commons and bitter recriminations between the scientists and the Scottish Development Agency.

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Category:1983 establishments in Scotland

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