The Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL) of the Institute for Research in Intelligent Systems (IRIS) is designed to facilitate the development of cross-disciplinary courses and provide exciting collaborative research possibilities. The ISL enables both students and faculty to investigate, design, and implement control algorithms using non-traditional techniques derived from various subdisciplines of Artificial Intelligence, such as fuzzy logic, neural networks, genetic algorithms, hybrid approaches, etc. The ISL also furnishes opportunities to work with people from other disciplines. Such collaborative work gives students the experience of working with non-majors on a joint project, an experience they will all need to be successful in their careers. The robotics equipment acquired for the ISL is to be used to support instruction of both undergraduate and graduate students through new and recently modified courses in the areas of Machine Intelligence, Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, Intelligent Control, Autonomous Robots, and others. Robotic kits at the basic, intermediate, and advanced levels are used to facilitate research, research training, and integrated research/education activities at various academic levels.

The ISL was partially funded in 2003 through 2007 by National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI)/Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant EIA-0321385. Additional support comes from the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management and the Department of Computer Science.