Synopses & Reviews
The high bay at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is alive and hyper night and day with the likes of Hyperion, which traversed the Antarctic, and Zoe, the world's first robot scientist, now back home. Robot Segways learn to play soccer, while other robots go on treasure hunts or are destined for hospitals and museums. Dozens of cavorting mechanical creatures, along with tangles of wire, tools, and computer innards are scattered haphazardly. All of these zipping and zooming gizmos are controlled by disheveled young men sitting on the floor, folding chairs, or tool cases, or huddled over laptops squinting into displays with manic intensity. Award-winning author Lee Gutkind immersed himself in this frenzied subculture, following these young roboticists and their bold conceptual machines from Pittsburgh to NASA and to the most barren and arid desert on earth. He makes intelligible their discoveries and stumbling points in this lively behind-the-scenes work.
Synopsis
In the High Bay at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon, Segways scoot across the floor chasing soccer balls while other robots hunt for treasure. Nursebots, developed to care for hospital patients, mingle with a robotic Lara Croft lookalike. Lee Gutkind immersed himself in this frenzied subculture and, in
Almost Human, introduces us to Zo, Groundhog, Grace, and Sandstorm'"robots designed to help, or in some cases replace, humans'"as well as to the colorful cast of researchers attempting to create language to talk not only to machines but also to one another across their disciplines.
Synopsis
A behind-the-scenes view of the world of modern robotics and the individuals who create these innovative machines looks at the vast potential of these mechanical creatures and at efforts to create a fully autonomous robot.
Synopsis
'A crazy suspense story about these kids at Carnegie Mellon and their leader making robots . . . fascinating stuff.' '"Jon Stewart
Synopsis
A remarkable, intense portrait of the robotic subculture and the challenging quest for robot autonomy.
About the Author
Lee Gutkind is the founder and editor of the literary journal Creative Nonfiction and a pioneer in the field of narrative nonfiction. Gutkind is also the editor of In Fact and Becoming a Doctor, the author of Almost Human, and has written books about baseball, health care, travel, and technology. A Distinguished Writer in Residence at Arizona State University, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Tempe, Arizona.