Download or read book The Humanoid Touch written by Jack Williamson and published by Holt McDougal. This book was released on 1980 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The humanoid was man's ultimate mechanical triumph and perfect servant. Keth Kyrone, son of the one member of Kai's ruling body who still believes in the menace of the humanoids, comes upon the secret force that could constitute man's only hope of defeating the machines. As the humanoids arrive and begin to take over, Keth undertakes the mission to awaken his race to what is happening to them.
Download or read book The Humanoids written by Jack Williamson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1996-01-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sleek androids have spread slowly through the galaxy, threatening human dominance, until a small band of rebels rise up against the humanoid tide.
Download or read book Ringworld Throne written by Larry Niven and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 1997-03-30 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Come back to the Ringworld . . . the most astonishing feat of engineering ever encountered. A place of untold technological wonders, home to a myriad humanoid races, and world of some of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written! The human, Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee . . . legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the Protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed before they can reach the Ringworld. Vampires are massing. And the Ghouls have their own agenda—if anyone dares approach them to learn. Each race on the Ringworld has always had its own Protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a Protector. But who will sit on the Ringworld Throne? “Niven’s work has been an intriguing and consistent universe, and this book is the keystone of the arch. . . . [His] technique is wonderfully polished, his characters and their situations are nicely drawn . . . wraps up (maybe) a corner of a very interesting universe.”—San Diego Union-Tribune
Download or read book Living with Robots written by Ruth Aylett and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The truth about robots: two experts look beyond the hype, offering a lively and accessible guide to what robots can (and can't) do. There’s a lot of hype about robots; some of it is scary and some of it utopian. In this accessible book, two robotics experts reveal the truth about what robots can and can’t do, how they work, and what we can reasonably expect their future capabilities to be. It will not only make you think differently about the capabilities of robots; it will make you think differently about the capabilities of humans. Ruth Aylett and Patricia Vargas discuss the history of our fascination with robots—from chatbots and prosthetics to autonomous cars and robot swarms. They show us the ways in which robots outperform humans and the ways they fall woefully short of our superior talents. They explain how robots see, feel, hear, think, and learn; describe how robots can cooperate; and consider robots as pets, butlers, and companions. Finally, they look at robots that raise ethical and social issues: killer robots, sexbots, and robots that might be gunning for your job. Living with Robots equips readers to look at robots concretely—as human-made artifacts rather than placeholders for our anxieties. Find out: •Why robots can swim and fly but find it difficult to walk •Which robot features are inspired by animals and insects •Why we develop feelings for robots •Which human abilities are hard for robots to emulate
Download or read book Introduction to Humanoid Robotics written by Shuuji Kajita and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is for researchers, engineers, and students who are willing to understand how humanoid robots move and be controlled. The book starts with an overview of the humanoid robotics research history and state of the art. Then it explains the required mathematics and physics such as kinematics of multi-body system, Zero-Moment Point (ZMP) and its relationship with body motion. Biped walking control is discussed in depth, since it is one of the main interests of humanoid robotics. Various topics of the whole body motion generation are also discussed. Finally multi-body dynamics is presented to simulate the complete dynamic behavior of a humanoid robot. Throughout the book, Matlab codes are shown to test the algorithms and to help the reader ́s understanding.
Download or read book Humans Bow Down written by James Patterson and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2017-02-20 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world run by machines, humans are an endangered species -- and their only hope is a rebel warrior with nothing left to lose. The Great War is over. The robots have won. The humans who survived have two choices: they can submit and serve the vicious rulers they created, or be banished to the Reserve, a desolate, unforgiving landscape where it's a crime just to be human. Following the orders of their soulless leader, the robots are planning to conquer humanity's last refuge and make all humans bow down. The only thing more powerful than an enemy who feels nothing is a rebel warrior with a cause and nothing left to lose. Six is a feisty, determined woman whose parents were killed with the first shots of the war, and whose siblings lie rotting in prison. Her partner in crime is Dubs, the one person who respects authority even less than she does. On the run for their lives after an attempted massacre, Six and Dubs are determined to save humanity before the robots wipe humans off the face of the earth. Pushed to the brink of survival, they discover a powerful secret that may set humanity free, but to succeed they'll have to trust the unlikeliest of allies . . . or be forced to bow down, once and for all. Full of twists and turns from the world's #1 writer, Humans, Bow Down is an epic, dystopian, genre-bending thrill ride you'll never forget.
Download or read book The Future of Humanoid Robots written by Riadh Zaier and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2012-01-20 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides state of the art scientific and engineering research findings and developments in the field of humanoid robotics and its applications. It is expected that humanoids will change the way we interact with machines, and will have the ability to blend perfectly into an environment already designed for humans. The book contains chapters that aim to discover the future abilities of humanoid robots by presenting a variety of integrated research in various scientific and engineering fields, such as locomotion, perception, adaptive behavior, human-robot interaction, neuroscience and machine learning. The book is designed to be accessible and practical, with an emphasis on useful information to those working in the fields of robotics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, computational methods and other fields of science directly or indirectly related to the development and usage of future humanoid robots. The editor of the book has extensive R
Download or read book Social Robots Technological Societal and Ethical Aspects of Human Robot Interaction written by Oliver Korn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-07-01 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social robots not only work with humans in collaborative workspaces – we meet them in shopping malls and even more personal settings like health and care. Does this imply they should become more human, able to interpret and adequately respond to human emotions? Do we want them to help elderly people? Do we want them to support us when we are old ourselves? Do we want them to just clean and keep things orderly – or would we accept them helping us to go to the toilet, or even feed us if we suffer from Parkinson’s disease? The answers to these questions differ from person to person. They depend on cultural background, personal experiences – but probably most of all on the robot in question. This book covers the phenomenon of social robots from the historic roots to today’s best practices and future perspectives. To achieve this, we used a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach, incorporating findings from computer scientists, engineers, designers, psychologists, doctors, nurses, historians and many more. The book also covers a vast spectrum of applications, from collaborative industrial work over education to sales. Especially for developments with a high societal impact like robots in health and care settings, the authors discuss not only technology, design and usage but also ethical aspects. Thus this book creates both a compendium and a guideline, helping to navigate the design space for future developments in social robotics.
Download or read book The Descent written by Jeff Long and published by Crown. This book was released on 1999-11-12 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are not alone. Some call them devils or demons. But they are real. They are down there. And they are waiting for us to find them. In a cave in the Himalayas, a guide discovers a self-mutilated body with a warning: Satan exists. In the Kalahari Desert, a nun unearths evidence of a proto-human species and a deity called Older-than-Old. In Bosnia, something has been feeding upon the dead in a mass grave. So begins mankind’s most shocking realization: the underworld is a vast geological labyrinth populated by another race of beings. With all of Hell's precious resources and territories to be won, a global race ensues. Nations, armies, religions, and industries rush to colonize and exploit the subterranean frontier. A scientific expedition is launched westward to explore beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, both to catalog the riches there and to learn how life could develop in the sunless abyss. But in the dark underground, as humanity falls away from them, the scientists and mercenaries find themselves prey not only to the savage creatures, but also to their own treachery, mutiny, and greed. One thing is certain: Miles inside the earth, evil is very much alive.
Download or read book Human by Choice written by Travis S. Taylor and published by Paladin Timeless. This book was released on 2009 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best-selling science fiction print author Travis S. "Doc Travis" Taylor and best-selling ebook author Darrell Bain have combined talents to produce a new science fiction thriller. "Human by Choice is, quite simply, one of the best books I've read in a long, long time. Authors Travis S. Taylor and Darrell Bain have written a terrific tale. The story moves along at a cracking pace, and the suspense doesn't let up from the first page to the last." --Robina Williams, author of Angelos and Gaea Several alien lifeboats make it to earth in widely separated spots after their interstellar spaceship malfunctions. One of the aliens comes down near the home of Kyle Leverson, a former army intelligence officer and now a widowed science journalist. The aliens think they can never go home but they are able to convert their bodies into duplicates of human beings over a period of time. Travis S. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He's currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed energy systems, and next generation space launch concepts. Darrell Bain is a Vietnam Veteran, a former Medical Technologist and Christmas tree farmer. He is now a full time writer and lives on twenty acres in East Texas with his wife Betty, two dachshunds and a cat. He has written almost 50 books, mostly science fiction and suspense/thriller along with a few humorous non-fiction works.
Download or read book The Naked Sun written by Isaac Asimov and published by Spectra. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on. Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!
Download or read book Almost Human Making Robots Think written by Lee Gutkind and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2010-09-06 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable, intense portrait of the robotic subculture and the challenging quest for robot autonomy. 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.
Download or read book Critique of Fantasy Vol 1 written by Laurence A. Rickels and published by punctum books. This book was released on 2020 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critique of Fantasy, Vol. 1: Between a Crypt and a Date Mark addresses both the style or genre of fantasy and the mental faculty, long the hot property of philosophical ethics. Freud passed it along in his 1907 essay on the poetics of daydreaming when he addressed omnipotent wish fantasy as the source and resource of the aspirations and resolutions of art, which, however, the artwork can never look back at or acknowledge. By grounding his genre in the one fantasy that is true, the Gospel, J.R.R. Tolkien obviated and made obvious the ethical mandate of fantasy's restraining order.With George Lucas's Star Wars we entered the borderlands of the fantasy and science fiction genres, a zone resulting from and staggering a contest, which Tolkien inaugurated in the 1930s. The history of this contested borderland marks changes that arose in expectation of what the new media held in store, changes realized (but outside the box of what had been projected) upon the arrival of the unanticipated digital relation, which at last seemed to award the fantasy genre the contest prize.Freud's notion of the Zeitmarke (datemark), the indelible impress of the present moment that triggered the daydream that denies it, already introduced the import of fantasy's historicization. Science fiction won a second prize that keeps it in the running. No longer bound to projecting the future, the former calling which in light of digitization it flunked, science fiction becomes allegorical and reading in the ruins of its failed predictions illuminates all the date marks and crypts hiding out in the borderlands it traverses with fantasy. To motivate the import of an evolving science fiction genre, Critique of Fantasy makes Gotthard Günther's reflections in the 1950s on American science fiction - as heralding a new metaphysics and a new planetary going on interstellar civilization - a mainstay of its cultural anthropology with B-genres.===After thirty years teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2011 Laurence A. Rickels accepted a professorship in art and theory at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe and taught there as successor to Klaus Theweleit until 2017. During 2018 Rickels was Eberhard Berent Visiting Professor and Distinguished Writer at New York University, and he continues to offer seminars in media and philosophy at the European Graduate School (Saas Fee, Switzerland and Malta) where he holds the Sigmund Freud Chair. Rickels is the author of Aberrations of Mourning (Minnesota, 1988), The Case of California (Minnesota, 1991), The Vampire Lectures (Minnesota, 1999), Nazi Psychoanalysis (Minnesota, 2002), The Devil Notebooks (Minnesota, 2008), Ulrike Ottinger: The Autobiography of Art Cinema (Minnesota, 2008), I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick (Minnesota, 2010), SPECTRE (Anti-Oedipus, 2013), Germany: A Science Fiction (Anti-Oedipus, 2014), and The Psycho Records (Columbia, 2016).
Download or read book The Art of Racing in the Rain written by Garth Stein and published by Harper Perennial. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling novel from Garth Stein–a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of a dog’s efforts to hold together his family in the face of a divisive custody battle. Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.
Download or read book Welcome to AI written by David L. Shrier and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2024-03-05 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating guide to the rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence and how this powerful technology will impact our lives, our careers, and our world. Artificial intelligence is driving workforce disruption on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution. In schools and universities AI technology has forced a reevaluation of the way students are taught and assessed. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching a hundred million users and attracting a reputed $1 trillion investor interest in its parent company, OpenAI. The race to dominate the generative AI market is accelerating at breakneck speed, inspiring breathless headlines and immense public interest. Welcome to AI provides a rare view into a frontier area of computer science that will change everything about how you live and work. Read this book and better understand how to succeed in the AI-enabled future.
Download or read book Precarious Japan written by Anne Allison and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an era of irregular labor, nagging recession, nuclear contamination, and a shrinking population, Japan is facing precarious times. How the Japanese experience insecurity in their daily and social lives is the subject of Precarious Japan. Tacking between the structural conditions of socioeconomic life and the ways people are making do, or not, Anne Allison chronicles the loss of home affecting many Japanese, not only in the literal sense but also in the figurative sense of not belonging. Until the collapse of Japan's economic bubble in 1991, lifelong employment and a secure income were within reach of most Japanese men, enabling them to maintain their families in a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Now, as fewer and fewer people are able to find full-time work, hope turns to hopelessness and security gives way to a pervasive unease. Yet some Japanese are getting by, partly by reconceiving notions of home, family, and togetherness.
Download or read book Theater of Disorder written by Brant Wenegrat and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-04 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are certain phenomena, such as hypnosis, hysteria, multiple personality disorder, recovered memory syndrome, claims of satanic ritual abuse, alien abduction syndrome, and culture-specific disorders that, although common, are difficult to explain completely. The purpose of this volume is to apply a model of social relations to these phenomena in order to provide a different explanation for them. Wenegrat argues that they are socially constructed illness roles or purposive behavior patterns into which patients fall while receiving either unintentional or intentional cues during interactions with caretakers and authority figures. The application of the social-relations model raises some important, yet previously overlooked, questions about these phenomena. It also illustrates some important aspects of human nature and consciousness, places illness behaviors in their larger, cultural context, and shows the way to a new and different view of mental life.
