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Robo Sapiens
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"An engaging and insightful compendium illuminating our accelerating ascent to the inevitable merger of human and machine. Although many today find the prospect disconcerting, by the time the robo sapiens are fully amongst us, we will find it very natural to interact intimately with these inventions of our intellect." -- Ray Kurzweil, recipient of the 1999 National Medal of Technology and author of The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence "This is one of the most mind-stretching -- and frightening -- books I've ever read. It's also a tour de force of photography: the images reveal a whole new order of creation about to come into existence. No one who has any interest in the future can afford to miss it." -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke " Robo sapiens is a fascinating, in-depth look at one of the most challenging engineering tasks ever attempted. The photos amaze, while the text gives the inside story of researchers bashing their heads up against boggling complexity. You pick up Robo sapiens for the great photos, and then get caught up reading the inside politics of the race to build human-like machines. Don"t be surprised by the coming era of robotics read Robo sapiens and be ready." K. Eric Drexler , Chairman, Foresight Institute, and author, Engines of Creation and Nanosystems

About the Author

Peter Menzel is a photographer known for his coverage of international feature stories on science and the environment. His award-winning photographs have been published in Life, National Geographic, Smithsonian, the New York Times Magazine, Time, Stem, GEO, and Le Figaro. Faith D'Aluisio is a former television news producer. Her documentary and news series pieces have won regional and national awards from the Headlines Foundation, United Press International, Associated Press, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association. They are the co-creators of the books Material World: A Global Family Portrait and Women in the Material World. They are also the co-authors of Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects.

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"In Robo sapiens, Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio have done their bit to satisfy techie cravings by creating a coffee-table book of robots. It's a stunning achievement." - Harold Thimbleby, New Scientist

"In Robo sapiens, Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio have done their bit to satisfy techie cravings by creating a coffee-table book of robots. It's a stunning achievement." - Harold Thimbleby, New Scientist

"Today's robots... are explorers, space laborers, surgeons, maids, actors, pets." What do they look like? How do they work? And what's next? Tech photographer Menzel and journalist D'Aluisio worked together on Material World and Man Eating Bugs. Their latest collaboration joins terrific photos of robotsÄ176 color pictures of themÄto short essays, sidebars and interviews explaining what each robot can do, how it works and what problems it was designed to solve. Several researchers tell D'Aluisio that true artificial intelligence (AI) is coming soonÄa couple even believe that smart machines will someday wipe out humans. But this volume doesn't really add up to an argument about our mechanoid future: instead, it's an informativeÄand handsomeÄview of some current work in robotics, from out-there AI research to practical (and profitable) surgical technology. Menzel and D'Aluisio divide the machines they chronicle into six groups: the first two sets try to copy human abilities, while other sorts of 'bots function more like machines in industry or in science education. Many gizmos have special abilities of obvious, even lifesaving, practical use: "Ariel the crab-robot... walks pretty well underwater"; eventually, it will detect and clear mines. "Rosie," a remote boom crane robot, can help control damage from a reactor meltdown. Other constructions simulate human and animal actions, like running and walkingÄa field called "biomimicry." More impressive yet are robots designed to investigate psychology and cognition; some of these are learningÄand teaching their creatorsÄwhat it means to be human. MIT researcher Cynthia Breazel introduces us to Kismet, a Kermit-the-Frog-esque 'droid whose big-eyed, goofy "facial expressions" (in her words) "tune the human's behavior so that it is appropriate for the robotÄnot too much, not too little, just right." (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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