Almost Human: Making Robots Think

by Lee Gutkind

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393058670
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.1" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

If your interested in Robitics, don't miss this book. You can't put it down. Reads like an adventure story.

Challenging insights into the thinking process

At the cutting edge of science and technology are discussions over what constitutes a human being, and what elements of humanity may translate into robot functions. ALMOST HUMAN: MAKING ROBOTS THINK is part of this discussion, reflecting the author's investigation into the realm of robotic developments and science and its concurrent search for a language to talk to machines and enable machine/human communications. While ALMOST HUMAN could also have been reviewed in our science section, it's featured here for its challenging insights into the thinking process and how it differs between machine and human.

Decent overall

The book might be a bit misleading with its title because you don't really get the impression how the robots described in the book are even remotely close to being human but it does an excellent job when it comes to describing the world that roboticists live in. It portrays their struggles and frustrations and then their celebration at even the slightest hint of success. However, if you are someone that expects a book that mainly focuses on the concept of artificial intelligence and discusses all the abstract theories associated with the concept then you might be looking for the wrong book. There are little bits of info on the aforementioned topic throughout the book but the main focus of the book is about the experiences of the roboticists, not the theories behind the kind of work they do. Overall, it is a great way to get a good picture of the robotics culture in the United States and get to know some famous individuals and institutions in the field.

Capturing the essence of creating silicon life

"Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy icons. All we had were 1's and 0's and sometimes we didn't have any 0's....". Yes, I'm a dinosaur who has been developing software-based products for almost 30 years and although the hardware has changed, and the languages have evolved, the creators still devote their lives to their creations. In this book, Lee has captured the essence of what we geeks refer to as the "zone". The willingness to forsake everything else to bring life to their silicon offspring. Whether an autonomous mobile robot or the latest "killer app", there is no linear path to a successful outcome (so eloquently described in the title of chapter 15). I especially recommend this book to managers who may not understand the way software is produced and have uttered the phrase "when will that program be finished?". (LOL!)

Robot-licious

Many years ago, I attended a "robot party" at Carnegie Mellon. Munchkin-sized bots scooted around serving drinks. Nerds wearing special shoes boinged twenty feet into the air. Out in front of the building, scientist-revolutionaries used a remote-controlled car to spraypaint anit-imperialist messages all over the asphalt of the parking lot. Gutkind's book is fantastic; he brings to life one of the weirdest and most compelling scientific communities in the world. Read it and you'll never see machines the same way again.