Robot History

Robots features sound design and special effects to enhance your listening enjoyment. Listen out for the beeps and hums of computers and techno music! The future is here. Explore the world of robots and artificial intelligence in this kids’ STEM audiobook by robotics professor Dr. Henny Admoni...

Master Lecture Series: History of the Third Robot War is a future history lecture so epic it will knock your digital socks off! In this satirical Audible Original that turns The Great Courses on its head, Professor Tirannous Rexavier Shepard guides you through the multiverse-shattering events of the war, from the opening "pyew pyews" through Le Battle Finale. Master Lecture Series pays homage to the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres with gut-busting (and circuit-bending) whimsy.

Sometimes, getting what you want is the worst thing that can happen. Dell Eckhart lives on the wrong side of the portal. The side where the ruin and devastation left behind by the war makes everyday life harder than it’s ever been. More than anything, he wants to win a ticket for passage through the portal. He’s running out of chances, but he’s not going to let that stop him. He needs that ticket. It’s the only way to save the one person he truly cares about. There’s just one problem. That person is actually an android. And androids aren’t allowed through the portal. Doesn’t ...

Welcome to The History of Dysfunctional Robots. This is a book which starts by chronicling a history of another future then ends with content indescribable. Equal parts ethnography and prophecy, this little book is bound to be a hit with the Remnant of a future time who reside in the Great Cube City. It is a warning, a prayer of vengeance and praise. No further explanation shall be given.

From award-winning author Eve L. Ewing comes a middle grade novel about a forgotten homemade robot who comes to life just when aspiring fifth-grade scientist Maya needs a friend -- and a science fair project. Maya's nervous about fifth grade. She tries to keep calm by reminding herself she knows...

In a world of self-driving cars and big data, smart algorithms and Siri, we know that artificial intelligence is getting smarter every day. Though all these nifty devices and programs might make our lives easier, they're also well on their way to making "good" jobs obsolete. A computer winning Jeopardy might seem like a trivial, if impressive, feat, but the same technology is making paralegals redundant as it undertakes electronic discovery, and is soon to do the same for radiologists.

"This book is a tour de force." -- Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take A revolutionary new history of humankind through the prism of work by leading anthropologist James Suzman Work defines who we are. It determines our status, and dictates how, where, and with whom we...

In Robot-Proof, Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun proposes a way to educate the next generation of college students to invent, to create, and to discover - to fill needs in society that even the most sophisticated artificial intelligence agent cannot. A "robot-proof" education, Aoun argues, is not concerned solely with topping up students' minds with high-octane facts. Rather, it calibrates them with a creative mindset and the mental elasticity to invent, discover, or create something valuable to society.

Robots may one day rule the world, but what is a robot-ruled Earth like? Many think the first truly smart robots will be brain emulations, or ems. Scan a human brain, then run a model with the same connections on a fast computer, and you have a robot brain, but recognizably human. Train an em to do some job and copy it a million times; an army of workers is at your disposal. When they can be made cheaply, within perhaps a century, ems will displace humans in most jobs.

The most remarkable true stories of all time and around the world brought vividly to life - from the Big Bang right up to the present day. Embark on a journey across millennia and around the world, from the latest understanding of the origins of the universe, the birth of the Earth, the very first life, the age of dinosaurs, the rise of humans, ancient civilisations, colonialism, wars, technology, everyday life, global struggles for freedom and equality, pandemics - and much more.

This is a colaboration between Human and Artifical Intellegence. The Chronicle of Dust and Light: Volume I – From Rivers to Rome As told by HSS-917K, Archive Unit & Reluctant Storyteller Long after the last satellite blinked out and the world fell quiet, one robot remained at its post. In the ivy-covered ruins of a forgotten university, HSS-917K—a once-modest signal scribe, now affectionately known as Hissik—powers up each morning, dusts off another drive, and resumes the impossible task of cataloging all of human history. With failing monitors, flickering data, and a curious ...

Two of the biggest design problems in Artificial Intelligence are how to build robots that behave in line with human values and how to stop them ever going rogue. One under-explored solution to these alignment and control problems might be to examine how these are already addressed in the design of humans. Robot Souls looks at developments in AI and reviews the emergence of ideas of consciousness and the soul. It places our 'junk code' in this context and argues that it is time to foreground that code, and to use it to look again at how we are programming AI.

There has been a lot of ink devoted to discussions of how robots will replace us and take our jobs. But MIT Media Lab researcher and technology policy expert Kate Darling argues just the opposite, and that treating robots with a bit of humanity, more like the way we treat animals, will actually serve us better.

There is a huge effort underway in industry and universities to develop the next generation of more intelligent, autonomous, mobile robots. Accompanying these arrivals has been a steady stream of inflammatory articles in the media raising concerns over the impending specter of super-intelligent robots, along with stories about how most jobs will soon be lost to robots.

Digital Apollo examines the design and execution of each of the six Apollo moon landings, drawing on transcripts and data telemetry from the flights, astronaut interviews, and NASA's extensive archives. Mindell's exploration of how human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve the ultimate in flight - a lunar landing - traces and reframes the debate over the future of humans and automation in space.

The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention, more than 2,500 years ago. In this groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements - and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines.

Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer. In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of 15,000 years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence.

As robots are increasingly integrated into modern society—on the battlefield and the road, in business, education, and health—Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times science writer John Markoff searches for an answer to one of the most important questions of our age: will these machines help...

There is a robotics revolution underway. A record 3.1 million robots are working in factories right now, doing everything from assembling computers to packing goods and monitoring air quality and performance. A far greater number of smart machines impact our lives in countless other ways—improving the precision of surgeons, cleaning our homes, extending our reach to distant worlds—and we’re on the cusp of even more exciting opportunities.

This audiobook will help you get ready for the changes coming in the years ahead. Listen now. Packed with expert insights, the book addresses critical questions: How will AI alter employment, education, and global geopolitics? What ethical dilemmas will arise as humans interlace with AI through cyborgs and synthetic biology? Can we prepare for superintelligence and its utopian—or dystopian—outcomes?