The History Of Robots And Robotics

Once the subject of speculative fiction, robots are now reality in many spheres of life, including business, law enforcement, the military, the sciences, entertainment, and even in our homes. They will play bigger roles in the near and distant future. This book traces the development of robots from antiquity through the modern era and into the myriad possibilities of their future practical uses, including the exciting potential intersection of robots and artificial intelligence. A lively historical narrative and stimulating imagery of robots throughout the ages make this book a valuable resource for robot fans and casual readers alike.

Once the subject of speculative fiction, robots are now reality in many spheres of life, including business, law enforcement, the military, the sciences, entertainment, and even in our homes. They will play bigger roles in the near and distant future. This book traces the development of robots from antiquity through the modern era and into the myriad possibilities of their future practical uses, including the exciting potential intersection of robots and artificial intelligence. A lively historical narrative and stimulating imagery of robots throughout the ages make this book a valuable resource for robot fans and casual readers alike.

Do you know that the first industrial robot started work in 1959? Now robots are in factories, in homes, laboratories, and the sky. Robots explore other planets as well as ocean depths. They also carry out jobs that are dangerous for humans. From the first robots of the 1950s to the drones and androids of the present day, this book charts the amazing history of robots.

In the coming decades robots and artificial intelligence will fundamentally change our world. In doing so they offer the hope of a golden future, but there are dangers. This book looks at both the history of robots, in science and in fiction, as well as the science behind robots. Specific chapters analyse the impact of robots on the labour market, people’s attitudes to robots, the impact of robots on society, and the appropriate policies to pursue to prepare our world for the robot revolution. Overall the book strikes a cautionary tone. Robots will change our world dramatically and they will also change human beings. These important issues are examined from the perspective of an economist, but the book is intended to appeal to a wider audience in the social sciences and beyond.

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation? R.U.R., or Rossum’s Universal Robots is a play written in 1920 by Karel Čapek, a Czech writer who wrote many plays and novels, many of them with science-fiction and dystopian themes. R.U.R. is perhaps the most well-known of these works in the English-speaking world because it brought the word “robot” into the language. “Robot” is derived from the Czech word meaning “worker.” The play is set in the island headquarters of the R.U.R. corporation. The corporation has been manufacturing artificial beings which resemble humans, but who are tireless workers. They can be mass-produced in large numbers and are being adopted as workers in many countries. In the first scene of the play, they are visited by a young woman, Helena Glory, who aspires to relieve the lot of the robots, who she sees as oppressed. However, in what must be the fastest seduction scene in all drama, she is wooed and agrees to marry Harry Domin, the factory manager, who she has just met. She still however aspires to improve the life of robots and find a way to give them souls. Ultimately, however, this admirable desire leads to disaster for humankind. The play was translated into English, and slightly abridged, by Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair in 1923. This version quickly became popular with both British and American audiences and was well received by critics.

Learn about the history of robotics, from the earliest machines of ancient Greece to modern humanoid robots used by NASA.

The first compendium on robotic art of its kind, this book explores the integration of robots into human society and our attitudes, fears and hopes in a world shared with autonomous machines. It raises questions about the benefits, risks and ethics of the transformative changes to society that are the consequence of robots taking on new roles alongside humans. It takes the reader on a journey into the world of the strange, the beautiful, the uncanny and the daring – and into the minds and works of some of the world’s most prolific creators of robotic art. Offering an in-depth look at robotic art from the viewpoints of artists, engineers and scientists, it presents outstanding works of contemporary robotic art and brings together for the first time some of the most influential artists in this area in the last three decades. Starting from a historical review, this transdisciplinary work explores the nexus between robotic research and the arts and examines the diversity of robotic art, the encounter with robotic otherness, machine embodiment and human–robot interaction. Stories of difficulties, pitfalls and successes are recalled, characterising the multifaceted collaborations across the diverse disciplines required to create robotic art. Although the book is primarily targeted towards researchers, artists and students in robotics, computer science and the arts, its accessible style appeals to anyone intrigued by robots and the arts.

Once the subject of speculative fiction, robots are now reality in many spheres of life, including business, law enforcement, the military, the sciences, entertainment, and even in our homes. They will play bigger roles in the near and distant future. This book traces the development of robots from antiquity through the modern era and into the myriad possibilities of their future practical uses, including the exciting potential intersection of robots and artificial intelligence. A lively historical narrative and stimulating imagery of robots throughout the ages make this book a valuable resource for robot fans and casual readers alike.