Almost Human: Making Robots Think

by Lee Gutkind

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.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Robots, Technology

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2007

About the author

Lee Gutkind has been recognized by Vanity Fair as “the godfather behind creative nonfiction.” A prolific writer, he has authored and edited over twenty-five books, and is the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary magazine to publish only narrative nonfiction. Gutkind has received grants, honors, and awards from numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation. A man of many talents, Gutkind has been a motorcyclist, medical insider, sports expert, sailor, and college professor. He is currently distinguished writer in residence in the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University and a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Reviews

[Seema Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one ...not such a simple subject but quite an easy read.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may be a long while before we have robots as sophisticated as R2D2 or C3P0, but roboticists get closer every day as they work toward making robots think.

Lee Gutkind's Almost Human: Making Robots Think tours through contemporary robotics research --- largely at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh --- and gives readers a glimpse of where we are going with this particular technology and reveals that getting to the point of making independent thinking machines is at "the barest beginning."

Gutkind focuses heavily on researchers who are involved in trying to find out whether robots could traverse the rugged extraterrestial terrain of Mars and perform independent experiments to discover signs of life on the Red Planet.

One intriguing concept Gutkind follows briefly is the idea of human/robot interactions --- that humans will have to learn to adjust to almost-human machines in the same way we are having to adjust to the rapid advances in computer technology.

But most of all Gutkind puts a human stamp on the machines, potraying in depth the scientists and engineers behind the robots. We find out these researchers are driven, willing to put in long, grueling hours into designing and testing their machines. Gutkind's portrait is reminiscent of Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine, an examination of the computer revolution in the '70s and '80s.

What Gutkind finds, I believe, is that the soul of these new machines is human.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost Human describes a few years in the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. The coverage is a healthy mix of personal profiles, research, and development. Industry luminaries like Red Whittaker are described with surprising frankness, contrasting successes with strange or frustrating habits. Students from Japan to West Virginia describe how their time at CMU has pushed them to work harder and sleep less than they ever guessed they could.

While the book served well as a concentrated dose of life in the High Bay, it spends less effort contextualizing the work of the institute. Is it the job of the institute to contribute to progress in the field, or to train future roboticists? What happens at the end of a robot's life? What happens to roboticists after they leave CMU? Maybe robotics is still too new to answer these questions. Tech nonfiction books like Hackers and The Wizards Who Stay Up Late provide this context and in turn explain the importance of their subject matter. Maybe someday Gutkind will author a similar follow-up.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up", a creative nonfiction writing craft book by Lee Gutkind, I decided to read a book by him to see how well he applies his own advice to his writing. Lee Gutkind is the godfather of creative nonfiction. He actually coined the term. So, in a way, he sets the bar for writing in the genre. However, I found this book to fall well short of that bar and short of his creative nonfiction writing advice. The main issue, for me, was a distinct imbalance between action and description/background in that the book was way too heavy on description and non-action.

While the first chapter starts off with a wild ride to a base camp in the Atacama desert of Chile, the opening lines fail to drop the reader into the scene fully invested. It take a few paragraphs to get reader into the pickup truck for a nerve jangling mad dash across the desert. From there, the action vs. description ratio holds steady until about a third of the way into the book when it begins to lean disproportionally into description where I began to lose interest.

This book profiles and follows two or three narratives/robotics projects, while also talking about robots in general. In that way, it's comprehensive. Several of the roboticists, mostly professors and students from Carnegie Mellon, are profiled. Unfortunately, I found myself, near the halfway point, of not caring about these characters. And then I didn't care about the story either. I found myself reading in order to finish the book instead of for my interest.

Perhaps I'm not interested in the subject of robots. Perhaps, because of the intervening years, the material felt dated since there have been mega-advancements in robotics. (I don't think that is the case, though. A story well-told should be timeless). For me, there wasn't enough suspense and I could not emotionally connect to the stakes and tension the roboticists face as they engage in their projects. A lot of the times, they come off as bumbling and disorganized. Sadly, by the end, I was glad to finish simply for the fact of finishing, so I could move on to my next book. I hate to say that because I loved Gutkind's creative nonfiction craft book so much that I'm going to read it again. "Almost Human" will not stop me from reading another Gutkind book. However, I'll be looking to restore my faith in the godfather when I pick him up again.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers several years of mobile robotics work at CMU as the author spent time observing and interviewing engineers and scientists in different projects. It ends around the time of the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge- though the author covers that he focuses more on efforts to field a robot in Chile designed to search for signs of life. Issues with that project seem very familiar: the first expedition to Chile was premature, software was poorly integrated and not well tested, not much was accomplished and the need to not go to operate in remote areas before critical systems are ready is underlined.

The second blurb on the back cover calls this book "An eloquent meditation on the fragile and increasingly friable line between flesh and metal... it illuminates the rarified world of computer science while simultaneously transcending it"- that second part sounds like the kind of filler crap I would write for high school or college writing assignments, and the first is just not true at all.

There are a few standout passages that indicate the author is lacking some technical depth, in one instance he calls Linux a programming language rather than an operating system. The strength of the book is not in explanation of technical details of any of the robots, but rather the characterizations of students, researchers, and engineers and the story of how they interact, problem-solve, and respond to adverse conditions. The title of the book is therefore inappropriate, as is the picture which shows silhouettes of bipedal robots which are not covered at all- quadruped Aibos in the Robocup competition is the closest it gets.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Being published in 2006, it is a bit dated already with the pace of robotics and technology in general (remember, there were no iPhones or even iPads in 2006). It was interesting to learn about CMU, and the robotics program in general, where most of this book took place. I found it enlightening to learn that the field of robotics rarely works with a blueprint or any real plans for the most part. The hardware and software seems to be mostly developed by trial and error...true hacker spirit, but also fraught with issues and lack of coordinated efforts sometimes. It is a prime field for someone to be in if they can approach the effort without any preconceived notions about what can and can't be done, and for this reason, attracts a lot of bright, young, inexperienced tech types. It taught me that someone with a lot of experience needs to remember to push aside the urge to say, "been there, that can't be done", and approach problems with a naive mind sometimes.

[J.I. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old book that is severely outdated (the recent leaps in understanding of AI and the cheapness of easy to use systems has jumped robotics significantly), it is still quite interesting and useful for giving context to the field, and especially in discussing exactly why robotics is so cool and so difficult. It is also about how we, as humans interact with each other, and seeing the way that communication breaks down between two groups of people was a marvelous illustration about the difficulty of communicating vital information across different frames of reference.

Sure, the book is a little dry at times, and the bouncing back and forth doesn't always make sense, but it is interesting and worthwhile.

[DW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I recognized Dave Wettergreen's name in it. It's a bit weird that I can find books in the library that talk about people (and software ...) I work with. Now I finally understand what the whole Zoe project was that they keep referring to.

This book describes a few recent projects of the CMU Robotics Institute. I found it interesting mostly because of my connection to the people in it. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered. It also gave me some insight into life at the Robotics Institute (as in, life is all work and no sleep) that makes me even more glad I'm not a graduate student there.

Overall, an informative and fast read.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book. Not so much because the science is now old (intelligence grows quickly), but because the narrative didn't hang together very well. We get details that lead now where, and the jumping between two different scenarios seemingly at random.

It was an interesting picture of the school that I know and love, though, and the passionate people therein, and I'll forgive it a little for that.

(Upshot - want some history or insight into the world of robotics? If you are naive on the topic, you might find this very interesting, but if you know something about the topic, you might find yourself similarly frustrated as myself.)

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging so far! Research for novel.

Had to return it to the library before finishing. I'll get it back soon.

It's a great expose into the quirky and ambitious personalities driven to push for progress in robotics and artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University.

Gutkind keeps the technical information understandable to those who are not computer nerds and robotics geeks. However, I wouldn't mind him going a little deeper into philosophical issues around artificial intelligence.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book in general, and the stories within, however the author skips form story to story then revisits some of them later. Personally I find that method of writing annoying as I like to get into one track in a book and read it to its end uninterrupted. This book weaves several stories through one another which is interesting for people who aren't used to reading non-fiction I suppose, but again, annoyed me a bit.

[to'c · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good light look at the people and places that build modern robots. Didn't quite hold my interest and it sat for a bit unread. The author seems to interested in creating tension between groups, hardware/software, scientists/engineers, for my taste. Haven't experienced much of that in my career but, hey, maybe robots create a special tension all their own.

[Heather]

Jon Stewart said, 'A wild book . . . a crazy story about these kids at Carnegie Mellon and thie leader making robots . . . fascinating stuff'

[Brendan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only read part one. This should have been an hour long PBS special not a book

[Regina Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much info about other people, I wanted to know hardcore facts but found about people that I could care less to know about. No offence, I like my books to the point withou Jo and Mo.

[Jenifer Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book for English class. It was ok. The writing was good, but I found myself wanting to know less about the people and more about the robots.

[Heather]

to further my cause of overcoming my robot phobia...