Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 692.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
[1] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@statistik.uni- (45)
dortmund.de>
Subject: [MIT New Book] Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano on
_Evolutionary Robotics_
[2] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@statistik.uni- (30)
dortmund.de>
Subject: Lev Manovich and his essays on New Media including his
new book
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 11:11:45 +0000
From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Subject: [MIT New Book] Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano on
_Evolutionary Robotics_
Dear Humanist Scholars,
I thought readers of this group, might be interested in this book. For
more information please visit
http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/NOLEHF00.
Evolutionary Robotics
The Biology, Intelligence, and Technology of Self-Organizing Machines
Stefano Nolfi and Dario Floreano
Evolutionary robotics is a new technique for the automatic creation of
autonomous robots. Inspired by the Darwinian principle of selective
reproduction of the fittest, it views robots as autonomous artificial
organisms that develop their own skills in close interaction with the
environment and without human intervention. Drawing heavily on biology and
ethology, it uses the tools of neural networks, genetic algorithms, dynamic
systems, and biomorphic engineering. The resulting robots share with simple
biological systems the characteristics of robustness, simplicity, small
size, flexibility, and modularity.
In evolutionary robotics, an initial population of artificial chromosomes,
each encoding the control system of a robot, is randomly created and put
into the environment. Each robot is then free to act (move, look around,
manipulate) according to its genetically specified controller while its
performance on various tasks is automatically evaluated. The fittest robots
then "reproduce" by swapping parts of their genetic material with small
random mutations. The process is repeated until the "birth" of a robot that
satisfies the performance criteria.
This book describes the basic concepts and methodologies of evolutionary
robotics and the results achieved so far. An important feature is the clear
presentation of a set of empirical experiments of increasing complexity.
Software with a graphic interface, freely available on a Web page, will
allow the reader to replicate and vary (in simulation and on real robots)
most of the experiments.
Stefano Nolfi is Coordinator of the Division of Neural Systems and
Artificial Life, Institute of Psychology, National Research Council, Rome.
Dario Floreano is Assistant Professor of Biorobotics and Adaptive Systems,
Institute of Robotics, Department of Microengineering, Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology, Lausanne.
7 x 9, 384 pp., 157 illus., cloth ISBN 0-262-14070-5
Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents series
A Bradford Book
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jud Wolfskill 617.253.2079 phone
Associate Publicist 617.253.1709 fax
MIT Press wolfskil@mit.edu
5 Cambridge Center http://mitpress.mit.edu
Fourth Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 11:18:09 +0000
From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Subject: Lev Manovich and his essays on New Media including his
new book
Dear Humanists,
Hi -I would like to introduce 'a Russsian artist' and his works in short.
Lev Manovich is an artist, a theorist and a critic of new media. He is the
author of _The Language of New Media_ (The MIT Press, 2001).
Little Movies: Prolegomena for Digital Cinema
http://www-apparitions.ucsd.edu/~manovich/little-movies/
About "Little Movies"
http://www-apparitions.ucsd.edu/~manovich/little-movies/statement-new3.html
To Lie and To Act: Potemkin's Villages, Cinema and Telepresence
http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~manovich/text/Checkpoint.html
Cinema as a Cultural Interface
http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~manovich/text/cinema-cultural.html
The Aesthetics of Virtual Worlds -Lev Manovich 1/2
http://nettime.khm.de/nettime.w3archive/199602/msg00001.html
The Aesthetics of Virtual Worlds -Lev Manovich 2/2
http://nettime.khm.de/nettime.w3archive/199602/msg00000.html
The Death of Computer Art -by Lev Manovich
http://www.thenetnet.com/schmeb/schmeb12.html
In the book, _The Language of New Media_ Lev Manovich offers the first
systematic and rigorous theory of new media. He places new media within
the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He
discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the
rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create
the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He also
analyzes categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and
database.
For more details, please visit..
http://mitpress.mit.edu/book-home.tcl?isbn=0262133741
Thank you.
Sincerely
Arun Tripathi
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