The Computer Music Tutorial or Designing Sociable Robots

The Computer Music Tutorial

Author: Curtis Roads

The Computer Music Tutorial is a comprehensive text and reference that covers all aspects of computer music, including digital audio, synthesis techniques, signal processing, musical input devices, performance software, editing systems, algorithmic composition, MIDI, synthesizer architecture, system interconnection, and psychoacoustics. A special effort has been made to impart an appreciation for the rich history behind current activities in the field.

Profusely illustrated and exhaustively referenced and cross-referenced, The Computer Music Tutorial provides a step-by-step introduction to the entire field of computer music techniques. Written for nontechnical as well as technical readers, it uses hundreds of charts, diagrams, screen images, and photographs as well as clear explanations to present basic concepts and terms. Mathematical notation and program code examples are used only when absolutely necessary. Explanations are not tied to any specific software or hardware.

Curtis Roads has served as editor-in-chief of Computer Music Journal for more than a decade and is a recognized authority in the field. The material in this book was compiled and refined over a period of several years of teaching in classes at Harvard University, Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Naples, IRCAM, Les Ateliers UPIC, and in seminars and workshops in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Booknews

A listing of 40,000 abbreviations in common usage, their meaning, and how to use them. The abbreviations and acronyms include Latin, French, and German translations from areas as diverse as science, technology, law, business, politics, and music. The appendices include: Roman numerals, the Greek alphabet; and symbols for algebra, geometry, chemistry, botany, astronomy, and the zodiac. Distributed by Sterling Publishing Co. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Interesting textbook: Angst vor Kleinen Zahlen: Ein Aufsatz auf der Erdkunde der Wut

Designing Sociable Robots

Author: Cynthia L Breazeal

Cynthia Breazeal here presents her vision of the sociable robot of the future, a synthetic creature and not merely a sophisticated tool. A sociable robot will be able to understand us, to communicate and interact with us, to learn from us and grow with us. It will be socially intelligent in a humanlike way. Eventually sociable robots will assist us in our daily lives, as collaborators and companions. Because the most successful sociable robots will share our social characteristics, the effort to make sociable robots is also a means for exploring human social intelligence and even what it means to be human.

Breazeal defines the key components of social intelligence for these machines and offers a framework and set of design issues for their realization. Much of the book focuses on a nascent sociable robot she designed named Kismet. Breazeal offers a concrete implementation for Kismet, incorporating insights from the scientific study of animals and people, as well as from artistic disciplines such as classical animation. This blending of science, engineering, and art creates a lifelike quality that encourages people to treat Kismet as a social creature rather than just a machine. The book includes a CD-ROM that shows Kismet in action.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
	Sources
1	The Vision of Sociable Robots	1
2	Robot in Society: A Question of Interface	15
3	Insights from Developmental Psychology	27
4	Designing Sociable Robots	39
5	The Physical Robot	51
6	The Vision System	61
7	The Auditory System	81
8	The Motivation System	105
9	The Behavior System	127
10	Facial Animation and Expression	157
11	Expressive Vocalization System	185
12	Social Constraints on Animate Vision	211
13	Grand Challenges of Building Sociable Robots	229
	References	243
	Index	253