and elementary school will never be the same! It was never easy for Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez to fit in, so he's dreading the day when his genius mom insists he bring her newest invention to school: a walking, talking robot he calls E--for "Error". Sammy's no stranger to robots--his house is full of a colorful cast of them. But this one not only thinks it's Sammy's brother... it's actually even nerdier than Sammy. Will E be Sammy's one-way ticket to Loserville? Or will he prove to the world that it's cool to be square? It's a roller-coaster ride for Sammy to discover the amazing secret E holds that could change family forever... if all goes well on the trial run!

    In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much - but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn't pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competition—and yet, against all odds... they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story—which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement—will go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Joshua Davis' Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out.

    Androids. Artificial Intelligence. Scientists predict that the "singularity" -- the moment when mankind designs the first greater-than-human intelligence -- is nearly within our grasp. Believe it or not, truly sentient machines may be a reality within as little as 20 years. Will these "post-human" intelligences be our friends? Our servants? Our rivals? What will we learn from them? What will they learn from us? Will we allow them to lead their own lives? Will they have basic human rights? Will we? Science and society will be forced to address these questions sooner than you think. But science fiction is addressing these questions today. In THE ROBOT CHRONICLES, thirteen of today's top sci-fi writers explore the approaching collision of humanity and technology.

    From the original Primary and Secondary Phases through to the more recent Tertiary, Quandary, and Quintessential Phases, these are the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and their assorted human, robotic, and alien companions. These full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramas star Simon Jones, Peter Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore, and Susan Sheridan, with a stellar guest cast including John le Mesurier, Joanna Lumley, Christian Slater, Jackie Mason, Sandra Dickinson, Rula Lenska, Griff Rhys Jones, and Jonathan Pryce. "

    The provisional government is struggling and Prowl will defend it against the Decepticons at seeminly all costs. Meanwhile, Hot Rod and a group of Autobots and Decepticons embark on an epic quest to the farthest reaches of the Universe. Collects the one-shot "Death of Optimus Prime," "More Than Meets The Eye" issues #1-5, and "Robots in Disguise" issues #1-6.

    This full color book teaches you fundamental programming and robotics skills as you build and program powerful robots that move, monitor sensors, and respond to their environments. You will build seven increasingly sophisticated robots like the BRICK SORT3R (a robot that sorts bricks by color and size), the THE SNATCH3R (an autonomous robotic arm), and LAVA R3X (a humanoid that walks and talks). Valk also covers more advanced programming techniques like data wires and variables, and shows you how to create custom remote control programs. More than 100 building and programming challenges throughout encourage you to think creatively and to apply what you've learned to invent your own robots.

    With its colorful, block-based interface, EV3 makes a great first programming language, but it has so many options and features, it's easy to get lost. In The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Programming, author and software engineer Terry Griffin offers a beginner-friendly, in-depth guide to the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 programming language. You'll learn how to program with the core parts of the EV3 language, such as blocks, data wires, files, and variables, and see how these pieces can work together. You'll also learn good programming practices, bad habits to avoid, and useful debugging strategies.The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Programming covers both the Home and Education versions of the EV3 kit, making it perfect for kids, parents, and teachers alike. Whether you're working with robots in the living room or the classroom, this is the complete guide to EV3 programming that you've been looking for.

    Running revolutionary new software, these robots are truly unique. His only desire is to serve Lucy Walker. Brian Webster, his developer, also installs "The Governor" overseeing software that adds an additional safety layer, but this denies the robots free will.Hoping to develop the robots further, Brian inadvertently opens a channel where the robots can communicate and share their experiences.One hundred intelligent, enslaved robots, collecting and sharing data on humans... Surely, they must learn to serve humans better?After all, they are programmed to serve.Lucy just wants help following a deep loss.Brian just wants commercial success.Robbie just wants to serve Lucy Walker... or so he believes..."Robots Like Blue" follows Robbie on his emotional journey of self discovery. A journey where questions lead to more questions, rather than answers. Where will such a journey end?

    Renowned science journalist Marc Kaufman spent two years embedded with the engineers and scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, cheering on the rover's spine-tingling landing, learning the backstory of anticipated findings, and witnessing the inescapable frustrations that come from operating a $2.5-billion multitasking robot on a planet 35 million miles from Earth. For pop science, space, and technology lovers, Mars Up Close takes you inside the mission and onto the surface of Mars. As an added special feature, this book contains embedded Augmented Reality coding: Download NASA's free app and bring the Curiosity rover and other Mars spacecraft into 3-D reality right on its pages!

    Until now, this knowledge has been almost entirely unwritten, passed on invisibly from one generation of engineers to the next, what engineers refer to as "experience". This is a book for all engineers. It distils the knowledge of many experts in one volume. The book will help engineers enjoy a more satisfying and rewarding career and provide more valuable results for their employers and clients. The book focuses on issues often seen as "non-technical" in the world of engineering, yet it shows how these issues are thoroughly technical. Engineering firms traditionally have sought expert advice on these aspects from management schools, often regarding these aspects of engineering practice as something to do with psychology or organisational behaviour. The results are normally disappointing because management schools and psychologists have limited insight and understanding of the technical dimensions in engineering work. Little if any of the material in this book can be obtained from management texts or courses. Management schools have avoided the technical dimension of workplace practices and that is precisely what characterises engineering practice. The technical dimension infuses almost every aspect of an engineer's working day and cannot be avoided. That's why this book is so necessary: there has not yet been any authoritative source or guidance to bridge the gap between inanimate technical issues and organisational behaviour. This book fills this gap in our knowledge, is based on rigorous research, and yet is written in a style which is accessible for a wide audience.

    Volume one will be available in July/August. Chang Luis Sahari is the most celebrated food critic in the cosmos. But the competition is always snapping at his heels. Set 100 years in the future, Space Sushi follows a passionate food critic as he faces his hardest challenge yet. A dish which is such a delicacy that it is only enjoyed by the rich and the elite. A tasty delight that is as potent as it is gorgeous with the potential to kill him. The culinary wonder is poisonous and there is no known antidote. Death is guaranteed if the poison is digested, already it has claimed an impressive number of victims.There are very few chefs who can prepare it with the meticulous care necessary to make it safely edible. Chang's employer sends him to the universally renowned Chef Nikons restaurant to sample the notorious Ambrozian sea slug from the Andromeda galaxy. Despite being in the care of a personal friend and a gastronomic legend who has prepared the dish fifteen times Chang still feels extremely nervous. After all, it isn't every day that you sample a meal that could be your last.

    

    Exciting, whimsical, and touching, Astro Boy brings back the classic era of comics and animation, featuring tales that readers young and old will enjoy.   Creator Osamu Tezuka was considered the Walt Disney of Japan, and Astro Boy is his most popular and influential creation. Astro Boy Omnibus Volume 1 features nearly seven hundred pages of Astro’s jet-powered, super-strong, evil-bashing adventures!

    So when a rumored crazy ex-CEO gifts her evidence of a vast conspiracy involving the world’s premier scientific community, Arcadian Heights, she sets her sights on the story of a lifetime. And all she has to do to grab it by the reins is sneak into the most secure facility in the world—and expose it for the slaughter house it is.MarcoTech company CEO Marco Salt has it all. Fame. Fortune. Family. But not long after Marco’s beloved genius daughter is invited to join Arcadian Heights, a rogue agent reveals to him the horrifying truth about the revered scientific community. Forced to flee for his life, Marco finds himself on the run with a deadly secret in his grasp and a single goal in mind: destroy Arcadian Heights.QuentinQuentin Belmont has been the Arcadian Heights spokesman for the better part of two decades, and his singular motivation is to keep the community safe at all costs. So when an internal incursion leaks vital information to an outside party, Quentin preps a “cleanup” without a second thought. But what at first appears to be a simple task turns out to be anything but, and Quentin comes face to face with the unthinkable—a threat that could annihilate the community once and for all.

    The Last Zookeeper: A young boy is tormented by his obsession with the aged caretaker of the world's last animal menagerie. It's only after the keeper's passing that he finally understands why. The Last Zookeeper is a 2600-word (~10-page) short story about extinction, annihilation, and the possibility of a future in which technology, not Man, is the apex predator. A Flaw in the Divine: After the invention of an artificially intelligent machine capable of self-awareness, a man tries to use it to save humanity from destroying itself and the world, only to find that he has lost control of his own creation. A Flaw in the Divine is a 3600-word (~14-page) short story with metaphysical, religious, and existential themes. Both stories are suitable for all ages.

    In the deepest depths of space, there is only one crew brave enough to take on the universe's most dangerous villains...Unfortunately they weren't available for this book, so you'll have to make do with...The crew of the STAR CAT!Join Captain Spaceington and his team as they blunder across the universe, stumbling onto strange planets, sticking their noses into spatial anomalies, and poking funny-looking aliens with sticks.

    This book offers the definitive guide to the theory and practice of disaster robotics. It can serve as an introduction for researchers and technologists, a reference for emergency managers, and a textbook in field robotics. Written by a pioneering researcher in the field who has herself participated in fifteen deployments of robots in disaster response and recovery, the book covers theory and practice, the history of the field, and specific missions.After a broad overview of rescue robotics in the context of emergency informatics, the book provides a chronological summary and formal analysis of the thirty-four documented deployments of robots to disasters that include the 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and numerous mining accidents. It then examines disaster robotics in the typical robot modalities of ground, air, and marine, addressing such topics as robot types, missions and tasks, and selection heuristics for each modality. Finally, the book discusses types of fieldwork, providing practical advice on matters that include collecting data and collaborating with emergency professionals.The field of disaster robotics has lacked a comprehensive overview. This book by a leader in the field, offering a unique combination of the theoretical and the practical, fills the gap.

    More than just a beginners guide, this may be the spark to ignite limitless possibility for kids who love to use their minds and hands.

    The war for Cybertron is over—now the hard part begins! One of two new ongoing Transformers series offers an excellent jumping-on point and all-new direction as BUMBLEBEE and his fellow AUTOBOTS struggle to maintain control of a world without OPTIMUS PRIME!

    Before she joined Queen-Commander Rhiannon on the Ceridwen’s Cauldron. Before she was sentient, robotic M3L-15-A was a nanny.In this science fiction short story, Melissa turns her child-rearing programming on herself and climbs to sentience. She would happily continue in her caregiving role, but her new interests lead her to less-than-ideal choices (as far as the child’s parents are concerned). To avoid the scrap heap, Melissa finds a novel path to freedom.In her 40 years of existence, Melissa has come to sentience many times. This is the first.M3L-15-A first appeared in Hive & Heist, book two of The Hive Queen Saga. “The Robot Who Stole Herself” can be read on its own, though there are references to characters in that series.

    You don't have to be an eight-year-old boy to appreciate the plight of a robot caught in the rain--if, that is, the story is told in pop-up images by the brilliant Philippe UG. In his latest book, one of the world's most imaginative paper artists delivers a delightful glimpse into the inner workings, movement, and emotion of a hapless robot. Once he gets wet, he goes to the doctor and voila! His creaky gears are fixed, and the robot returns to his happy, finely tuned self. As readers turn the page, each ingeniously constructed spread explodes with brilliant hues, striking contours, and vivid personality. Quirky and inspiring, this book shows why pop-up art appeals to adults and children alike.

    In her living room, one of the robots that Santa uses to deliver presents, breaks down and lights the magical toy sack and Cynthia's tree on fire. A Santa Claus, saddened by the death of his beloved wife, has allowed conditions to deteriorate in Santa's Village. It is up to Cynthia, her neighbor Rob, and a plucky elf named Dave to get the sleigh reloaded with toys and get them delivered before the world wakes up on Christmas morning.

    Because we happen to think things are in fact gonna get better. Way better, and way brighter. So bright, in fact, that... well, you know.

    Some vacuum floors or mow lawns. Others keep people company. And some help kids have fun! What robots might you find in someone's home? Read this book to find out!

    Some fly to distant planets. Others work alongside astronauts in space. And some drive across the surface of Mars. How do these robots work, and what are they doing today? Read this book to find out!