Daniel H. Wilson, a 27-year-old Ph.D. candidate in robotics at Carnegie Mellon, has optioned the film rights to his first book HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING to Michael DeLuca Prods., reports SCI-FI WIRE. A film treatment based on the book, which hits stores Nov. 7, 2005, has already been written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant (Comedy Central's RENO 911).
The tongue-in-cheek book advises readers how to combat robots run amok, offering such helpful advice as how to fool speech-recognition programs, how to recognize a rebellious servant robot and how to escape from a smart house.
"Even though the situations are absurd, the book has been vetted by roboticists," Wilson said. He added that he found himself attracted to the field of robotics as an undergraduate in computer science. "Robotics ... is the place where artificial intelligence is most effective. You're not limited to operating inside a computer, and you can apply learning to the real world."
Mostly, though, Wilson says he just likes robots. "When I interviewed professors and roboticists, I found out to my surprise they became roboticists because robots are cool," he said. "I thought of them as all very serious, and I never figured they would devote their life to something [just] because it was neat. But that's the way it works."
Wilson is working on his sophomore book, WHERE'S MY JETPACK?, which takes a serious look at Golden Age sci-fi technology, such as underwater cities, mind-reading devices, space vacations and invisibility. The book will describe the current prototypes of each device, along with their impediments.
Both books originated from bar conversations, Wilson said. "In the winter months in Pittsburgh, there's not much else to do.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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