Robots That Talk and Listen provides a forward-looking examination of speech and language in robots from technical, functional, and social perspectives. Contributors address cultural foundations as well as the linguistic skills and technologies that robots need to function effectively in real-world settings. Among the most difficult and complex is the ability to understand and use language. Speech-enabled automata are already serving as interactive toys, teacher's aides, and research assistants. These robots will soon be joined by personal companions, industrial co-workers, and military support automata. The social impact of these and other robots extends well beyond the specific tasks they perform. Contributors tackle the most knotty of those issues, notably acceptance of advanced, speech-enabled robots and developing ethical and moral controls for robots. Topics in this book include: * Language and Beyond: The True Meaning of "Speech Enabled" * Robots in Myth and Media * Enabling Robots to Converse * Language Learning by Automata * Handling Noisy Settings * Empirical Studies of Robots in Real-World Environments * Acceptance of Intelligent Robots * Managing Robots that Can Lie and Deceive * Envisioning a World Shared with Intelligent Robots

As you climbed the rickety stairs of an old woolshed at Sydney harbor in 1944, you could hear rows of men and women in uniforms and headsets tapping away vigorously at small machines, under the careful watch of their young female trainers. Presiding over the cacophony was a tiny woman, known to everyone as "Mrs Mac," one of Australia's wartime legends. A smart girl from a poor mining town, Violet McKenzie became an electrical engineer, a pioneer of radio, and a businesswoman. As the clouds of war gathered in the 1930s, she trained young women in Morse code, foreseeing that their services would soon be needed. She was instrumental in getting Australian women into the armed forces. Mrs Mac was adored by the thousands of young women and men she trained, and she came to be respected by the defense forces and the public too for her vision and contribution to the war effort. David Dufty brings her story to life in this heartwarming and captivating biography.

David Dufty goes back to the records to uncover the real story of the police officers who pursued the Kelly Gang. This pacey account of the capture of the Kelly Gang reads like a detective story. He lurched through the gun smoke, his head encased in an iron helmet, and started shooting. To the weary police in the cordon around the Glenrowan hotel, he appeared like a monster, or a creature from hell. For over a century, the Ned Kelly legend has grown and grown. He's become Australia's Robin Hood, and leader of a colonial Irish resistance. How much of the legend is true? This is the real story of the hunt for the Kelly Gang over two long years. As gripping as any police procedural, it is an account of poorly trained officers unfamiliar with the terrain, in pursuit of the most dangerous men in the state. By recounting the story from the perspective of the law, David Dufty gets to the heart of the story for the first time and finds answers to many unresolved questions. Why was the gang always one step ahead of the police? Did law-abiding citizens really assist the outlaws? Did the barely literate Ned really write the impassioned Jerilderie Letter? Did the police really persecute the Kelly family? Who was Michael Ward and why is he the real hero in the capture of Ned Kelly?