Steve Grand - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Steve Grand OBE is an English computer scientist

Computer scientist

A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....

and an internationally recognised roboticist

Roboticist

A roboticist designs, builds, programs, and experiments with robots. Since robotics is a highly interdisciplinary field, roboticists often have backgrounds in a number of disciplines including computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering...

. He was the creator and lead programmer of the Creatures
Creatures (artificial life program)
Creatures is an artificial life computer program series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge computer games developer Millennium Interactive...

artificial life

Artificial life

Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986...

simulation

Simulation

Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....

, which he discussed in his first book Creation: Life and how to make it, a finalist for the 2001 Aventis Prize for Science Books

The Aventis Prizes for Science Books

The Royal Society Prizes for Science Books is an annual award for the previous year's best general science writing and best science writing for children. The nominees and winners are decided by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science...

. He is also an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, which he received in 2000.

Grand's project from 2001-2006 was the building of an artificial robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

baby orang-utan, with the intention of having it learn

LEARN

LEARN may refer to:* Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network, a website run by the Anti-Defamation League* LEARN diet, a brand name diet product...

as a human baby would. This is documented in his book Growing up with Lucy.

Creatures

One of the best known projects created by Steve Grand is Creatures

Creatures (artificial life program)

Creatures is an artificial life computer program series, created in the mid-1990s by English computer scientist Steve Grand whilst working for the Cambridge computer games developer Millennium Interactive...

, an Artificial Life

Artificial life

simulation, which his company Cyberlife released in 1996.

Lucy, the Android

His project from 2001-2006 was Lucy, a mechanical baby orang-utan. Lucy is an attempt at simulating the mind of a human baby.

Grandroids

In February 2011, Grand announced a new project, Grandroids, described as "real 'alien' life forms who can live in a virtual world on your computer".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.