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Making a robot that looks and behaves like a human being has been the subject of many popular science fiction movies and books. Although the development of such a robot facesmanychallenges,themakingofavirtualhumanhaslongbeenpotentiallypossible. With recent advances in various key technologies related to hardware and software, the making of humanlike robots is increasingly becoming an engineering reality. Development of the required hardware that can perform humanlike functions in a lifelike manner has benefitted greatly from development in such technologies as biologically inspired materials, artificial intelligence, artificial vision, and many others. Producing a humanlike robot that makes body and facial expressions, communicates verbally using extensive vocabulary, and interprets speech with high accuracy is ext- mely complicated to engineer. Advances in voice recognition and speech synthesis are increasingly improving communication capabilities. In our daily life we encounter such innovations when we call the telephone operators of most companies today. As robotics technology continues to improve we are approaching the point where, on seeing such a robot, we will respond with ''Wow, this robot looks unbelievably real!'' just like the reaction to an artificial flower. The accelerating pace of advances in related fields suggests that the emergence of humanlike robots that become part of our daily life seems to be imminent. These robots are expected to raise ethical concerns and may also raise many complex questions related to their interaction with humans.

There have been huge advances in robot technology in the last few years. More and more "humanlike" robots are being developed in labs for a wide variety of medical, manufacturing, and commercial uses. These "smart" people lookalikes are being designed to help with household chores, as office workers, to perform tasks in space and in other dangerous environments, and to assist in schools and hospitals. Humanlike robots, in other words, are coming, and they may fundamentally change the way we live, even the way we view ourselves. Will robots that look and act a lot like us be a threat to us? Or will they blend into our culture and eventually even be considered peers? Will they have feelings along with their artificial skin and metal bones? Will they act ethically? Are we taking sufficient care to make sure that they do? These questions and many more are posed by the authors of this important book, which demands that we take steps now to insure that the technology doesn't lead us into potentially dangerous scenarios with a "species" we have created. What laws will be needed to keep things under control? Should robots be allowed to store private and personal information in their circuits or be given freedom to act on their own? Do we want robots as teachers, police officers, doctors, and accountants, or do we want them to only do menial tasks? Will there be "renegade" robots that set out to harm people? Will robot soldiers increase the chance of war? There are no easy answers to these questions. But the time to look for answers is now.