Martha Wells's Blog, page 59
December 4, 2018
Book Recs: Trying to make up for lost time
I've really fallen behind on these (check the tag and the last one was in July). It's just been a busy stressful summer, but I want to try to get back to a regular schedule again.
(If you've been following my book rec and new book listing posts for a while, you may have noticed this already, but while most book lists emphasize books by popular straight white men, this one emphasizes everybody else. I include books by straight white men, but in about the same percentage that other book lists include everybody else. I also try to highlight books that are less well known.)
(I only link to one retail outlet in the book's listing, but most books are available at multiple outlets, like Kobo, iBooks, international Amazons, Barnes & Noble, etc. The short stories are usually on free online magazines.)
Short Story: Two Hearts in Zamora by Jessica Reisman
Crouching behind a screen of low scrub, the girls watched, shock freezing them breathless a moment. The thing dragged out a body and it was someone they knew: Daly, who cleaned the pool at the apartment complex. The eighteen-year old, who they’d once agreed could be a Tiger Beat pinup, was always glad to smoke a joint with them, Renny shy, Anna flirting. He’d borrowed their books and comics occasionally. He thought they were cool, unlike kids at school, or Anna’s own mother, who derided her regularly.
* In the Vanisher's Palace by Aliette de Bodard
In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land... A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village's debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world. A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.
* Picture Book Dragon Dancer by Joyce Chng
t is the eve of Chinese New Year. Lanterns are hung in the shopping malls and Yao is preparing to wake the ancient sky dragon, Shen Long, from his year-long sleep. From the moment Shen Long opens his great amber eyes and unfurls his silver-blue tail, Yao will be propelled on a magical journey to battle the bad luck of the previous year and usher in the good. Will he succeed? Will his grandfather watch over him and protect him from harm?
* How Long til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
Three-time Hugo Award winner N. K. Jemisin's first collection of short fiction challenges and enchants with breathtaking stories of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
* Tales of the Inner City by Shaun Tan
Tales from the Inner City is a collection of incredibly original stories, rich with feeling, strangely moving, almost numinous. And when the reader comes to the artwork, it’s like walking into an amazing room, and then throwing open a curtain to see a brilliant scene that makes you understand and appreciate everything you’ve encountered in a deeper way.
* Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekhout
Lopside is a Barkonaut, a specially trained dog who assists human astronauts on missions in space. He and the crew aboard the spaceship Laika are en route to set up an outpost on a distant planet. When the mission takes a disastrous turn, the Barkonauts on board suddenly find themselves completely alone on their severely damaged ship. Survival seems impossible. But these dogs are Barkonauts—and Barkonauts always complete their mission.
* Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
A nobleman's daughter with magic in her blood. An empire built on the dreams of enslaved gods. Empire of Sand is Tasha Suri's captivating, Mughal India-inspired debut fantasy.
* Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after — the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.
* The Phoenix Empress by K. Arsenault Rivera
sequel to The Tiger's Daughter, one of my favorite books last year.
Once they were the heirs to a prophecy that predicted two women would save an empire. Now Shefali is dying—and her wife is unaware of the coming tragedy. Shizuka is too busy trying to reunite a fractured empire and right the wrongs of her ancestors. As the Imperial Army gathers against a demonic invasion, Shizuka must do all she can with an empire on the brink of civil war.
* Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang
Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right price. As far as Cas knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower...until she discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.
comments
(If you've been following my book rec and new book listing posts for a while, you may have noticed this already, but while most book lists emphasize books by popular straight white men, this one emphasizes everybody else. I include books by straight white men, but in about the same percentage that other book lists include everybody else. I also try to highlight books that are less well known.)
(I only link to one retail outlet in the book's listing, but most books are available at multiple outlets, like Kobo, iBooks, international Amazons, Barnes & Noble, etc. The short stories are usually on free online magazines.)
Short Story: Two Hearts in Zamora by Jessica Reisman
Crouching behind a screen of low scrub, the girls watched, shock freezing them breathless a moment. The thing dragged out a body and it was someone they knew: Daly, who cleaned the pool at the apartment complex. The eighteen-year old, who they’d once agreed could be a Tiger Beat pinup, was always glad to smoke a joint with them, Renny shy, Anna flirting. He’d borrowed their books and comics occasionally. He thought they were cool, unlike kids at school, or Anna’s own mother, who derided her regularly.
* In the Vanisher's Palace by Aliette de Bodard
In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land... A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village's debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world. A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.
* Picture Book Dragon Dancer by Joyce Chng
t is the eve of Chinese New Year. Lanterns are hung in the shopping malls and Yao is preparing to wake the ancient sky dragon, Shen Long, from his year-long sleep. From the moment Shen Long opens his great amber eyes and unfurls his silver-blue tail, Yao will be propelled on a magical journey to battle the bad luck of the previous year and usher in the good. Will he succeed? Will his grandfather watch over him and protect him from harm?
* How Long til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
Three-time Hugo Award winner N. K. Jemisin's first collection of short fiction challenges and enchants with breathtaking stories of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
* Tales of the Inner City by Shaun Tan
Tales from the Inner City is a collection of incredibly original stories, rich with feeling, strangely moving, almost numinous. And when the reader comes to the artwork, it’s like walking into an amazing room, and then throwing open a curtain to see a brilliant scene that makes you understand and appreciate everything you’ve encountered in a deeper way.
* Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekhout
Lopside is a Barkonaut, a specially trained dog who assists human astronauts on missions in space. He and the crew aboard the spaceship Laika are en route to set up an outpost on a distant planet. When the mission takes a disastrous turn, the Barkonauts on board suddenly find themselves completely alone on their severely damaged ship. Survival seems impossible. But these dogs are Barkonauts—and Barkonauts always complete their mission.
* Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
A nobleman's daughter with magic in her blood. An empire built on the dreams of enslaved gods. Empire of Sand is Tasha Suri's captivating, Mughal India-inspired debut fantasy.
* Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after — the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.
* The Phoenix Empress by K. Arsenault Rivera
sequel to The Tiger's Daughter, one of my favorite books last year.
Once they were the heirs to a prophecy that predicted two women would save an empire. Now Shefali is dying—and her wife is unaware of the coming tragedy. Shizuka is too busy trying to reunite a fractured empire and right the wrongs of her ancestors. As the Imperial Army gathers against a demonic invasion, Shizuka must do all she can with an empire on the brink of civil war.
* Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang
Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right price. As far as Cas knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower...until she discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.
comments
November 30, 2018
NYT Review!
So, The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy was reviewed in the New York Times! https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/books/review/martha-wells-exit-strategy.html
I came late to these novellas, and during a difficult month this year I read almost nothing else. Murderbot’s voice, a beautiful blend of exhausted cynicism and deep, helpless love, was the only thing that felt like both a match to my mood and an appropriate response to the events provoking it. Murderbot has no illusions about the way the world works and will say so blisteringly, but remains so passionately committed to the people it loves and doing what’s right that I kept welling up in response. Its angry, poignant point of view, wrapped up in sharp, short bites of space adventure, is utterly addictive, and I’m genuinely delighted — as well as a little relieved — that the series’ success has greenlit a full-length Murderbot novel, so that I don’t yet have to bid it goodbye.
And I posted some pictures of my office this morning because I was bored: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/180651790382/pictures-of-my-office
comments
I came late to these novellas, and during a difficult month this year I read almost nothing else. Murderbot’s voice, a beautiful blend of exhausted cynicism and deep, helpless love, was the only thing that felt like both a match to my mood and an appropriate response to the events provoking it. Murderbot has no illusions about the way the world works and will say so blisteringly, but remains so passionately committed to the people it loves and doing what’s right that I kept welling up in response. Its angry, poignant point of view, wrapped up in sharp, short bites of space adventure, is utterly addictive, and I’m genuinely delighted — as well as a little relieved — that the series’ success has greenlit a full-length Murderbot novel, so that I don’t yet have to bid it goodbye.
And I posted some pictures of my office this morning because I was bored: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/180651790382/pictures-of-my-office
comments
November 23, 2018
Updating and Year in Review So Far
I haven't been posting much here, partly because I've been traveling a lot and struggling a bit to keep up with work. Looking over what I've done, I did get about the same amount of writing done this year as I normally do, but not nearly as much of it is finished and ready to go.
Writing
A big chunk of what I wrote this year was Magic: the Gathering: Return to Dominaria which sounded like it would be a quick series of 4000 word short stories and became a fun-filled somewhat exhausting 68635 word extravaganza. It took up basically all my writing time between December through the beginning of April, with the last story being put to bed around April 23. But it was an extremely neat world to play in and a great experience. (If you want to read it, it's here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/return-dominaria-episode-1-2018-03-21
The follow-up stories, by Kate Elliott, Cassandra Khaw, and Nicky Drayden are here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/columns/magic-story)
After that I started working on the upcoming Murderbot novel, which doesn't have a title yet. The first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red, was written pretty quickly for me, over the course of a month, but the other three have each taken about two to three months each, with each following the pattern that I'd write about 15 to 20,000 words, then cut back to 5000 and start from there. And then do that again and do that again, until the end. I was hoping that didn't happen with the novel, but that is sure happening. So for most of this year, just imagine me and the Murderbot novel, locked in combat, repeatedly punching each other in the head.
Despite this I did manage to get a short written each month for the Books of the Raksura patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2458567. Last month is the first time I flubbed that, and I'm hoping to make it up by the end of this year.
I also wrote a short 1000 word or so Murderbot story which is going to appear in a magazine in January, though I can't say which one yet because it hasn't been announced. (Believe me, I will mention it when it comes out.) And I wrote a 9400 or so word SF story for an anthology that kind of happened at the last minute because another writer had to drop out. I've done the revision for that and sent it in and I'm not sure yet if they need any more work on it. I don't think it's been announced yet either.
If I worked on anything else I honestly can't remember it right now.
Publishing
The last three Murderbot Diaries stories were published: Artificial Condition in May, Rogue Protocol in August, and Exit Strategy in October. All were novellas, defined as stories between 30,000 and 40,000 words, released by Tor.com Publishing, which specializes in novellas.
Travel and other stuff
The thing with All Systems Red is that it did really well, especially for a novella. Like, real well. Like "holy shit" well. Like New York Times Bestseller List for audio well (with Kevin R. Free performing the narration) and USA Today Bestseller List.
Because of this I got to go to the American Library Association conference for the first time, which is huge and fills up the whole New Orleans convention center and was awesome, even though I missed getting to see the main speakers (Michele Obama and Viola Davis). All Systems Red was also one of ten books to receive an Alex Award, which is for books written for adults that appeal to young adults, and is administered by YALSA.
I also got to go to the Texas Book Festival for the first time since the early 2000s when The Death of the Necromancer came out.
All Systems Red was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.
I got to be writers workshop guest of honor at FenCon. And I got interviewed by Locus Magazine. http://locusmag.com/2018/08/martha-wells-unburied-future/
I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, with a side order of osteo arthritis, so I'll be on medication the rest of my life. Without the medication, I'm in a lot of pain and would be extremely creaky and slow. With it, I'm in pretty good shape, though occasionally a joint will just stop working right for no apparent reason.
I won a Nebula Award, a Locus Award, and a Hugo Award. I met a Sesame Street muppeteer and got my picture taken with a muppet. I got to go to George R.R. Martin's Hugo Losers Party where there were giant dancing robots. https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/177271852167/im-starting-to-put-up-some-photos-from-the-hugo
And next year I'm going to be one of the guests of honor at Capclave in Maryland, in October 2019: http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave19/
So it's been a pretty wild ride this year.
comments
Writing
A big chunk of what I wrote this year was Magic: the Gathering: Return to Dominaria which sounded like it would be a quick series of 4000 word short stories and became a fun-filled somewhat exhausting 68635 word extravaganza. It took up basically all my writing time between December through the beginning of April, with the last story being put to bed around April 23. But it was an extremely neat world to play in and a great experience. (If you want to read it, it's here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/return-dominaria-episode-1-2018-03-21
The follow-up stories, by Kate Elliott, Cassandra Khaw, and Nicky Drayden are here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/columns/magic-story)
After that I started working on the upcoming Murderbot novel, which doesn't have a title yet. The first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red, was written pretty quickly for me, over the course of a month, but the other three have each taken about two to three months each, with each following the pattern that I'd write about 15 to 20,000 words, then cut back to 5000 and start from there. And then do that again and do that again, until the end. I was hoping that didn't happen with the novel, but that is sure happening. So for most of this year, just imagine me and the Murderbot novel, locked in combat, repeatedly punching each other in the head.
Despite this I did manage to get a short written each month for the Books of the Raksura patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2458567. Last month is the first time I flubbed that, and I'm hoping to make it up by the end of this year.
I also wrote a short 1000 word or so Murderbot story which is going to appear in a magazine in January, though I can't say which one yet because it hasn't been announced. (Believe me, I will mention it when it comes out.) And I wrote a 9400 or so word SF story for an anthology that kind of happened at the last minute because another writer had to drop out. I've done the revision for that and sent it in and I'm not sure yet if they need any more work on it. I don't think it's been announced yet either.
If I worked on anything else I honestly can't remember it right now.
Publishing
The last three Murderbot Diaries stories were published: Artificial Condition in May, Rogue Protocol in August, and Exit Strategy in October. All were novellas, defined as stories between 30,000 and 40,000 words, released by Tor.com Publishing, which specializes in novellas.
Travel and other stuff
The thing with All Systems Red is that it did really well, especially for a novella. Like, real well. Like "holy shit" well. Like New York Times Bestseller List for audio well (with Kevin R. Free performing the narration) and USA Today Bestseller List.
Because of this I got to go to the American Library Association conference for the first time, which is huge and fills up the whole New Orleans convention center and was awesome, even though I missed getting to see the main speakers (Michele Obama and Viola Davis). All Systems Red was also one of ten books to receive an Alex Award, which is for books written for adults that appeal to young adults, and is administered by YALSA.
I also got to go to the Texas Book Festival for the first time since the early 2000s when The Death of the Necromancer came out.
All Systems Red was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.
I got to be writers workshop guest of honor at FenCon. And I got interviewed by Locus Magazine. http://locusmag.com/2018/08/martha-wells-unburied-future/
I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, with a side order of osteo arthritis, so I'll be on medication the rest of my life. Without the medication, I'm in a lot of pain and would be extremely creaky and slow. With it, I'm in pretty good shape, though occasionally a joint will just stop working right for no apparent reason.
I won a Nebula Award, a Locus Award, and a Hugo Award. I met a Sesame Street muppeteer and got my picture taken with a muppet. I got to go to George R.R. Martin's Hugo Losers Party where there were giant dancing robots. https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/177271852167/im-starting-to-put-up-some-photos-from-the-hugo
And next year I'm going to be one of the guests of honor at Capclave in Maryland, in October 2019: http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave19/
So it's been a pretty wild ride this year.
comments
November 7, 2018
Election
Despite Beto's loss, the results in Texas last night were incredibly good. This was despite being gerrymandered and the voter suppression and being hung out to dry with no resources by the Democratic national committee, as usual. Local Texas Democrats worked their asses off to get these results, and if you want to shit on us for them, go to hell. I'm tired of being used as the DNC's scapegoat. If you don't like that, the unfollow button is right there and I hope the door hits you on the ass on the way out.
From TX-17 Indivisible:
TX had only 2 flippable races for US Congress. TX-7 and TX-32 both flipped.
TX flipped 2 Texas State Senate seats to democrat, SD-10, and SD-16, getting rid of the author of “the bathroom bill.”
TX flipped 7 Texas State House seats to Democrat, HD-47, HD-65, HD-102, HD-105, HD-115, HD-135, and HD-136. As results come in, we may possibly flip HD-132.
All 14 TX Court of Appeals are democrat, and we flipped 10 of them from republican to democrat.
Our own Celina Vasquez for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 4 is now JUDGE Vasquez after successfully flipping her seat from R to D.
We comfortably have the US House with 26 added democrat seats. It’s enough to force, at a minimum, bipartisanship.
NPR has 2/3 of 18-29 year old voting Democrat. There's hope for the future!
Tarrant county went to Beto - Tarrant County tends to set the trend for Texas. It’s the last definitively red urban county and it went blue tonight.
Nothing in TX flipped to the republicans.
Beto -the hardest working man in politics today - brought TX into a single digit difference in a statewide election for the first time in 25 years. 3 points to be specific. We love you! #beto2020
We want to give a special thanks to all of our amazing TX-17 candidates and the Texas state candidates for their time and effort running such inspiring campaigns focusing on what connects and strengthens our communities instead of fanning the flames of unreasonable fear and hate.
comments
From TX-17 Indivisible:
TX had only 2 flippable races for US Congress. TX-7 and TX-32 both flipped.
TX flipped 2 Texas State Senate seats to democrat, SD-10, and SD-16, getting rid of the author of “the bathroom bill.”
TX flipped 7 Texas State House seats to Democrat, HD-47, HD-65, HD-102, HD-105, HD-115, HD-135, and HD-136. As results come in, we may possibly flip HD-132.
All 14 TX Court of Appeals are democrat, and we flipped 10 of them from republican to democrat.
Our own Celina Vasquez for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 4 is now JUDGE Vasquez after successfully flipping her seat from R to D.
We comfortably have the US House with 26 added democrat seats. It’s enough to force, at a minimum, bipartisanship.
NPR has 2/3 of 18-29 year old voting Democrat. There's hope for the future!
Tarrant county went to Beto - Tarrant County tends to set the trend for Texas. It’s the last definitively red urban county and it went blue tonight.
Nothing in TX flipped to the republicans.
Beto -the hardest working man in politics today - brought TX into a single digit difference in a statewide election for the first time in 25 years. 3 points to be specific. We love you! #beto2020
We want to give a special thanks to all of our amazing TX-17 candidates and the Texas state candidates for their time and effort running such inspiring campaigns focusing on what connects and strengthens our communities instead of fanning the flames of unreasonable fear and hate.
comments
November 6, 2018
Voting
I voted (for a straight Democratic ticket) back on the first day of early voting. Sending strength and determination to everyone voting today.
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October 30, 2018
GoodReads and Texas Book Festival
The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition is in the opening round of the GoodReads Choice Awards: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-fiction-books-2018
Here's some photos from the Texas Book Festival this past weekend: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/179556174017/photos-from-the-texas-book-festival-2018
comments
Here's some photos from the Texas Book Festival this past weekend: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/179556174017/photos-from-the-texas-book-festival-2018
comments
October 22, 2018
Signing and Texas Book Festival This Weekend
The festival is free and open to the public.
Friday October 26, 2018, at 5:00 - 8:00pm.
I'll be signing at Dragon's Lair in Austin, TX. (http://dlair.net/austin/martha-wells/)
Saturday, October 27
Lit Crawl at Louis Carnegie Gallery at 1312 E Cesar Chavez, 9:30-10:30p. I'll be part of the group reading. (https://www.texasbookfestival.org/lit-crawl-austin/)
Sunday, October 28
Texas Book Fesitval
Panel 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm at, State Capitol, Capitol Extension Room 2.030
Zombies, Vampires, Robots, Lend Me Your Ears, with Raymond Villareal and Ling Ma
We'll be signing afterward in the Adult Signing Tent on Congress Ave
(https://www.texasbookfestival.org/schedule/)
comments
Friday October 26, 2018, at 5:00 - 8:00pm.
I'll be signing at Dragon's Lair in Austin, TX. (http://dlair.net/austin/martha-wells/)
Saturday, October 27
Lit Crawl at Louis Carnegie Gallery at 1312 E Cesar Chavez, 9:30-10:30p. I'll be part of the group reading. (https://www.texasbookfestival.org/lit-crawl-austin/)
Sunday, October 28
Texas Book Fesitval
Panel 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm at, State Capitol, Capitol Extension Room 2.030
Zombies, Vampires, Robots, Lend Me Your Ears, with Raymond Villareal and Ling Ma
We'll be signing afterward in the Adult Signing Tent on Congress Ave
(https://www.texasbookfestival.org/schedule/)
comments
October 1, 2018
The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy
Tomorrow, October 2, 2018, is the release date for The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy. This is the conclusion of the four novella series.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018, at 6:30pm.
Martha Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal will be signing together at Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas. If you can't be there, you can preorder signed copies of the books and have the store ship them to you. https://www.murderbooks.com/event/mary-robinette-kowal
Wednesday October 3, 2018, at 7:00pm.
Martha Wells will be interviewing Tillie Walden at Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas. You can get signed copies of Martha's books and Tillie's epic SF graphic novel On A Sunbeam. https://www.brazosbookstore.com/event/tillie-walden-sunbeam
Friday October 26, 2018, at 5:00 - 8:00pm.
Martha Wells will be signing at Dragon's Lair in Austin, TX. http://dlair.net/austin/
October 27-28, 2018.
Martha will be appearing at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas.
https://www.texasbookfestival.org/2018-festival-authors/
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September 29, 2018
Robots
This is me, reading to the search and rescue robots at the TEES (Texas A&M University Engineering Experiment Station) Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR).
Here’s an article about Dr. Robin Murphy, who runs the center:
https://today.tamu.edu/2013/07/09/rescue-robotics/
Robin Murphy is a pioneer, an international leader and one of the few women in a field that men tend to dominate.
It is an all too familiar sight after tragedies such as earthquakes, hurricanes or mudslides: people furiously digging through the rubble in the hopes of locating survivors.
A similar scene drove Robin Murphy into rescue robotics. Murphy is a professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering and director of the TEES Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR).
It was 1995, and having watched news reports on both the Oklahoma City bombing and the Kobe City earthquake, Murphy — who had conducted her Ph.D. research in robotics — decided it was time to focus her work on rescue robotics.
“Rescue robotics was strictly an emotional response,” says Murphy, the Raytheon Professor in the Dwight Look College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “Artificial intelligence for robotics had been focusing on small robots with the thought of sending dozens of them up to Mars.”
It then became so clear to her that those same robots could be exploring under the rubble of a disaster and helping find victims.
“At some point I thought, I could be one of 200 people doing planetary robots, I could be one of 200 people doing health care, but somebody needs to step up and do this idea of rescue robotics.”
And that is exactly what Murphy did. Seeing an opportunity to make a difference, she seized it and immersed herself in rescue robotics, a field where she has become an international leader and one of the few women involved.
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September 26, 2018
Me and the Robots
Guess who got to meet the TAMU search and rescue robots today. Some of them are named after women SF authors like Super Bujold, Octavia Butler, and McCaffrey Dragonrunner.
Posted some pictures here: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/178491343487/guess-who-got-to-meet-the-tamu-search-and-rescue
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Posted some pictures here: https://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/178491343487/guess-who-got-to-meet-the-tamu-search-and-rescue
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