Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports
304 pages
|Published: 1 Jan 2003
|Editions
|Details
This edition
ISBN: 9780743229517
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 10 March 2003
Description
In the early nineties, a visionary special-effects guru named Marc Thorpe conjured a field of dreams different from any the world had seen It would be framed by unbreakable plastic instead of cornstalks; populated not by ghostly ballplayers but by remote-controlled robots, armed to the steely teeth, fighting in a booby-trapped ring. If you built it, they'd come all right....In Gearheads, Newsweek technology correspondent Brad Stone examines the history of robotic sports, from their cultish early years at universities and sci-fi conventions to today's televised extravaganzas -- and the turmoil that threatened the whole enterprise almost from the beginning.By turns a lively historical narrative, a legal thriller, and an exploration of a cultural and technological phenomenon, Gearheads is a funny and fascinating look at the sport of the future today.