Abstract
Servants and butlers always have been playing an important role, not only in books of history but also in fiction, such as fairy tales, novels, plays, operas, and films. Three types of them are discussed: "Natural Servants", i.e. human ones, who understand the wishes of their masters well but, in any case, their mental and physical capabilities cannot exceed those of humans. "Ghost Servants" like genies with capabilities we humans can only dream of, and "Robotic Servants" that have a machine as a body and sensors and actuators controlled by complex, often smart programs. Several examples of each type are presented, relating them to the aims of a "virtual butler". Finally, the contribution of every chapter of this volume to the "making-of" is highlighted.
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Trappl, R. (2013). Introduction: From Jeeves to Jeannie to Siri, and Then?. In: Trappl, R. (eds) Your Virtual Butler. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7407. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37346-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37346-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37345-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37346-6
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