What you need to know about robotics past, present and future
What are robots, and what are their capabilities?
Robots are machines that are capable of performing complex tasks automatically. They typically consist of three components: sensors such as cameras, lidar, or microphones; actuators such as motors, pistons, or synthetic muscles; and controllers.
While humans can control robots remotely, they are frequently controlled partially or entirely by computers, making them autonomous.
In fiction, robots frequently resemble humans, with two arms, two legs, and a head equipped with cameras for eyes. However, the vast majority of robot forms are purpose-built to perform a specific function.
Your dishwasher and washing machine are both robots that carry out complex tasks under the control of a computer. Numerous air-conditioning units operate autonomously, automatically changing fan settings, air deflectors, and switching from cooling to heating.
All modern automobiles are robots, with computers continuously adjusting engine, brake, steering, and suspension settings in response to your driving.
Advanced autonomous vehicles are even beginning to take over some of your driving. These are robots too.
Who is credited with coining the term "robotics"?
The term "robot" is derived from the Czech word robota, which originally meant forced labor and was derived from the Proto-Slavic *orbota, which meant hard work or slavery.
Karel apek popularized the term "robot" in 1920 with his play Rossumovi Univerzáln Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots), in which artificial organic humanoid robots were built and then became dissatisfied, sparking a robot revolution and ultimately the birth of a new robot society.
Since then, similar storylines have been used in robot films.
Unlike modern robots, apek's robots were not mechanical. However, more recently, the term "robot" or "bot" has been used to refer to software, such as a Web-crawling bot that collects data from websites.
Given the word's original meaning and origin, one has to wonder if an intelligent artificial entity will ever find the term "robot" highly offensive and derogatory.
How are robots made?
Robotics, and more broadly mechatronics, is the study of the optimal design, construction, and control of robots.
It isn't easy to create well-functioning robots. Sensor data is expected to be processed in real time (if you cannot make sense of what you see quickly enough, you either have to move very slowly or keep stopping to think).
More flexible robots, such as factory robot arms, have a greater degree of freedom (imagine an arm with five "elbows" in addition to a "shoulder" and "wrist" joint). These arms can be twisted into billions of different configurations to reach into tight spaces and weld components together.
Developing the optimal control strategy for robot arms so that they do not collide with anything (including themselves) is surprisingly difficult, even more so when obstacles are moving around them. That is why, despite the incredible things that artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of today, robot control remains one of the most difficult problems.
This is also why developing fully autonomous vehicles are significantly more difficult than the majority of people believe!
What were the first robots?
Automata have existed for thousands of years. These mechanical representations of animals, birds, and people were frequently created to amuse the wealthy.
The story of a man presented to King Mu of Zhou (1023–957 BCE) by the 'artificer' Yan Shi is told in ancient Chinese texts. King Solomon, who reigned from 970 to 931 BCE, was said to have been assisted to his throne by a golden lion that raised a foot and a mechanical eagle that placed his crown on his head. Hero of Alexandria (10–70 CE) dedicated an entire book to his automaton inventions and hydraulics, pneumatics, and mechanics applications.
Some of the first robots were built in the 1940s in Bristol, UK, by neurologist and EEG pioneer Grey Walter. Elmer and Elsie were their names, as they resembled electric tortoises (ELectro MEchanical Robots, Light Sensitive). These fully autonomous robots trundled around, attracted to light in the same way that moths are, and automatically returned to charge when their batteries became depleted.
What might future robots be capable of?
Robots have made a significant contribution to our industries, enabling the efficient and cost-effective manufacture of the majority of devices, appliances, transportation, and processed foods. Today, researchers are pursuing even greater automation, with robots increasingly taking over manufacturing processes.
3D printing with additive manufacturing enables the manufacture of complex components, and many industries aspire to automate the repair process of machines, with faults detected before they cause failures and replacement parts manufactured and swapped automatically.
This could eventually result in self-replicating machines, dubbed von Neumann machines (self-replicating machines) after the mathematician who imagined them in the late 1940s.
Robots are likely to become more prevalent in our homes. Robot vacuum cleaners and floor sweepers may become the norm rather than the exception, though they are unlikely to resemble Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons. Robotic kitchen arms that cook for you may become commonplace.
However, there are no practical robot dusters available at the moment!
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