Robot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex
series of actions automatically.[2] A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the
control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots
are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than
expressive aesthetics.
Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from humanoids such as Honda's Advanced
Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot (TOPIO) to
industrial robots, medical operating robots, patient assist robots, dog therapy robots,
collectively programmed swarm robots, UAV drones such as General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and even
microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may
convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are expected to
proliferate in the future, with home robotics and the autonomous car as some of the main
drivers.[3]
The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of
robots,[4] as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information
processing is robotics. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place
of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in
appearance, behavior, or cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing
to the field of bio-inspired robotics. These robots have also created a newer branch of
robotics: soft robotics.
From the time of ancient civilization, there have been many accounts of user-configurable
automated devices and even automata resembling humans and other animals, such as animatronics,
designed primarily as entertainment. As mechanical techniques developed through the Industrial
age, there appeared more practical applications such as automated machines, remote-control and
wireless remote-control.
The term comes from a Slavic root, robot-, with meanings associated with labor. The word 'robot'
was first used to denote a fictional humanoid in a 1920 Czech-language play R.U.R. (Rossumovi
Univerzální Roboti – Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek, though it was Karel's brother
Josef Čapek who was the word's true inventor.[5][6][7] Electronics evolved into the driving
force of development with the advent of the first electronic autonomous robots created by
William Grey Walter in Bristol, England in 1948, as well as Computer Numerical Control (CNC)
machine tools in the late 1940s by John T. Parsons and Frank L. Stulen.
The first modern digital and programmable robot was invented by George Devol in 1954 and spawned
his seminal robotics company, Unimation. The first Unimate was sold to General Motors in 1961
where it lifted pieces of hot metal from die casting machines at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant
in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, New Jersey.[8]
Robots have replaced humans[9] in performing repetitive and dangerous tasks which humans prefer
not to do, or are unable to do because of size limitations, or which take place in extreme
environments such as outer space or the bottom of the sea. There are concerns about the
increasing use of robots and their role in society. Robots are blamed for rising technological
unemployment as they replace workers in increasing numbers of functions.[10] The use of robots
in military combat raises ethical concerns. The possibilities of robot autonomy and potential
repercussions have been addressed in fiction and may be a realistic concern in the future.