We all have known about the term 'Robots'. Many a times they are shown in some sci-fi films as well as in some places around the world. We know that they do their work on their own and do not require human intervention while performing their tasks. Robot is known for minimizing human efforts in order to perform certain task in real world. In this 21st century, people have started using robots in some restaurants and some shops. It is estimated that in upcoming 30-40 years, every thing will be automated and will be done by robots.
A 'Robot' is a programmable, multifunctional operator which is designed to perform jobs which a normal human cannot do. This word 'Robot' was originally coined by Czech novelist Karel Capek in 1920. During one of Karel Capek's play, he showcased tiny bots in the play who were doing their jobs on their own. The name of the play was "Rassum's Universal Robots". In Czech language, the word 'Robot' stands for the English word 'Servant'.
The word "Robotics" was derived from the word Robot. Robotics is basically branch of engineering and technology that deals with construction, operation and application of Robots. With the use of robotics technology, it is possible for us to design robots and in turn they might prove to be the perfect substitute for the human beings. Robots are used in many dangerous and critical situations nowadays such as in Bomb Defusal Squad, Delivering messages in War situation, performing experiments on nuclear reactions or in the environment where radioactive emissions are high. These are some examples of where Robots are proving to be useful, working at places and doing tasks which could avoid risking of lives by humans. Today Robotics is widely growing field of reasearch and technology.
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History of Robotics:
3rd Century BC : A Chinese Mechanical Engineer named as Yan Shi presented King Mou of Zhou a piece of his mechanical handwork, the first ever known at that time.
1st Century BC : Heron of Alexandria published his book on automated engines which were designed and experimented by him.
1738 : Engineers created a Mechanical Duck, which was able to flap its wings as well as was able to excrete.
1920 : Robots appear in "Rassum's Universal Robots"
1975 : PUMA (Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm) launched, indicated development in robotics.
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Robotics in Education:
Robotics engineers design robots, maintain them, develop new applications for them and conduct research to expand the potential of robotics. Many schools in USA include robotics in their curriculum so that the interest of children in programming the robots and using Artificial Intelligence for robots, they will find studying more interesting than ever.
As a result, robots are very popular educational tools in many middle schools and high schools in USA. Usage of robotics have shown a positive impact on grades of many children and also have shown high surge of interest in studies from children's side. As Robotics is widely considered as future, students are inducted knowledge about robots and are being exposed to such school environment in order to increase their interest in the field of automation by robots. Competitions are being held regularly under the theme 'Robots', in order to make youth know about Robotics and make them able to make their own innovations in the field.
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Notable uses of Robotics:
1. Google engineers have designed and automated car. Tesla too are rolling out the same. Driverless cars is one of the latest trends around the world right now. In these cars, a smart robotic application will be installed which will learn as it gets into the environment. By learning from its mistakes, the algorithm can be developed to reduce number of accidents.
2. Spreads Robot Lettuce Farmers
Japan is one of the place where robots are used at wide scale. In recent years, Japan's leading lettuce producer company Spreads has opened up an indoor underground farming system that will be entirely run by robots. It harvests 30000 heads of lettuce per day. With the use of technology, the comapny is able to recreate ideal environment for crops.
3. Yotel's Robot Buttler
Yotel is a company which has its own hotels for guests. It is one of the costly as well as one of the most clean hotels of all time. It's specialty is that it owns robotic staff that provides services like service of coffee and luggage carrying service.
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| Robot buttlers at Yotel, Singapore |
According to Yotel's operational manager, they use robots widely as it might drive efficiency. Not only services, but also there are robotic security guards. Thus reducing human efforts and managing all operations in an efficient way.
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However there are always two sides of coin. Lets have a look a pros and cons of this technology:
Pros:
1. Decreased Production costs :- Automated operations reduce the need of certain aspects as most robots tend to be multitasking i.e handling multiple tasks at the same time.
2. Improved quality and reliability :- It is said that robots might play a crucial hand in driving efficiency by performing tasks and handling things much better than humans.
3. Better floor space utilization :- Some robots take less space but manage more work. Since this is the thing, floor space can be easily utilized for many other things to do.
4. Reduction in wastes :- Some robots might also clean up the waste themselves and dump it at proper location.
Cons:
1. Compulsory supply of power needed :- Power cut might not allow robots to recharge or perform certain tasks.
2. Requires maintenance check :- Regular service check is needed to ensure that robot is performing as expected. Failure might result in abrupt behavior.
3. Software for robot training is costly :- Training robots can be costly as the learning algorithms are hard to implement and could result in huge cash flow for owner.
4. Job problem :- If robots will take over like this, it is estimated that humans will lose their jobs, which could result in job scarcity.
Here is what basic information one needs to know before diving deep into the field of robotics. More concepts will be covered in later blog. This is just introductory article.
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