In general perceptions, robots are machine models mimicking human looks, designed to replace humans for better work efficiency. While the former is somewhat closer to reality, we doubt the latter. Moreover, robotics encompasses a much broader field of applications spread across numerous industrial as well as social sectors. Robotics as a discipline combined with all of its applications have evolved much since Isaac Asimov, the science fiction author generally credited for coining the term, wrote three laws of robotics back in the 40s. Today robots are extensively employed across sectors ranging from manufacturing to services, from hospitality to healthcare.
This detailed post gives you an in-depth overview of robotics, its applications and how it’s changing the world we live in.
What is Robotics?
Owing to the versatility of the concepts and the possibility of applications, a univocal definition that could assimilate all of its aspects is rather a tough job. However, a particularly simpler definition if we cut through the technicalities is possible, explaining the idea in simple terms. Robotics is a branch of engineering, particularly mechatronics, that deals with the design and development of programmable systems capable of reproducing human actions to perform specific tasks.
Robotics is a science that embraces different disciplines and deals with the design, programming and development of robots. It assimilates engineering, computer programming, psychology, automation, mechanics and biology to develop machines that could mimic human actions and perform tasks keeping human intervention to the minimum.
The interdisciplinarity of robotics is rather fascinating and is primarily dictated by the need to involve multiple sectoral knowledge in making robots efficient enough to independently interact with the environment and perform actions without assistance.
Why Robotics?
Robotics stems from the innate human desire of creating things capable of interacting, expressing and above all, mimicking human actions. Besides the philosophical implications, robotics have profoundly impacted our technology-driven world. Robots, originally designed to perform mundane tasks and employed in industrial sectors like car manufacturing, are now conducting diverse functions. From fighting fires to performing complex surgeries and assisting in home cleaning, robots find applications in almost every walk of life. Besides, robots are gaining enhanced mechanical and intellectual capabilities thanks to advancements in technology and artificial intelligence and are becoming adept at performing highly complex tasks. Technological advances are expanding the scope of robotics and opening new arenas for robots to show off their capabilities.
Robotics: The Future
It’s safe to predict, considering the present-day permeability of robotics in everyday life, that the influence of these machines will only go upward in the future. With the advancement in AI and automation, we are bound to witness highly intelligent and extremely adept robots capable of performing complex tasks. In the foreseeable future, robots will find more prominent roles in almost every major sector. Although in a nascent state, robotics has all the potential that only a few years ago was only in the realm of science fiction.
