robot

A robot welder seals the corners of a car's windscreen frame. The human welder no longer participates in the process, but a human electronic technician has to monitor the working of the robot, repair it if necessary, and stop the production line if something goes awry. Progress may require less overall human input, but inevitably requires some human skills.

These tiny robotic arms are being used in a genetic-engineering laboratory. Here, safety precautions are very strict and any possible contamination must be avoided. Much larger robotic arms are employed in factories, replacing the human workforce in repetitive tasks such as spot-welding and fixing screws.

In this battery manufacturing factory, the work is being done by robots. It is more productive to have dangerous, dull, or repetitive jobs performed by machines, which can work for 24 hours a day without demanding pay rises, tea breaks, and holidays.

Any computer-controlled machine that can be programmed to move or carry out work. Robots are often used in industry to transport materials or to perform repetitive tasks. For instance, robotic arms, fixed to a floor or workbench, may be used to paint machine parts or assemble electronic circuits. Other robots are designed to work in situations that would be dangerous to humans – for example, in defusing bombs or in space and deep-sea exploration.

Some robots are equipped with sensors, such as touch sensors and video cameras, and can be programmed to make simple decisions based on the sensory data received. As robots do not suffer from fatigue or become distracted, researchers in robotics aim to produce robots that can carry out sophisticated tasks more efficiently than humans, for example a voice-operated robot able to carry out some heart operations was tested successfully on a cow in the USA in 1998.

Records of mechanical people and animals of all sizes go back more than 2,000 years. However, it was only with the incorporation of the computer that the true robot could be built.

Japan leads the world in robotics. Japanese engineers have implanted electronic circuits into living cockroaches, to create ‘roboroaches’ that they are able to command by electrically stimulating the cockroach nervous system. The project's aims included using the robotic insects to lure away insect pests or to attract insect pollinators. A machine called Asimo can reproduce amazingly lifelike human movements, including walking, running, and dancing.