| Science fiction movies would have us believe that | | | | motherboards and other delicate assembly operations. |
| robotics will soon be dominating our lives. Recent | | | | CD and DVD stamping plants have them as well. |
| movies like I, Robot and A.I. offer exciting glimpses into | | | | Robots have been extensively deployed in many |
| a potential future where humans and robots live, but | | | | production processes considered tedious and repetitive |
| we're still decades away from that. While giant strides | | | | or menial for humans to work in. |
| in computers and miniaturization have rooted robotics | | | | It can be said the robotics has its first and most useful |
| into mainstream manufacturing and delivery of industrial | | | | application in space and military application. Unmanned |
| products, there's still a lot to learn. We need at least | | | | spaceships that explored the Martian landscape and |
| another generation or two before robotic engineering | | | | went beyond Jupiter are excellent Robotic examples. |
| can make robots as common as your PCs at home | | | | The same is true with unmanned military aircrafts that |
| and in the office. | | | | perform surveillance on enemy territory. |
| Simply put, robotics is an allied application of computer | | | | Even in city streets, surveillance robots have made |
| science that is more involved in getting programmed | | | | their presence useful to check buildings and locations |
| instructions to make electro-mechanical devices called | | | | where hostile criminal elements are hiding to pinpoint |
| robots perform specialized tasks and accomplish | | | | exact location before an attack or arrest is made. |
| results. And achieving that can include using more | | | | Hostile environments like volcanoes have been |
| complex thinking computers that can interact with the | | | | explored using robots controlled remotely to gather |
| environment, people and can move about to make | | | | environmental specimens of lava soils and magmatic |
| things happen depending on their purposes. | | | | materials. Robots are now extensively used to explore |
| Early Robots | | | | locations and situations considered risky for human |
| We don't have to search far to describe an early | | | | involvement. |
| robotic application. Some of you may remember the | | | | Some hospitals are known to deploy special rolling |
| jukebox. This is an excellent specimen of crude | | | | robots that distribute and deliver prescribed medication |
| robotics where you have a mechanical arm | | | | to patients with programmed location of floors and |
| programmed to select from an array of 45rpm | | | | rooms. They can even be programmed to interface |
| records the chosen record, get to play its content and | | | | with intelligent hospital elevators to reach any floor and |
| then bring it back to where the arm picked it. At home, | | | | return to the hospital pharmacy for refilling. |
| your record changer is another example and recently | | | | What to Expect in the Future |
| CD changers likewise perform the same automated | | | | There's no where else to go but up, so to speak. |
| task. | | | | Robotics will be leveraging on the technological |
| What we have today. | | | | developments in miniaturization and computers to bring |
| Most robotic applications we have today are found in | | | | robots to the level of interaction with the environment |
| the manufacture and assembly of automobiles. They | | | | and people to near human cognitive qualities. This, |
| take the place of assembly line factory workers who | | | | coupled with commercialization to make robots of |
| perform specialized tasks, like putting rivets, attaching | | | | specific domestic household benefit more affordable, |
| heavy parts, body painting, etc. In computer | | | | should eventually make it as common as any home |
| manufacturing, robotics also figure a lot in soldering | | | | appliance. |