| Robots are growing in complexity and their use in | | | | about anything to nursing stations. Once it is finished it |
| industry is becoming more widespread. The main use | | | | goes back to its charging station and waits for its next |
| of robots has so far been in the automation of mass | | | | task. |
| production industries, where the same, definable tasks | | | | Domestic robots are now available that perform |
| must be performed repeatedly in exactly the same | | | | simple tasks such as vacuum cleaning and grass |
| fashion. Car production is the primary example of the | | | | cutting. By the end of 2004 over 1,000,000 vacuum |
| employment of large and complex robots for | | | | cleaner units had been sold [2]. Examples of these |
| producing goods. Robots are used in that process for | | | | domestic robots are the Scooba and Roomba robots |
| the painting, welding and assembly of the cars. Robots | | | | from iRobot Corporation, Friendly Robotics' |
| are good for such tasks because the tasks can be | | | | Robomower, and Electrolux's Automower. |
| accurately defined and must be performed the same | | | | Other domestic robots have the aim of providing |
| every time, with little need for feedback to control the | | | | companionship (social robots) or play partners |
| exact process being performed. Industrial robots can | | | | (ludobots) to people. Examples are Sony's Aibo, a |
| be manufactured in a wide range of sizes and so can | | | | commercially successful robot pet dog, Paro, a robot |
| handle more tasks requiring heavy lifting than a human | | | | baby seal intended to soothe nursing home patients, |
| could. | | | | and Wakamaru, a humanoid robot intended for elderly |
| They are also useful in environments which are | | | | and disabled people. Other humanoid robots are in |
| unpleasant or dangerous for humans to work in, for | | | | development with the aim of being able to provide |
| example bomb disposal, work in space (eg. | | | | robotic functions in a form that may be more |
| Canadarm2) or underwater, in mining, and for the | | | | aesthetically pleasing to customers, thereby increasing |
| cleaning of toxic waste. Robots are also used for | | | | the likelihood of them being accepted in society. |
| patrolling these toxic areas, robots equipped for this | | | | Robots perform in arts festivals and at museums with |
| job are e.g. the Robowatch OFRO, and Robowatch | | | | works such as James Seawright's House Plants, 1983, |
| MOSRO. | | | | in which an artificial flower opens in response to |
| Often this is referred to as the "Three D's: Dull, Dirty | | | | viewer interaction or Ken Rinaldo's Autotelematic |
| and Dangerous" work. Hundreds of bomb disposal | | | | Spider Bots, 2006 [3] where robots that appear like |
| robots such as the iRobot Packbot and the | | | | spiders, see like bats and act like ants interact with the |
| Foster-Miller TALON are being used in Iraq and | | | | public and structure each others behaviors through |
| Afghanistan by the U.S. military to defuse roadside | | | | bluetooth communication. One of the earliest electronic |
| bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in an | | | | art robots is Jim Pallas' 1976 Blue Wazoo[4] which, |
| activity known as Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD). | | | | using TTL IC devices, responds to sound and light with |
| Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are movable | | | | a repertoire of LED patterns, movements, inflations, |
| robots that are used in large facilities such as | | | | deflations, whirs, clicks and jiggles. |
| warehouses hospitals and container ports, for the | | | | For education in schools and high schools and |
| movement of goods, or even for safety and security | | | | mechatronics training in companies robot kits are |
| patrols. Such vehicles follow wires, markers or | | | | becoming more and more popular. On the schools side |
| laser-guidance to navigate around the location and can | | | | there exists kits from LEGO , Parallax, Fischertechnik |
| be programmed to move between places to deliver | | | | and others (made of plastics components); Microbric[5], |
| goods or patrol a certain area. Top manufacturers | | | | which uses its mainboard as a chassis & on the more |
| include Egemin, Transbotics, FMC and Jervis B Webb | | | | professional side there exists e.g. the qfix robot kit; |
| makes AGV "brains" used in freely moving | | | | VexLABS robotics kit made of aluminium parts; and |
| autonomous vehicles that do not require fixed paths | | | | the iRobot Create, which provides a fully assembled |
| as earlier AGVs have done. | | | | robot platform designed for expansion. Robots |
| One robot being used in the United States is the Tug | | | | historically used in education include the turtle robots |
| robot by Aethon Inc, an automated delivery system | | | | (strongly associated with the Logo programming |
| for hospitals. This robot travels around hospitals to | | | | language) and the Heathkit HERO series. |
| deliver medical supplies, medication, food trays, or just | | | | |