Monday, June 27, 2011

Developments On Robotics

Robotics is a branch of science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots. In this field of science, a lot of scientists, mathematicians, and technicians agree that robotics is a fascinating field but all the more does it need development. There have been a lot of companies who try to develop on this field nowadays and of course, there are blogs and articles which feature them. One of which is the blogsite, RoboticsNedir.

RoboticsNedir: http://roboticsnedir.com/
This website concentrates on different blogs about robotics. It features achievements, developments, and the latest news on robotic technology. This weblog also mentions the movie I, Robot. They compare their humanoid technology to the ones seen in the said movie. In I, Robot, they named their robots VIKI and Herbie while in RoboDynamics, they call it Luna.

"Engineers in the field of robotics seem to invest a lot of effort into creating humanoid robots"
In my opinion, they do seem to create a lot of robots which function and look like humans. In effect, these robots tend to take place of humans, maybe as a secretary, a receptionist, a security guard, and who knows maybe a movie director someday. Nobody can really tell in our time. Here are some pictures of Humanoid Robots:









From: http://goo.gl/nQra9
Some robots aren't just for "replacing" humans. Other robots are programmed for the contribution to the environment. An example would be ZEN Robotics' machine that helps in recycling thus helping the environment. "Harri Valpola (CEO of Zen Robotics) explained that the system was now able to manage the traditional waste management systems, such as drums or mechanically resistant."



Another example would be the article on "Kuka Robotics Develops Industrial Robot To Ensure Human Safety". (URL: http://goo.gl/VW4qL) According to this article that it is possible for a robot and a human to work together to carry a load with the help of intelligent assist devices (IAD). The only concern is the safety of the human the robot is working with. These machines have to be remodeled to make sure that they are safe to work with. Kuka Robotics developed a robot that has been guaranteed to be safe for humans. They say that this robot is  built with actuators and joint torque sensors, so that the robot has collision sensing and absorbing capacities. This robot’s power is such that it will not cause injury to a human even while performing the clamping operation.
These are only some of my reactions to the recent developments and advancements on the field of robotics. Some are beneficial implications because they show that the advancement of robotics has good effects and is a big help to humans (e.g. they save time and effort for them). But also, these are also deleterious implications because if the advancement of the robotic technology continues, humans may have that tendency to start getting lazy and to rely their work on the robots. So there are beneficial and negative effects to these developments and advancements.

*Definition of robotics: http://goo.gl/dja6C

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