Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots and computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. Robotics is related to the fields of electronics, mechatronics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and software engineering. It also finds applications in a wide variety of other fields such as medicine, military hardware development, space exploration, manufacturing processes optimization etc.
The word robotics was coined by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in his 1941 short story “Liar!”, although the term “robotics” did not come into common usage until after World War II. Asimov’s three laws of robotics are widely accepted as canonical among roboticists. Over time various schools of thought about ethics and morality have developed regarding personal robots. Robots are increasingly becoming an essential part of many industrial and commercial applications today. Many factories now use automated machines to perform tasks that were previously performed by human workers such as welding or fabricating parts from raw materials. These advances have revolutionized manufacturing productivity while reducing labor costs.
In addition to performing repetitive tasks more efficiently than humans, modern robots can now be programmed to carry out complex sequences of actions once they have been properly trained. This capability has led to widespread use of robots in difficult or dangerous environments such as bomb disposal, hazardous material handling, underwater exploration, outer space missions, minefields, and combat zones. In general terms, a robot is any automatically controlled device that performs complex actions or tasks without direct human intervention.
There are three main types of robotics: Industrial (or factory) robots work in protected environments carrying out precise assembly line tasks; mobile robots roam freely around protected areas carrying out surveillance or remote maintenance tasks; domestic (or service) robots perform simple household chores like vacuum cleaning or lawn mowing. All three types share certain basic characteristics: they receive power from an external source; they contain sensors that monitor internal or external conditions; they have some form of actuator that can cause physical changes in their environment;:37–38 finally they contain circuitry for processing sensor input and controlling actuators so as to achieve specific goals.:160–161
The first robot was built by Leonardo da Vinci around 1495 AD but it could only move its head and arms.:35 The word “robot” itself was first used in print by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his 1920 play RUR (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti – Rossum’s Universal Robots).:22 However these early “robots” were really just mechanical devices driven by springs or electricity rather than being true examples of AI or even remotely resembling modern day robots.:3 It wasn’t until 1948 when Norbert Wiener defined cybernetics – the study interactions between humans and machines – that academic research into robotics began in earnest.:26
In recent years there has been significant public interest in personal domestic robots such as Sony’s Aibo dog, Honda’s ASIMO humanoid, iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaner, Samsung’s S-Bot wheelchair, Google Home assistant, Jibo social robot, Amazon Echo assistant with Alexa voice recognition, Apple’s Siri virtual assistant. While these products are still mostly at prototype stage or very expensive one-off items there is no doubt that affordable domesticbots will become commonplace within a few years bringing with them ethical concerns over how much control we should allow machines to have over our daily lives? . Currently most personal bots lack full AI capabilities but this is changing fast thanks largely due new advancements neural networks which enable computers to learn through experience like humans do.”.