Future Robotics Technology and Applications
- Overview
Robotics is an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of computer science and engineering. The goal of robotics is to design intelligent machines that can help and assist humans in their day-to-day lives and keep everyone safe. Robotics draws on the achievement of information engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and others.
The field of robotics has been undergoing a major change from manufacturing applications to entertainment, home, rehabilitation, search and rescue, and service applications.
Although robots seem to possess fantastic skills in science fiction and movies, most people would be surprised to learn how much remains to be accomplished to provide today's robots with the ability to do relatively simple tasks.
Some common types of robots include:
- Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs): These machines can function independently, collaborate with people, and have safety features to prevent damage to structures.
- Automated guided vehicles (AGVs): These robots are used in various industries.
- Industrial robots: These robots are programmable and can move parts, tools, or other specialized devices through programmed motions.
- Agricultural robots: These robots can plant and harvest crops, monitor crop growth, and perform other tasks.
- Construction robots: These robots can automate tasks like concrete pouring and bricklaying.
Some other types of robots include: articulated robots, humanoids, cobots, hybrids.
Robotics is used in many industries, including: Automobile manufacturing, Hazardous environments, Agriculture, Construction.
- Future of Robotics Technologies
Robotics is expected to become more societal by 2030, blurring the lines between human and machine capabilities. Some robotics technologies that may be used in the future include:
- Artificial intelligence (AI): AI is the simulation of human intelligence in machines or computer systems. It includes techniques, algorithms, and technologies that allow computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.
- Next-generation robots: These robots will have advanced AI capabilities that enable them to learn, reason, and make decisions based on complex data sets. This will allow robots to perform more complex tasks and adapt to changing environments.
- Personal robots: These robots will become common in homes, providing assistance with tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and caring for children or the elderly. They will be equipped with advanced AI, allowing them to perform a wide range of tasks and provide personalized assistance to individuals.
- Collaborative robots (cobots): These robots are designed to work alongside a human workforce on the production line and ensure that tasks requiring human supervision are carried out safely. They can operate safely in close proximity to humans.
- Articulated robots: These robots are also known as robotic arms. They are fast, reliable, and accurate, and they can be programmed to do an infinite number of tasks in a variety of environments.
Other robotics technologies include:
- Exoskeletons
- Drones that can fly themselves and make deliveries
- Self-replicating machines
- Cybernetics
- Future of AI in Robotics
Robots are coming, and they're getting smarter, evolving from single-task devices to machines that can make their own decisions and navigate public spaces autonomously.
From transportation systems, hospitals and the military, to the robotization of workplaces and homes, robots will be everywhere and increasingly interact with humans.
Whether you find it exciting or scary (or both), advances in related fields such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are raising new ethical dilemmas and challenges to the laws and regulations that govern humans and machines. A world with clear boundaries between them.
The new technologies that threaten our jobs today are based on the Internet, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). What they can do is beyond imagination; this is where the panic lies, that robots with AI may be able to do things we don’t even understand.
But each of us should welcome them, because if we know how to handle transitions, we'll be better off in the end. It seems likely that new jobs will replace those destroyed by robots, as there are still many things that robots cannot do; such as jobs that involve making decisions in unpredictable environments.
By using robots to complete our work, we will be able to reduce our workload and enjoy more new technological products in our free time. Companies, workers and governments must adapt to the new reality for the benefit of society as a whole.
The robotics industry, led by the consumer electronics and electric vehicle industries, has created millions of additional jobs over the past decade.
In short, robotics will become an important part of many applications in the next decade. Robots combined with AI will be able to perform complex actions, learn from humans, and promote the phenomenon of smart automation.
Here are some predictions for the future of AI in robotics:
- 2025: AI-powered robotics are projected to automate 50% of manual tasks in manufacturing by 2025, increasing productivity by 30%.
- 2030s: Robotics in manufacturing could be completely autonomous by the 2030s, from assembly to quality control.
- 2050: Personal robots will become common in homes, providing assistance with tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and caring for children or the elderly.
Other predictions for the future of AI in robotics include:
- AI models will enable robots to perform specific tasks more efficiently, learn from their experiences, and interact more intuitively with the real world.
- Robots will be able to perform more complex tasks, adapt to dynamic environments, and offer more personalized interactions.
- Robot maintenance and operation will replace traditional jobs in the manufacturing industry.
- AI and Robotics
Robotics is a branch of technology that deals with physical robots. Robots are programmable machines that are usually able to carry out a series of actions autonomously, or semi-autonomously. There are three important factors which constitute a robot:
- Robots interact with the physical world via sensors and actuators.
- Robots are programmable.
- Robots are usually autonomous or semi-autonomous.
AI has continued to create huge impacts across multiple industries and continued research has changed how AI affects the robotic industry. Presently, the innovative combination of AI and robotics has created an array of futuristic possibilities in automation. The application of AI in robotics is mainly for enhancing some industrial robotics capabilities. While scientists and experts are yet to realize the full potential of AI and robotics,
AI gives robots a computer vision to navigate, sense and calculate their reaction accordingly. Robots learn to perform their tasks from humans through machine learning which again is a part of computer programming and AI. Since the time John McCarthy has coined the term Artificial Intelligence in 1956, it has created a lot of sensation. This is because AI has the power to give life to robots and empower them to take their decisions on their own.
- [Paris Skyline, France - Llnur Kalimulin]
- Robot Essential Characteristics
Robotics is the intersection of science, engineering and technology that produces machines, called robots, that substitute for (or replicate) human actions. A robot has following essential characteristics:
- Sensing - First of all your robot would have to be able to sense its surroundings. It would do this in ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you sense your surroundings. Giving your robot sensors: light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and taste sensors (tongue) will give your robot awareness of its environment.
- Movement - A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling on wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move. To count as a robot either the whole robot moves, like the Sojourner or just parts of the robot moves, like the Canada Arm.
- Energy - A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered, electrically powered, battery powered. The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.
- Intelligence - A robot needs some kind of "smarts." This is where programming enters the pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will have to have some way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.
Robotics involves designing, building and programming physical robots which are able to interact with the physical world. Only a small part of robotics involves artificial intelligence.
- Ethics of AI and Robotics
Robotics and AI systems already help us with everything from vacuuming and grocery shopping to driving cars and booking appointments. Machines that can learn, make decisions and automate tasks are already part of our lives.
The big question is, how do we make sure they’re helping society, rather than harming us? As we continue to develop machines with decision-making abilities that are comparable to those of a human mind, recognizing and addressing these questions are more important than ever. Technology like AI will change society. It’s already becoming part of our lives. We need to work out how to make sure it improves the quality of everyone’s life.
The ethics of AI is the part of the ethics of technology specific to AI systems. It is sometimes divided into a concern with the moral behavior of humans as they design, make, use and treat AI systems, and a concern with the behavior of machines, in machine ethics. It also includes the issue of a possible singularity due to superintelligent AI.
[More to come ...]
