Introduction to Robotics

Robotics can be briefly summarized as a field of technology that is primarily concerned with the operation, building, and usage of robots—or more simply, it is the study of robots. Robotics’ existence has fundamentally not only revolutionized industrial work but potentially the military and medicine as well. Robots are, for the most part, mechanical devices that are used to perform some sort of task that is a typically meticulous or otherwise difficult form of labor. Some can operate independently while others require a human controlling them.

However, a robot’s usages do not end at the autonomation of manual labor. Brian Dunbar reveals NASA believes robots can assist medical professionals. For example, Dunbar explains “A small robotic arm could be used inside the station . . . [and] If an astronaut were seriously hurt, a doctor on earth could use the arm to perform surgery” (para. 8). Examples of this developing technology, if not in a somewhat rudimentary form of a “mobile video-conferencing unit” (Chea para. 3), can be seen in “a growing number of hospitals in California” (Chea para. 2). Essentially, robotics permits doctors, whether or not they are even there, to still examine a patient and provide a diagnosis. Robots utilized in an industrial setting, such as a factory, are employed for “higher productivity and greater cost-effectiveness” (Harris, para. 11) and for more sensitive materials the robot assuredly has perfect “hygiene” and eliminates the risk for contamination (Harris para. 18). Robots are also being used by law enforcement in dramatic situations such as the Dallas shooting.

Cory Nealson notes robots can even be specifically developed to respond accordingly to a person’s thoughts through “brain computer interface (BCI) devices” (para. 2), which typically involve reading “electroencephalograms from brain activity and [transmitting] them wirelessly to a computer” (para. 5). Subsequently, these interfaces allow the robot to perform multifaceted actions, conceived by a human, and provide an efficient work environment. Overall, robotics imitates human actions in order to reach one’s goals.

Works Cited

Chea, Terence. "Medical Specialists Are Increasingly 'Beamed' Into Remote Hospitals." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. <http://www.businessinsider.com/robots-let-doctors-beam-into-remote-hospitals-2013-11>.

Dunbar, Brian. "What Is Robotics." NASA. NASA, 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/robotics/home/what_is_robotics_k4.html#.UwEUtvldWa8>.

Harris, Sian. "Will Robots Be the Answer to Our next Manufacturing Revolution?" Engineering and Technology Magazine. The Institution of Engineering and Technology., 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. <http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2014/01/robots-are-coming.cfm>.

Nealson, Cory. "Researchers Study How to Use Mind-controlled Robots in Manufacturing, Medicine." News Center. University of Buffalo, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. <http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/11/018.html>.