Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

Robots and their influence on the world

Lajuan RogersH-0810/22/09Informational Technologies

Lajuan Rogers

Robots have revolutionized the word because of the ability to do whatever job given to themwith amazing results. Robots are useful for many different industrial fields. Robots take theinstruction that was given by a human and the robot applies it. Each time a robot completes itstask, great excitement comes over us because it is like seeing a baby take its first steps. What iseven more amazing is how far humans have come to improve robots over small amounts of time.During the 1900’s robots were mere thoughts of scientific stories and theories. Writers likeMary Shelly would write stories about a robotic life form created by a mad scientist. Now todayshe is well known for the story called

Frankenstein

. Shelly was not the only one who came upwith stories. By 1941 science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was the first to use the term “robotics”(Timeline of Robots, 1) to describe the making of robots. Isaac Asimov is also known for histhree laws of robotics which are very popular and commonly used today.The term robot originates from the Czech word robota meaning slave like labor. The first person to use the term robot was Karel Capek a Czech writer. Capek used it in his play called“Rossum’s Universal Robots” which was about a robot being created and taking over the humanslives. Plays and stories always seemed to have this kind of plot every time robots were thoughtof. Surprisingly though humans have always thought about robots even during the 1400’s.Leonardo da Vinci an artist, even was creative enough to think of robots. In 1495 Leonardoda Vinci designed the first humanoid robot. His sketches were hard to make out whether or nothe had a blue print of a robot. It took until 1950 when some scanning was done for a professor from the University of California to suggest that some of Leonardo’s sketches were for a robot.Then later research was made and was discovered that Leonardo “designed his robot to open andclose its jaw, sit up, wave its arms and move its head” (Robot, 2). The robot was an armoredknight which was used to amuse royalty. If Leonardo did get his robot to move he might haveused water and weights, but Leonardo still started off with a good idea. During this time robotswere for entertainment but then the idea for robots to be much more started to show.William Grey Walter started to build robots to mimic human behavior, and he would usesimple electronics to do so. Then in 1946 George Devol patented over forty million inventions.By 1954 the first industrial robot was created which was called Unimate. “George Devol became

Lajuan Rogers

known as the father of robotics” (History and Benefits, 1). Everything turned out so well that by1956 “George Devol and Joseph Engelberger formed the world’s first robot company” (Timelineof Robots, 1). Once this company started manufacturing robots, many other companies followedtheir lead. Robots stared to become more popular than before.As humans developed robots, the robots themselves started to be broken into three maincategories. Industrial, research, and education became the main branches and everything else broke off from them. Each type of robot became very complex and they convenience humansmore and more. Whether the robots enhances our vision, help us learn or just protect us, theycontinue to advance past our own capabilities. Even though it takes a while to improve the robotthe little steps still helps us to do better in the future.The Rancho Arm was the first robotic arm to be controlled by a computer in 1963. They weredesigned to aid the handicapped. Then the Tentacle Arm was developed by Marvin Minsky.These were used to lift people and maybe heavy objects. The Silver Arm was made in 1974 andit “performed small parts assembly using feedback from touch and pressure sensors” (Timelineof Robots, 1). Now these robotic arms started to spread and they really influenced the automotivecompanies.In the 1980’s the automotive companies invested in the robotic companies. One companyspent over forty billion dollars on new technology, but because they did not understand how touse it the machines destroyed things. Factories all over the globe now have these, arm like robotsand they bring many advantages. The products are made much faster with accuracy andconsistency. The robots can even now do jobs that would be hazardous to humans. Extremeheavy lifting can be done by the robots. They can enter into extreme temperatures whether theyare high or low temperatures.That is just the start of all things, now looking at what robots can do in the medical field iseven more amazing. In the field of medicine “extreme precision and delicacy is necessary andthe margins for error slim” (Robots in Medicine, 1) so the doctors must be careful. Duringsurgery robots perform major operations without causing the patient too much trauma, and itallows fewer infections with less healing time needed. Robots have become so advanced that