Running head: Capstone

Lee High School

Mechanical Engineering: Robotic Engineering

Alfredo A. Corbera-Martinez

Brian Cahoon

Senior Capstone

March 19, 2019

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Alfredo Corbera

April 17th, 2019

Capstone

Mr.Cahoon

Robotic Engineering

Imagine, invent, and inspire. Those are three main steps to becoming an engineer,

imagining how to better our world and make manufacturing easier. Robotics is a mixture of

mechanical and electrical engineering, with computer science as well, that deals with

construction, operation, and programming. With these robots being created, they can operate

autonomously and send feedback in return. Robots are machines that are designed to execute

certain tasks, with different ones that are built for different operations and jobs. ​ Robots have

changed the way of manufacturing in workplaces by ensuring that most people have a safer

way of working, making more parts for no payment, and as well as completing task that

humans physically can't.

Safety is essential factor to companies, especially if they have people working for them;

they try to lower the casualty or injury number down. For that to happen, companies started to

replace people from certain areas and started adding robots to complete the task people were

doing there. There have been different companies switching people in and out of areas, and have

them doing inspections instead. Most robots have replaced people from doing jobs such as

lifting heavy items or parts, reduced stress in face-paced production areas, and also they are put

in a small cage or zone to keep parts from the actual robot itself away and safer from people. In
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a interview with George Kotkowicz, a general manager at General Motors made a statement

about robots being kept inside a cage “Robots are set up in “Safety Cages” that people are not

allowed to enter during operation, robots must be returned to “Home” position and turned off

before the Safety Cage can be opened and humans can enter.” One of the companies main

focuses is to keep their workers safe and avoid few casualties, to prevent the number of injuries

increasing they started adding robots in companies over 30 years ago (​The Importance of Safety

Gates). ​The reason is that humans are being replaced is because robots are programmed to do

repetitive tasks, for instance, if someone's job was to make sure certain parts are on correctly, or

the product has everything out on securely. From keeping people of getting hurt or having a

spasm they started to add robots to take care of the parts and also have been keeping them caged

inside from hurting anyone.

“Robots have made precision work more economical because they can produce better and

more consistent parts than humans” (Capstone Interview - George Kotkowicz). When it comes to

GM, they are associated with certain car businesses, and often those businesses go to them and

tell them what part they need and how big and wide it should be, and also what the part will be

used for and how it should function. Mostly in these situations those companies ask GM to have

them done by a certain date, a deadline, when it comes for humans to make the breaks it's often

required for them to take breaks and work certain hours, meaning that the company won't have

the parts done before the deadline and won't satisfy their partners. When companies started to

add robots into their facilities, they started getting pieces done quicker and better, and don't

require to be paid. Companies might have run for 8-12 hours with humans but, now they can run

24 hours with the help of robots working, making the precise part, because most robots don't
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need a break unless they start having troubleshooting problems (How Robots Cut Costs). The

introduction of robots in companies have helped them make more parts efficiently and have also

cut down companies paying people. Robots are more accurate than humans, which also means it

cuts down production cost (Robotics: Facts).

There are certain things that humans can't do due to obstacles that would get in the way.

Not only that but the human body isn't able to handle much weight, heat, and it especially can't

handle a different atmosphere. On the other hand robots can do things the human body can't, for

instance, explore inside a volcano, go underwater where no man has been, but more importantly,

they can go and explore space and travel on the surface of Mars (Robotics: Facts). Even outside

the industries robots are helping human better the future and are helping humans understand

what is in the world and what is happening around them. Robots like Rover and Opportunity

who were sent to Mars have sent information to humans about Mars and have given them

information about Mars, for instance how Mars used have water on it, and they have also sent

back information on the soil and dirt there letting humans know Mars is ready for human

exploration (Mars Exploration Rovers - NASA). Robots have been helping humans understand

more of the world and more than Earth as well.

In conclusion, robots have been helping humans out in both manufacturing and as well as

understanding the world around them. Without robots, there would be many safety issues as well

and many casualties, there would be many injury numbers in companies, and there wouldn’t be

much money being made and much work being done, without them there would be many people

injured and places undiscovered as well. Robots have been helping humans from being safe,

make more money for companies without paying people, and explore places humans can’t.
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Work Cited

Corbera, Alfredo A, and George Kotkowicz. “Capstone Interview.” 24 Mar. 2019.

Corbera, Alfredo A, and Ken Rollenhagen. “Capstone Interview.” 24 Mar. 2019.

Javelosa, June, and Kristin Houser. “This Company Replaced 90% of Its Workforce with

Machines. Here's What Happened.” World Economic Forum,

www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/after-replacing-90-of-employees-with-robots-this-co

mpanys-productivity-soared.

“Mars Exploration Rovers.” ​NASA,​ NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mer/.

Mitchell, Jamie. “The Importance of Safety Gates.” Voluntary Protection Programs Participants'

Association, www.vpppa.org/symposium/blog-entry/the-importance-of-safety-gates.

Robotics Online Marketing Team. “How Robots Cut Costs.” Robotics Online,

www.robotics.org/blog-article.cfm/How-Robots-Cut-Costs/11.

“Robotics: Facts.” Idaho Public Television,

www.idahoptv.org/sciencetrek/topics/robots/facts.cfm.