Application of Computer Science

ROBOTICS
Robotics is technology dealing with the design, construction, and operation of robots in
automation.

Hardware and software are two components of robotics. Engineering is used to design the
physical aspects of the robot and computer science is used to design software that gives
intelligence to the machine to do its task. This makes robotics a multidisciplinary branch of
engineering and computer science. Robotics is used to automate tasks and reduce human
intervention.

There are three basic components that make up a typical robot :

 Mechanical Components
 Electrical Components
 Software Components.

Robotics need a movable physical structure, a motor of some sort, a sensor system, a power
supply, and software programming that provides intelligence that controls all of these
components.

Software Components – Robotic Software

The majority of robots are programmed with some form of software component. It is the
program that a robot uses to make the decision as to how or when to take action. A robot’s
performance is directly correlated to the quality of its software. No matter how great the
robot’s mechanical and electrical construction, if it’s software is poorly constructed it will not
perform at its best.
There are three different types of robotic programs:

Manual control
These robots work when a human operator physically operates the mechanical, electronic, or
software areas of the robot.

Autonomous control
The programming of an autonomous robot will set up a set of pre-programmed commands,
based on decision trees, that will only be implemented when the robot receives a signal from a
control source, such as a human with a remote control.

Artificial Intelligence based control.

It is possible for robots using artificial intelligence to interact with their environment on their
own without a control source, and can compute their reactions to objects and problems they
encounter using their pre-conditioned software. As these sorts of robots are put through their
paces, they typically learn continuously over the course of time.

Robots in Agriculture
Agricultural robot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes.
Common robots in agriculture are used for:

 Harvesting and picking

 Weed control
 Cloud seeding
 Environmental monitoring
 Soil monitoring
 Autonomous mowing, pruning, seeding, spraying and thinning
 Sorting and packing
 Milking
Robots in Transport

 Controlling traffic
 Self driving
 GPS autonomous robot for determining location

Robots in Health

 To perform surgeries
 To clean and disinfect surfaces
 Monitoring patients