A.

It is a term used to describe a new technology, but it may

also refer an existing technology
B. It is a normal kind of technology
C. They are technologies that are recently here
D. They are innovative technologies that have been recently
developed, are under development or will be developed in
future.

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Robots and Robotics
 What is a Robot?
A robot is a machine that is designed
and programmed to carry out tasks at
speed and with great accuracy.

A robot is autonomous - it can work

independently without human
intervention.

A robot senses and responds to its

environment.

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 The advantages of robots
Robots carry out repetitive Robots work quickly. They
work reliably. They don't get can work for 24 hours a
bored or make mistakes. day if needed.

Robots can work in

restricted spaces where
humans cannot reach.

Robots work with

hazardous materials
Robots can work in dangerous
like chemicals and
environments that would be
radioactive material.
risky for humans.

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 Robotics

• Robotics is the science and technology of robots.

• Robotics involves the design, construction, operation and use of robots.
• The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans.

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How robots are used?
• Robots have become vital tools in
many industries.

• The car and electronics industries

already depend on robots.

• The range of jobs that robots are

used for is growing as robot design
improves.

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Robots in manufacturing
▪In manufacturing industries, robots do
repetitive jobs such as soldering electrical
components or making microchips.
• Accuracy is very important in the
production of microprocessors.
• A tiny mistake can mean the processor
does not work properly.
• Robots work quickly and do not make
mistakes.
• In car factories, robots are used to paint
cars. This is a hazardous job for humans.

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 Robots in agriculture

• Agriculture is one of the fastest growing areas for robots.

• Robots can be used both in glasshouses and out in the fields.
• Crop spraying by plane is one of the most dangerous jobs humans do.
• Drones are used to spray crops.
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 Robots in agriculture
• Robots are being developed to harvest crops including soft fruits like berries.
• Some farmers use tractors and other farm equipment that uses satellite guidance
to plough fields and do other jobs.
• Fully autonomous tractors will soon be a feature on farms.
• Fully autonomous equipment has been developed for jobs like removing weeds.

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Robots in medicine

• Surgeons work with robotic surgical

instruments to perform surgery they
could not do with their own hands.

• This means that surgery can take less

time and patients recover faster.

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 Robots in medicine
• Robotic equipment is used to scan
patients.
• It can create a detailed 3D image of
internal organs.
• This helps doctors to make an early and
accurate diagnosis of illness.
• Robots are also being used to help patients
recover.
• A robot has been developed that lifts
patients in and out of bed.
• It is more comfortable for the patient and
saves nurses from injury

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• Distribution centres store goods that are sent
out to shops or to customers who have
purchased them online.
• Robots are used to pick goods that are to be
sent to shops and customers.
• Distribution centres might use drones and
autonomous robot vehicles in the future to
deliver goods.
• Drones can deliver vital goods to remote
areas quickly.

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 Disaster recovery
• Natural and man-made disasters create
dangerous environments for humans to work
in.
• Buildings might be damaged and unstable.
• Areas might be polluted with chemicals or
radioactive material.
• Fires might break out. Robots are ideal for this
situation.
• Infrared sensors can help detect people that
need to be rescued.
• Robots can be equipped with mechanical
tools to solve problems or take samples from
a disaster site.
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 Characteristics of a robot
1. Ability to sense their surroundings
▪ This is done via sensors (such as light, pressure, temperature, acoustic, and
so on)
2. Have a degree of movement
▪ they can make use of wheels, pistons, gears, etc. to carry out functions such
as turning, twisting, moving backwards/forwards, gripping or lifting
3. Programmable
▪ they have a ‘brain’ known as a controller that determines the action to be
taken to perform a certain task (the controller relies on data sent from
sensors or cameras)
▪ controllers are programmable to allow the robots to do certain tasks.

Emerging Technologies 15
 Temperature Sensor
• these sensors measure the heat radiation given off by an object

Applications
• security alarm system (detects body heat)
• monitor the temperature inside an industrial freezer or chiller
unit

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 Light Sensor
• these use photoelectric cells that produce an output
(in the form of an electric current) depending on the brightness of the light

Applications
• switching street lights on or off depending on light levels
• switch on car headlights automatically when it gets dark

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 Infrared Sensor
• these use an invisible beam of infrared radiation picked
up by a detector;
• if the beam is broken, then there will be a change in the
amount of infrared radiation reaching the detector
(sensor)

Applications

▪ turn on car windscreen wipers automatically when it

detects rain on the windscreen
▪ security alarm system (intruder breaks the infrared
beam)

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 Acoustic/sound sensor
• these are basically microphones that convert detected sound into electric
signals/pulses

Application
• pick up the noise of footsteps in a security system
• detect the sound of liquids dripping at a faulty pipe joint

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 Pressure Sensor
• a pressure sensor is a transducer and generates different
electric currents depending on the pressure applied

Applications
• weighing of lorries at a weighing station
• measure the gas pressure in a nuclear
reactor

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 Proximity Sensors
• Proximity sensors use infrared light beams to detect the position of nearby
objects.

Application
• detect when a face is close to a mobile phone screen and switches off screen
when held to the ear
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 Bumper switch and pressure pad
• Bumper switches tell a robot that it has hit something.
• Pressure pads are used to control robot hands as they pick objects up. They
stop the robot from hand-crushing objects.
•

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 Vision guided robotics (VGR)

• VGR allows robot to use video cameras to see

in 2D and 3 D.

• Sophisticated software allows a robot to

identify objects and interact with them.

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 Voice recognition and natural language processing (NLP)

• Voice recognition and natural language

processing (NLP) are giving robots a sense of
hearing.

• Able to speak and give instructions to a

robot as the users were talking to a human
assistant.

Emerging Technologies 24
1. Describe how robots can help doctors.
2. What are the advantages of using robots in manufacturing
industries?
3. Say two ways that sensors allow computers to sense the world
around them.

Emerging Technologies 25
 Microprocessor development

• Microprocessors have become smaller and more powerful.

• This has allowed powerful processors to be embedded into robots.
• Embedded processors are important.
• They allow the robot freedom of movement.
• Robots carry the processing power they need with them.

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 Microprocessor development

• Parallel processing uses several CPUs working together to create faster,

more powerful processors.
• Two, four, or even eight CPUs work together.
• This provides the processing power needed by sophisticated robots.

Emerging Technologies 27
 Artificial Intelligence
• AI is a machine or application which
carries out a task that requires some
degree of intelligence.

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Artificial intelligence
❖Artificial intelligence(Al) is the use of
computers to simulate intelligent behavior.
❖Robotics is a major area of research in Al.
❖In the future, Al might allow robots to learn
and improve the way they do jobs without
human input.
❖Robots might use the cloud to pass what
they have learned onto other robots

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Artificial Intelligence
• AI duplicates human tasks which
require decision-making and
problem-solving skills.

• Eventually, many tasks presently

done by humans will be replaced
by robots or computers, which
could lead to unemployment.

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 Artificial Intelligence

For example:
❖ the use of language
❖ recognising a person’s face
❖ the ability to operate machinery, such
as a car, aeroplane, train, and so on
❖ analysing data to predict the outcome
of a future event, for example weather
forecasting.

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 Negative impacts of AI
• could lead to many job losses in a number of areas; many jobs
could be lost in manufacturing, but other roles are likely to be
affected (such as bus, taxi, lorry and train drivers)

• dependency on technology and the inability to carry out tasks

done by robots, for example, could be an issue in the future

• loss of skills – even now, skills from previous generations have

been lost as humans have been replaced by machines and
software applications.

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 Extended reality
Extended reality (XR) refers to real and virtual combined
environments, and is a ‘catch all’ term for all immersive
technologies.
The three most common
examples at the moment are:
➢ augmented reality (AR)
➢ virtual reality (VR)
➢ mixed reality (MR).

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Augmented reality (AR)

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 Augmented reality (AR)
The features of augmented reality include:
• allow the user to experience the relationship between digital (virtual)
and physical (real) worlds
• virtual information and objects are overlaid onto real-world situations
• the real world is enhanced with digital details, such as images, text
and animation

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 Augmented reality (AR)
The features of augmented reality include:
• the user can experience the AR world through special goggles or
via smartphone/ phablet screens
• the user is not isolated from the real world and is still able to
interact and see what is going on in front of them
• examples include the Pokémon GO game which overlays digital
creatures onto real-world situations

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In the future, augmented reality will have an impact on all the
following areas:

❖safety and rescue operations (e.g. to ❖Shopping and retail

provide 3D images where a rescue mission is
to take place)

•Entertainment ❖Healthcare
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 Virtual Reality (VR)
The features of virtual reality include:

❖VR is a computer-generated simulation.

❖A person can experience a 3D
environment using gadgets.
❖The electronic devices include
headsets, special googles, screen,
gloves.

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• This technology can be used to good effect in: medicine (teaching operation
procedures), construction, engineering and the military.

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Virtual reality will have an impact on all the following areas:
Military
• Training to operate a new tank
Education
• all the theoretical concepts in traditional
classrooms
Healthcare
• As a diagnostic tool to recommend
treatment
Entertainment
• Games where gloves, goggles or helmets
are worn to fully immerse players and
make it seem very real
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Virtual reality will have an impact on all the following areas:
Fashion
• To do fashion shows before doing the real thing
Heritage
• Allowing users to walk around and close up to
monuments
Business
• Training courses and role-playing scenarios for
staff
Engineering
• Seeing how designs like bridges will look in an
existing environment
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Virtual reality will have an impact on all the following areas:

A golfer trying to improve his swing

Sport can use this technology and get
feedback to improve his game

Media Interactive special effects in movies

Scientific Part of a molecular structure in

visualisation chemistry, or a cell in biology

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 Real-time operating systems
❖Robots operate in the real world. They must respond to
events as they happen. This is called real-time.
❖Real-time operating systems (RTOS) have been developed
to allow robots to work in the real world.
❖An RTOS runs several jobs at the same time.
❖Each job is given an importance rating. If an important job
starts, it is given all the processing power it needs.
❖Safety processes have a high importance rating.
❖If the RTOS detects a possible collision, the process that
avoids collision is given all the processing it needs.
❖Other jobs stop until the important job has finished.
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1. Describe how robots can help doctors.
2. What are the advantages of using robots in manufacturing
industries?
3. Say two ways that sensors allow computers to sense the world
around them.
4. Say how artificial intelligence can improve the way robots operate.

Emerging Technologies 45