The Applications of Robots In the present and the future Most important are in medicine, industry or education, among other areas.
For centuries man has dedicated knowledge and effort in the construction of machines that help him in his daily work or that enable him to perform actions that exceed the possibilities of the human body.
Robots have also been used for religious purposes, such as the Greeks, who built statues that operated with hydraulic systems and used to impact their temples.
The inventors of the eighteenth century created mechanical robots just for fun, in addition to all the machines that accompanied the Industrial Revolution . By the middle of the last century, the first computers in the world began to appear.
Industrial automation is linked to global economic events, and although the advance in recent times is notorious, it can be ensured that the robotic industry is currently in its infancy.
Uses of robots in the present and the future
To understand what the applications of robots are and why they are important in the world today and in the future, it is necessary to know exactly what the term robot refers to.
Robot
The term"robot"derives from the Czech word"robota"meaning servitude or forced labor.
However, when we think of a robot, the image that comes to mind thanks to science fiction, is that of a machine with human appearance and acting as such. In fact, the origin of the word"robotics"is attributed to Isaac Asimov , Writer of great narrations on the subject.
The definition of industrial robot nowadays alludes to a collection of mechanical and electronic components, with subsystems interrelated in software that is programmed to perform a specific task. They may have humanoid characteristics or not, and they usually move on wheels.
For the Robotics Industries Association (RIA),"an industrial robot is a reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move special materials, parts, tools or devices, by means of variable movements programmed to perform a variety of tasks."
Applications
1- Medicine
Robots have important applications in surgery, as they compensate for deficiencies and limitations of human accuracy, which improves surgical procedures.
Since the first tele-surgery performed by the engineer Philipe Green in the 1980s, there has been great progress in this field, and valuable discoveries are also planned for the coming years, especially in the area of urological surgery, In terms of robotics the Da Vinci system.
Next, we can see the variety of procedures (in total 433) that have been carried out in the Urology Service of Hospital Clínico San Carlos in the city of Madrid since 2001.
Experience of the Urology Service in Urological Robotic Surgery (n = 433):
- Radical prostatectomy (350)
- Radical cystectomy (3)
- Radical nephrectomy (1)
- Lithiasis surgery (3)
- Bladder diverticulum (2)
- Pyeloplasty (20)
It is also being investigated for use in rehabilitation therapies, which includes artificial limbs and robots to provide personal assistance in hospitals. Also in some cases they are of assistance to the disabled, as for example, the computers adapted for people with mobility difficulties and of the speech.
Even in the laboratories they carry out a large number of repetitive tasks such as the placement of test tubes inside the measuring instruments. Its effectiveness has been proven distributing drugs in pharmacies and hospitals.
An example of this is Yaskawa Motoman robots, which can be programmed to perform blood tests.
2- Industry
The applications in the field of so-called third generation are diverse: from moving a piece from one position to another, or loading and unloading machines, to certain processing operations in which the robot works on the parts using a tool.
Some examples of operations currently performed by robots, especially in the automotive industry, may be: spot and arc welding; Drilling, grooving and other machining applications; Grinding, brushed polishing and others; Riveting; Waterjet and laser cutting and spray paints.
The Nuclear industry Uses robots to handle the radioactive material through a technology called Telequerica, which consists of a remote manipulator or teleoperator controlled by a human. This development was stimulated by the need to act remotely in catastrophes occurring in nuclear plants.
3- Military applications
Atlas, humanoid robot
In this field we are constantly working on the development of prototypes that perform military or exploration tasks that avoid putting human lives at risk.
To give you an example, we can mention that Boston Dynamics is building a humanoid robot without head called Atlas, whose function will be to walk on uneven ground crawling or putting aside when necessary due to some risk or because the terrain so requires.
Other examples are the Cougar 20-H, a remote-controlled robot that can detect human breathing and search through concrete walls with its set of ultra high-frequency radio sensors.
The Phoenix40-A is a six-bladed helicopter that can detect movement and breathing inside a compound of ground during flight, being controlled remotely from a great distance with a joystick or a laptop.
4- Agriculture
The Australian Research Institute has invested a great deal of money and time in developing a sheep shearing machine. He is currently working on another project that consists of making an automated system of an obrador.
Experimental applications are also being carried out in France to include robots in the planting and pruning of the vineyards, as well as in apple picking.
5 - Education
Although the field of education is very traditional in terms of the use of technology, there are already some cases of robots that are being used in different forms. For example, in the programming language, the Karel robot is used and in learning mathematics, the tortoise robot in conjunction with the LOGO language.
Robots are also used in classrooms of educational laboratories, although these models do not yet have great reliability in their mechanical system, and mostly lack software.
There are also new forms of learning and communication in the context of digital literacy, and attention must be paid to building citizens who are at the same time critical users. Network tutorials are also expected to favor distance learning.
Hypertextual writing has advantages and disadvantages that must be carefully analyzed in order to understand them in their entirety.
Books, faced with the threat of extinction proclaimed by many authors, retain the advantage of being easily transportable and readable everywhere without the need for connections, electricity or other implements.
6- Space Exploration
The outer space is very hostile to the human being, but the degree of automation necessary to replace the man with robots has not yet been reached.
However, a type of robotic application has already been included in the space shuttle, the teleoperators, being his first experience in the ferry Columbia in the year 1982.
7- Submarine Vehicles
Their use is common in the inspection and maintenance of pipes that carry oil, gas or oil in oceanic plants. It is also used for maintenance in laying cabling for communications and for conducting geological and geophysical research on the sea floor.
It is known that they were used on extraordinary occasions such as being in the recovery of the black box of airplanes in cases of Air catastrophes , And in the discovery of the Titanic, four kilometers beneath the surface, where it had remained since its sinking in 1912.
8- Science and Engineering
In terms of science and engineering, it is assumed that simulation programs will make scale models unnecessary. Statistical processing of amounts of information will be increasing, which will contribute to planning and decision making.
Currently in the research laboratories are being developed what is called fourth generation robots.
It is also possible to mention, as far as science is concerned, the study of the functioning of neural networks in the human brain, in order to be able to implement artificial intelligence techniques in computers and their subsequent application in robotics.
9- Business Scope
In the future, business management will be fully automated, thus eliminating the manual work that employees do today, such as all data entry or documents using optical readers.
10- New trends
There are certain robots that by their characteristics have more similarity with those that we know by the films of science fiction, nevertheless they are real and own applications very concrete.
Mechanical exoskeletons are structures that mimic the movement of the human limbs by reading muscle signals. They have great applications in the field of medicine and are also useful for firefighters, in rescue situations, in construction and in military actions.
It is necessary to make a distinction between androids and humanoids. The former are similar in structure and behavior to a human being, and the latter, only in their structure. As is the case with a mannequin, for example.
Honda's ASIMO android recognizes faces up and down stairs and can grab small objects, and in its latest version also runs. It is expected to be used in the medical field.
Another robot with very peculiar characteristics is NEXI of the company MIT, that defines itself like the first robot capable of showing human emotions.
Robots for home use are those that help in the chores of the house. Developed by the company iRobot, so far there is one that mops and another that sweeps.
Finally, we can not fail to mention those of personal use and even sexual, which are already part of the technology that the future holds.
References
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