{"id":105028,"date":"2020-07-29T16:46:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T23:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=105028"},"modified":"2020-07-29T16:46:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T23:46:54","slug":"robotics-background-influence-on-everyday-life-and-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/07\/29\/robotics-background-influence-on-everyday-life-and-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics: Background, Influence on Everyday Life and Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The terms Robotics is often mentioned these days. There\nwere many local inventions that were presented in mass media recently highlighting\nthe possible use of Robotics in health care industry to meet the challenges\nfaced under the COVID -19. The local innovators need to be congratulated and\nsupported to ensure their prototypes are developed and converted in to fully\ncommercially viable ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word Robot\u201d in Czech language, meaning forced labour,\nhas served as the root for the word Robotics. Per ISO\n8373:2012<\/a>, industrial robot is defined as an automatically controlled\nreprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three or more axes,\nwhich can be either fixed or mobile for use in industrial automation\napplications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robotics is\nknown as an interdisciplinary<\/a> field\nat the interface of computer science<\/a> and engineering<\/a>. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots<\/a>. The goal of Robotics is to design intelligent machines that can help and\nassist humans in their day-to-day lives and keep everyone safe. Robotics draws\non the achievements of information <\/a>and computer engineering<\/a>, mechanical engineering<\/a>, electronic engineering<\/a> and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis evidence to show that mechanised human-like figures date back to ancient\ntimes, to Greece<\/a>.\nThe concept of an artificial man is found in works of fiction since the early\n19th century. Despite these initial thoughts and representations,\nthe dawn of the robotic revolution has begun in earnest in the 1950s. American\ninventor, George Devol, created the first digitally operated and programmable\nrobot, named Unimate in 1954. This ultimately laid the foundation of the\nmodern Robotics industry. Many significant and gigantic developments in the\ntimeline of Robotics happened thereafter, which led to the modern commercial\nand industrial robots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an academic discipline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an academic discipline, robotics is a relatively\nyoung field with highly ambitious goals, the ultimate one being the creation of\nmachines that can behave and think like humans. This attempt to create\nintelligent machines naturally leads us first to examine ourselves \u2013 to ask,\nfor example, why our bodies are designed the way they are, how our limbs are\ncoordinated, and how we learn and perform complex tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usefulness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern commercial and industrial robots are\nwidely used performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and\nreliability than humans. Robots are used for jobs which are too dirty,\ndangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in\nmanufacturing industry, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery,\nweaponry and laboratory research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nkey feature of robots is the ability to learn from a human and play back. A\nskill of a well-trained painter, for example, can be transferred to a robot.\nThis can be done by \u2018teaching\u2019 the robot through conducting a painting job by\nthe skilled worker while holding the arm of the robot. The robot will learn all\nthe movements, paths and forces applied by the human in doing the job and\nremember. Robot can repeat the painting work the same way as the skilled worker\nwhen instructed. Of course, some fine tunings need to be made before a perfect\nresult can be achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications in Everyday Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nare some examples of the use of Robotics in everyday life, further to their\nwidespread use in different Industries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n