Robotics is the branch of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.
A robot is a programmable mechanical device that can perform tasks and interact with its environment, without the aid of human interaction. It is a system that contains sensors, control systems, manipulators, power supplies and software all working together to perform a task. Designing, building, programming and testing a robot is a combination of physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, structural engineering, mathematics and computing. In some cases biology, medicine, chemistry might also be involved. A study of robotics means that students are actively engaged with all of these disciplines in a deeply problem-posing problem-solving environment.
Robots can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, and or cognition.
Robotics is increasingly being considered as the fourth “R” of learning, “Reading, wRriting and aRithmatic” that modern-day students must understand to succeed in a highly competitive, technology-driven world. Robotics integrates all STEM fields in way no other subject can cover.
There are some essential characteristics that a robot must have and this might help you to decide what is and what is not a robot. It will also help you to decide what features you will need to build into a machine before it can count as a robot.
A robot has these essential characteristics:
- Sensing: A robot needs to be able to sense its surroundings. It would do this in ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you sense your surroundings. Light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), and sonars sensors (ears) will give your robot awareness of its environment.
- Movement: A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling on wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move.
- Energy: A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered, electrically powered, battery powered. The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.
- Intelligence: A robot needs some kind of intelligence to tell it what to do. This is where programming enters the pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will have to have some way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.
Robotics definition courtesy of http://www.galileo.org/robotics/intro.html
