Robots are automated machines that are capable of performing human functions when interacting with the outside world. People have dreamed of them since ancient times, and now these mechanisms are entering our society with great speed. Their main purpose is to make our life more comfortable, improve working conditions, free our hands from complex work processes and increase productivity.
Robots are most often found in industry, where they have been able to fully automate most production tasks. But in addition, smart cars are increasingly being used in the military, medical, service and consumer sectors.
And if earlier they performed only repetitive routine tasks according to the program, now their level has reached new heights, allowing them to interact with us, communicating in their machine language, to understand our gestures and emotions. In addition, using specialized platforms, everyone has the opportunity to influence the industry, create their own programs and add new functions to robots. Thus, developing from simple auxiliary mechanisms, robots have every chance of joining our society and becoming our friends.
The largest industry where robotics is used is industry, in particular the automotive industry. Manipulators working in factories vary in size and functionality depending on the type of task performing – assembly, welding, cutting, painting. Along with them, in production you can find unloading and loading robots, packers, sorters, molders and other mechanisms that replace a person in routine repetitive tasks. Leading companies in industrial automation are KUKA (Germany), Fanuc (Japan), Kawasaki (Japan), ABB (Switzerland), Denso (Japan) and others.
Along with this, the market for joint robots is gaining new dimensions, which can work with people on the same production line without harming them. These are manipulators from Universal Robots, as well as new generation industrial robots Baxter and Sawyer from Rethink Robotics.
In recent years, the entire world has been closely following the development of self-driving cars that will transport people without their participation in the process. Now, the closest thing to unmanned vehicles is the Uber taxi service. But advances in technology are regularly shown by manufacturers such as Ford, Mercedes, Toyota, BMW and Tesla.
Robots are also actively used in agriculture. Often, these are radio-controlled tractors and plows, but unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming more and more widespread, which farmers use to map their lands and regularly inspect crops.
What kind of robots are used in everyday life? Of course, the first place here belongs to robotic vacuum cleaners, which have become indispensable helpers in cleaning the house. The leader among the manufacturers of these devices is the American company iRobot and its Roomba vacuum cleaners. The latest models of the manufacturer are distinguished by improved navigation and pairing with a smartphone. This addition opens up new opportunities for ordinary users who can add more functions to robots through special applications.
For lawn maintenance, automated lawn mowers are equipped with an array of sensors for safe driving and mowing over large areas. The pools are looked after by small wheeled robots that independently move along the bottom of the reservoir, clean the walls, steps and filter the water.
In addition, a growing number of unmanned aerial vehicles are recruiting, which have long since switched from purely military to civilian use. Drones are used for a wide variety of tasks, from entertainment to surveillance and professional video filming. Leadership in this sector belongs to the Chinese manufacturer DJI. Their latest device, the Spark, is considered the most advanced gesture-triggered selfie drone ever.
Smart home systems are also becoming more widespread. If earlier such “automation” consisted of clapping hands to turn on the light, now a person does not need to monitor anything at all – all power is in the hands of an electronic house manager, a robotic control center, to which all home devices from security and lighting systems to a coffee maker and a washing machine are subordinate. cars.
Moreover, the user can add the functions he needs to the system himself. For example, he needs to set the operation of the washing machine for a time when the meters are in the “night” mode in order to save energy costs. To do this, you need to design an appropriate smartphone application that will help you stay connected to your home and control home automation from almost anywhere.
An echo speaker (Amazon Echo, Google Home and others) can act as an auxiliary gadget, which allows you to control all appliances in the house using voice commands. Or robotic assistants that act as an organizer, alarm clock, multimedia player. Connected to the Internet, they report the weather, tell the news, provide information about traffic jams in your city, and more. And thanks to open access to programming, they can be made great helpers for the study of children, entertaining the elderly, and even toys for pets.
As you can see, robots have already entered our lives in the form of a variety of smart gadgets, household appliances and smart systems. However, smart machines are still very far from the ideal image created by the human imagination. All they can do is execute human-programmed commands. But engineers stubbornly strive to make machines truly functional, and interaction with them easier, more natural and, most importantly, accessible to an ordinary person.