Robots: Explore the World of Robots and How They Work for Us

By Rick Allen Leider

Robots exist for so many different reasons. Many robots replace humans, whether it’s because a situation is dangerous or just tedious. There are rover robots to explore space and drone robots that play a part in our military today, but then there are also vacuum robots available for the average household’s chores. In Japan, there is a robot teacher that can mimic a wide range of human emotionsincluding anger at uncooperative studentsthanks to eighteen small motors hidden beneath the latex skin covering her face. The Japanese government hopes to use robots to fill jobs left vacant by an anticipated labor shortage due to an aging population. In the United States, robots even help with surgery, allowing for incisions to be cut much smaller than they would be otherwisemeaning fewer complications and faster recovery times.

This fascinating book in the Fact Atlas series explores the history of robots, from the very first robot designed by Leonardo da Vinci to predictions of the roles robots will play in our future. Kids will learn about how robots are often modeled after real life-forms, such as bees, sharks, and, of course, humans. Robots also takes into account the robots in pop culturerobots we have imagined could be a part of our future. Readers can decide for themselves whether or not they think robots should be developed to their fullest potential or kept in check by safety limitations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sky Pony
• Release date: Jul 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781632208200

Book preview

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Copyright © 2015 by Rick Allen Leider

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Manufactured in China, March 2015

This product conforms to CPSIA 2008

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Cover design by Georgia Morrissey

Cover photo credit: Thinkstock

ISBN: 978-1-63220-439-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-820-0

Title Page of Robots

Contents

What Is a Robot?

Robot Roots

How Robots Work

Early Ideas for Robotics

Building Robots

Practical Robots

Research Robots

Industrial Robots

Robots in Medicine

Military Robots

Law Enforcers

Robots in Space

Robots Underwater

Robot Helpers

Robot Pets

Robot Toys

Build Your Own Robot

Robot Games

Robots of the Imagination

Robots on Film

Robots on TV

The Robot Hall of Fame

Robots of the Future

Find Out More

Index

Credits

What Is a Robot?

It would probably be impossible to come up with a definition of robot that would satisfy everyone. Even robot engineers—the people who build them—use varying definitions of the term. We can say, though, that a robot is a machine that senses, recognizes, and interacts with its environment. That means it can move on its own and may even seem to have a mind of its own!

How a Robot Thinks

But even though a robot may move and think, it is only as smart as its programming. Someone had to design them to do the things they do. Robot engineers design some robots to mimic human behavior, like greeting people or playing a musical instrument. Others program robots to carry out useful tasks, like performing surgery or welding mechanical components. Factory robots can execute complex tasks more quickly and accurately than human workers, and they don’t take lunch hours, bathroom breaks, or vacations. About 90 percent of robots work in factories, and half of them build automobiles or work in metal foundries.

A robot arm, such as this one, was built to weld automotive components. The same kind of arms are shown below, busy at work in an auto factory. Most of the robots in use today build things or perform other factory tasks.

EVERYDAY ROBOTS

EVERY DAY you use at least a dozen things created by robots in factories. When you drive in a car or ride a bus, you’re traveling in something built mostly by robots.

What Robots Can Do

Still, robots are breaking into many other fields. Robots can do jobs that are very dangerous to humans or ones that humans just find too unpleasant. For example, robots defuse bombs, clean up nuclear waste, and let medical students poke them with needles to practice taking blood. Someday soon, we’ll be seeing robot babysitters, messengers, teachers, and more.

Some robots are built to look like humans, while others are not. But whether they look like mechanical men or merely metal arms, robots are pretty amazing!

Plans for Rossum’s Universal Robot, known as an R. U. R.

ROBOT DATA

THE WORD ROBOT comes from the Czechoslovakian robotnik, meaning workman. Writer Karel Capek invented the word for his 1921 play R. U. R., which featured robots that revolt against their creators.

DID YOU KNOW?

When you see most robots, you can tell they’re not human, but that’s not necessarily the case with an android. An android can look and behave exactly like a real person. Wall-E is a robot and looks like a machine, while TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation’s character Lt. Commander Data is an android. The Terminator is also an android.

Lt. Commander Data of Star Trek is an android.

USEFUL TERMS TO KNOW

WHEN TALKING about robots, many terms come up that may seem confusing. For instance, what is an android? Is it different from a robot? What about a ’droid? Is that something different?

Here’s a list to help you figure them out.

Android. An android is a robot that is designed to look and act like a human. So far, they mostly exist only in science fiction, but many robot engineers are working on producing real ones. The shortened form ’droid or droid comes from the Star Wars movies. Droids in that series are very intelligent robots, but don’t really look human. They have a lot of uses—from