Robotics is a growing field with recent advances including a finely tuned robotic arm, self-driving cars, and brain-controlled prosthetic arms. Billions are spent on research annually, with the most advanced robots used by the military. Robotic arms are used in manufacturing, and it’s possible they could replace soldiers for certain tasks. Robotics has yet to integrate into society at large, but is widely used in industry and the military.
Robotics is a hot field that is constantly making the news. Notable recent advances include a robotic arm so finely tuned it can pick up a light bulb without breaking it (Shadow Hand®), robotic cars that drive themselves through urban environments complete with traffic (DARPA Urban Challenge), prosthetic arms controlled by brain-computer interfaces (BrainGate®) and humanoid robots that can climb stairs and be guided by a person holding their hand (Asimo®).
Billions of dollars are spent worldwide on robotics research every year. Unfortunately, robotics hasn’t progressed as fast as many expected in the 1980s, and home robotics is relatively limited, consisting of robot vacuum cleaners like the Roomba® and its pool cleaning cousin, Scooba®. Entertainment bots like RoboSapien® and Pleo® are popular, with many more to come.
The most advanced robots are used by the US military. PackBot®, manufactured by the same company that makes Roomba®, iRobot Corp., serves as a robotic pack mule. Robotic minesweepers were used regularly in the Iraq War to clear the road of improvised explosive devices. The SWORDS robot, a tracked reconnaissance/combat robot has also been used in Iraq, and its cost is decreasing compared to the cost of training a soldier, suggesting that in the not-too-distant future, robots could replace human soldiers for tasks that do not require human intelligence or interaction. The Predator series of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are self-flying combat units that are operated using simple remote controls.
In manufacturing, robotic arms are used to automate tasks where economically feasible. The fastest ones operate many times faster than human hands and often pay for themselves within months. The University of Tokyo has created a robotic arm so fast it can catch a baseball thrown at 186 mph. Robotics are routinely used in massively parallel biological research, where hundreds or thousands of micropipettes need to be operated simultaneously.
It seems only a matter of time until the long-awaited integration of robots into society at large, but for now their most widespread application is in industry and the military.
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