What comes to mind when you think of the word robots? You might have watched several movies where robots are involved in a human world takeover. However, if we look closely enough, robots are not such a bad thing. Robots help us in so many ways as well as help in shaping our future.
Let’s look at some of the few things you need to know about robotics. It includes its definition, advantages and disadvantages, and the future of robots in our world.
What is Robotics?
In technical terms, the engineering branch concentrates on the conception, design, production, operation, application, and use of robots. Advancement in technology has enabled robot designers to create robots that look like humans. Hence, they are referred to as Androids.
Although the designers create these robots to make humans feel at ease around them, some people find this very creepy.
What are the Pros and Cons of Robots?
Like any other innovation, robots have their pros and cons
Pros
· Increase productivity
Robots are created to undertake repetitive tasks; the human brain is not the same. Big industries use robots to undertake tedious and redundant work, freeing employees to take up more challenging tasks and learn new skills.
· Job creation
We probably have the notion that robots take over human jobs. However, they provide new jobs for engineering professionals such as operators and designers of robots.
· Cost-effective
Robots do not take off days, sick days, or coffee breaks. Additionally, they do not require insurance paid leave, or healthcare offerings such as dental or vision. Thus, it’s very cost-effective to have robots performing tasks in the industries.
· Offer better quality assurance
Humans face a lapse in concentration after repeatedly doing the same task, known as vigilance decrement. As the concentration drops, humans face the likelihood of errors, poor results, and in some cases increase in accidents. Robots can easily undertake the same repetitive tasks without having the vigilance decreased.
· Robots can work in hazardous environments.
While working in a hazardous environment, there is no need to risk human lives if a robot can undertake the job. An example is a fire fighting scene or a nuclear reactor core. It is easier to have the robot do these chores instead of risking the lives of humans.
Cons
· They might take away human jobs
Humans are wary of the robots’ takeover, which happens especially in assembly lines, for example. Therefore, some human jobs are taken away when a business incorporates this advanced technology. However, people might overstate this fact since robot implementation requires demand for the human to support this artificial intelligence technology.
· They need constant power
Robots need lots of electricity to run. While this may be expensive, it is potentially damaging to the environment. Therefore, engineers need to think of greener energy due to the growing demand for robots in society, which can lead to global warming issues.
· They’re restricted to their programming
Robots can’t think for themselves as yet. They heavily rely on the engineers to program them for certain tasks. It thereby shows that they are limited in what they can do. They can’t perform new tasks, think outside the box, or do anything other than what they are programmed for.
· The need to hire high skilled support staff
With the implementation of robots in a business, it means that there is a need to hire programmers, operators, and repair engineers. The drawback is great news for potential employees but bad for economical-minded companies since they have to pay professional-level salaries.
· High start-up costs
Implementing robots in a business is a huge investment risk and very costly. Although most manufacturers eventually realize their investments, in the long run, it is quite expensive in the short run.
Ways Robotics Could Change the Future
There are several ways that robots have an effect on our future as humans. Here we look at a few of these ways.
1. Robots in education
At present, there is a thin line between individual learning and classroom learning. A single teacher can’t meet the personalized needs of each student in a classroom. Computer-based learning doesn’t replace the teacher but enables students to learn at their own pace.
2. Robots at home
Home robots have become part of our daily lives. For example, you can set up a vacuum cleaner to do your chores or schedule a warm home-cooked meal ready by the time you finish working. In addition, many multifunction robotic cookers can perform without human intervention; you only need to set them up.
3. Robots in Healthcare
The future of healthcare is quite interesting. Instead of visiting a primary caregiver to give you a check-up with a simple stethoscope, the robots will perform this task. They can interact with the patient, check on their conditions and evaluate the Need for further medical appointments. Pharmabotics will bring huge changes in medicine, whereby these ATMs for medicine can give medication to patients. It reduces the inconvenience of patients talking to strangers about their health issues
4. Robots in Automotives
Self-drive cars only seem real in movies, but we will soon realize this human intervention. Self-driving cars get smarter yearly, yet they remain rare on the roads. What makes this a challenge is AI computing and randomness by a human. Robots only work best with structured or predicted data.
While human behavior is never certain, autonomous vehicle engineers work to develop AI models that can respond to road obstacles. Tesla and Waymo continue to pursue this new trend to make self-drive cars a reality for people. The cars will make travel more accessible, improve policing behaviors and help reduce emissions.
Conclusion
The capabilities of artificial intelligence technology continue to grow as engineers and scientists continue to innovate and evolve robotics. As a result, robots are here to stay and are already part of our everyday life in several capacities.
It would be best if you familiarize yourself with what robotics involves and its pros and cons since they are part of our future. Robots are more likely to improve the quality of life for the billions of people in the world and even help us reach new horizons on our planet.