The Future of Robotics: Advances and Applications
Some of us have grown up in a world where robots called C3PO and R2D2 were novel mysteries that seemed impossible, but today, they aren’t. Today’s world of robotics has evolved into a space where yesterday’s R2D2 is R5D4 and is sent into space to assess for security threats for pilots.
What many of us do not know is that yesterday’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (NASA’s C3PO), and the Jedi’s second-generation robotic droid series-2 (R2D2) were real robots that did real things. So did Red, R5D4. They all had important jobs. Today, those bots still have big futures.
We now live in a world where robots are an everyday occurrence. We see them on the big screen and imagine a world with them. Then we’ll go to the bank, a manufacturing line, or a website, and they are there assessing security threats or performing the most minute of functions.
When we met C3PO in 1977, today was the future. What will we think of R5D4 tomorrow? The future of robotics is more clear today than it was 56 years ago when C3PO was instructing another robot on what to do.
Future of Robotics: Advances and Applications
The future of robots is one that will never be bleak. Learn more about the field of robotics and what lies ahead right here.
Robotics Defined
When we hear the word robotics, it is easy to conjure an industry of astrophysicists and engineers deciding who we will all be at work tomorrow. That’s pretty close to the truth, but every day more and more everyday people are entering this field. And, it is changing the world one bit and one byte at a time. The field of robotics is a field that connects the mind and the machine. Today, it involves many industries and knowledge bases, many experts.
In the field of robotics, you need engineers, programmers, software experts, people that can build stuff, people that can’t, and even people that know how to answer the phones the right way. This field uses computer science, hardware, and the world’s greatest intelligence in order to recreate a machine that can perform better than a human. These are machines that must perform better. There would be no point in creating mechanics that were as good as or below human capacity, human production, and human error.
A machine can cut a slice of pie with 100 percent accuracy, where a human can’t. Machines have been perfecting this world since the Industrial Revolution began. Today, the Industrial Revolution has evolved into a place where we now have robots. Yes, they are replacing human jobs is a common complaint. It’s also the key benefit. That’s why we have them at all.
It’s easier to sacrifice a droid when assessing security threats than to send one of the Jedi. This is the rationale of the field of robotics. We need them to perform better than a human. So they do.
What Do Robots Do?
Robots think and robots do. Robots are appearing everywhere now to think and do things, even in software applications. A robot in a software program can now assess your fingerprint or your facial recognition, or crawl a website that you love every day to either send you some nice cookies or hold up your computer for ransom. At the bank, a robot can determine if you’re depositing a quality check or if you are entering the right PIN into a machine that is performing tasks that once employed 10 people.
Sensor technology is among the key innovations that are leading robots into the world to lead the world. Along with this, you are going to hear the words machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) frequently, because this is the field that is building the robots, both the robot hardware and the robot software. While it is said that robots are replacing jobs, the converse analogy is that they will also create them. They have to.
If we were to create a robot that could cut the perfect slice of pie, it would not replace the jobs of every baker in the world. In fact, it would help every baker in the world and provide more time and space in their day to create more pies. For the bakers that ran an economy from a pie slice, the world is a better place for them. This is what robots do. They will be everywhere one day, and we are getting closer to that every day.
The Advances and Applications To Expect in Robotics
It is predicted that robotics will change the economy and improve productivity in every sector by 2030. Specifically, in the manufacturing sector, you can expect to see 20 million fewer jobs and a 30 percent increase in automation. Whether the jobs are cognitive or hand-driven, they will change within the next 10 years because robots will be doing them, and doing them better. We expect to see this in every sector within the next 10 to 15 years.
Today, those jobs are going to need more technical knowledge, talent, and skill. You won’t need math and science as much as you will need knowledge on how to turn machines on and drive them appropriately. Even cooking dinner after work can become fully automated, but you will still get your meal from scratch. Today’s Instant Pots and Breadmakers are evidence of that.
In health care, robots are saving lives and improving the quality of life for millions of people all over the world. Where once a human would have to cope without an arm, today, they have to cope with a robot arm or legs.
For the truly ambitious, they go on to become world champion athletes. Today’s robots in health care are now also performing surgeries, and many doctors won’t do surgery without them. They can’t. The surgery wouldn’t exist without the robot. When someone’s life is on the line, having a bot that can provide laser-precision focus with fewer errors is worth the extra money. That money would pay the salary of the same doctor for one career, and probably last longer.
Consider a Career in Robotics
Building robots, maintaining robots, answering the phones for people that build robots, developing robots, programming robots, engineering robots, and more, are all jobs that the world needs to be filled today. You can enter this exciting field. Start with the best programming course you can find, or begin learning software applications like it’s your job. One day it could be, and it could be a job that changes the world.
