How Robots Help in Modern Life - Term Paper Example

Running header: Robots Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Essay outline Title: How robots help in modern life I. Introduction A) An overview of what robots are B) There are numerous uses for robots which give better results in addition to saving money and time II. Body A) Use of robots in automobile industry 1) Main areas of application of robots in the industry 2) Reasons for increasing usage of robots in the industry B) Use of robots in packaging industry 1) Robotic palletizing quickly growing in popularity among packaging industries 2) Reasons for application of robots in the industry C) Use of robots in electronics and communication industry D) Use of robots in dirty, dangerous and inaccessible tasks 1) Robots used for military purposes and space exploration 2) Robots used in duct cleaning E) Use of robots in homes 1) Robots used for cleaning tasks at homes 2) Robots used in aiding the elderly F) Use of robots in healthcare 1) Robots used in assisting the sick 2) Robots used in pharmaceuticals for prescriptions III) Conclusion A) Robots increased use in modern days attributed to their efficiency and effectiveness B) Due to technological improvements, robots will find greater applications in future How robots help in modern life Robots are mechanically intelligent agents that perform tasks on their own or with limited guidance. They are electro mechanical machines that are guided by computer as well as electronic programming and can be autonomous or semi autonomous. They are of two basic types including those that are used for research into human like systems such as TOPIO and those into more defined and specific roles like Nano robots and helper robots useful in making or moving things or performing dangerous tasks e.g. industrial robots(Angelo, 2007) . Initially, Robots were only used for performing repetitive actions such as gridding grains and lifting water. However, with modern advancement in technology, more complex robots have been developed and have greatly replaced human labor. Although initially there was opposition on the adoption of robots due to loss of employment, they have become very useful in modern societies and are used in tasks that may be dangerous to human health and in areas which are difficult to access. Furthermore, robots are known to perform tasks more efficiently than human beings and hence their increased use in the modern society. There are numerous uses of robots that not only give better results but also help to save money and time. Many industry segments are making use of robots in a bid to improve production capabilities and hence gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. The following are some of the ways robots help in modern life. Use of robots in automobiles industry Today, robots are mainly used in the automobile industries as well as their supply chains. In fact, use of robots in the industry accounts for more than sixty percent of total robot sales. The main areas of robot use in the car manufacturing industry are welding, body parts assembly, motor and gear box, painting as well as coating. The automobile industry finds robots to be better than use of human labor due to their cost effectiveness. Robots unlike human beings are able to work for the whole day without a break and continuously perform the same mundane tasks over and over again virtually non stop. Barring any computer errors, robots will also perform the job quicker and more efficiently than a human being can. They are also able to withstand exposure to extreme heat and chemicals in the air as well as general physical contacts with parts and structures unlike human beings (Mike, 2010). They are also not limited in performance of many assembly jobs such as painting, finishing, welding, riveting and installation. In addition, they do not have restrictions with moving heavy objects or issues of fatigue. Owing to the above reasons, automobile industries have become dominated by robots. An automobile factory contains many robots working on fully automated line of production with a robot for every ten human employees. On an automated line of production, a motor vehicle chassis on a conveyor is welded, glued and painted as well as assembled at a sequence of robot stations. Use of robots in packaging Due to their accuracy and efficiency, robotic palletizing is quickly growing in popularity among packaging industries. Equipment builders are designing more turnkey systems, creating more modular designs, replacing pneumatics with electromagnetic devices and automating inspection tasks in a bid to accelerate change over, increase speed, enhance efficiency, lower costs and meet consistent product quality. With their ability to handle many tasks from caps to pouches to torque converters, robots are able to meet the needs for big and medium sized companies. Owing to their smaller footprint and superior precision over conventional palletizing technology, robots offer major advantages foe packagers with low speed packaging lines (NIKU, 2001). As such, robots are nowadays extensively used for palletizing and packaging of manufactured goods. For instance, they are used for rapidly taking drink cartons from the end of a conveyor belt and putting them in the boxes or in offloading as well as loading machining centers. Use of robots in the electronics and communications industry The electronics and communications industry as we know it today would not be possible without the use of robots. It is the systematic and efficient automation which make it possible to frequently develop new products and bring them to the market at prices affordable to the customers. Robots can be positioned precisely and moved exactly along a continuous path ideal for manufacturing and handling processes in the highly sensitive sector. As such, manufacturing faults are eliminated. Furthermore, the fact that robots can be individually configured to changing requirements means that their use is not only reliable but also highly profitable and future oriented (John, 2005). For instance, pick and place robots with SCARA manipulators that remove tiny electronic components from strips and place them to the printed circuit boards (PCBs) with great accuracy are almost exclusively used in mass production of PCBs. The robots can place very many components per hour, greatly out performing a human in speed, accuracy as well as reliability. Another application of robots in industries is in the automated guided vehicles. These are mobile robots that follow markers or wires in the floor or use vision or lasers in transporting goods around large facilities such as ware houses, container ports or hospitals. Use of robots in dirty, dangerous and inaccessible tasks Robots have been helpful in performing tasks that are dirty, dangerous or inaccessible to human beings. Such jobs may be boring such as domestic cleaning or dangerous such as exploring inside the volcanoes. Other tasks may be physically inaccessible to human beings such as exploring other planets or performing laparoscopic surgery. In all these cases, use of robots has been found to be of paramount importance. Space probes and Telerobots It is true that almost all unmanned space probes ever undertaken were by use of robots. These were launched in 1960s and although with much limited abilities, their ability to fly and land indicated their status as robots. Such probes included the voyager probe, the Galileo probe among others. Robots are also widely used in performing tasks that human beings can not perform owing to their being dangerous, very far away or inaccessible. In this case, Telerobots are used. These are robots controlled from a distance by human operators. For instance, laparoscopic surgery robot allows the surgeon to work inside the patient on a smaller scale compared to open surgery which significantly reduces recovery time. Telerobots are also used when disabling bombs where the operator sends a small robot to disable it. Authors are also using longpen to sign books for a remote location teleoperated robots like the predator unmanned aerial vehicle are finding increased use by military. The pilotless drones are able to search terrain and fire on targets (Joseph, 2007). The US military is also using hundreds of robots including iRobot’s Packbot in Iraq and Afghanistan in diffusing roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices. If a manual brash was to be used in cleaning of hazardous and tight spaces of a building’s duct work, much time will be spent cleaning areas that are relatively small. Robots are therefore used primarily by most duct cleaners basically in industrial and institutional cleaning markets since they allow for faster and without having to expose workers to harmful enzymes released by dust mites (Andrew, 2010). Duct cleaning Robots are also used in cleaning of high security institutions including embassies as well as prisons. This is because they allow the work to be done without compromising the institution’s security. Hospitals as well as other government buildings with hazardous and carcinogenic environments and nuclear reactors have to be cleaned through the use of duct cleaning robots in such countries as Canada in a bid to improve work place safety in duct cleaning. Use of robots in homes With their prices falling and their becoming smarter and more autonomous, simple robots dedicated to perform single tasks have been designed to work in millions of homes. They perform simple unwanted tasks including vacuum cleaning, loan mowing as well as floor washing. Robots have also been developed for assisting the elderly and disabled at homes with common tasks. With the reducing number of young people to take care of the aged robots such as FRIEND and Hardy are being introduced to assist in taking care for the old (Robert, 2005). For instance, FRIEND is semi autonomous robot designed to offer support to the elderly in their day to day activities including preparing and serving meals. The robots also enable paraplegic patients with muscle diseases to perform tasks without being helped by therapists and nursing staff. Use of robots in healthcare Robots are nowadays being used in healthcare. They are used in assisting individuals who suffer from diseases like multiple sclerosis perform various functions without being assisted by nurses. They have also been used in robotized surgery, robotized motor coordination analysis and therapy; robot assisted mental cognitive and social therapy as well as robotized patient monitoring systems. Script pro has manufactured a robot designed for helping pharmacies in filling prescriptions which consist of medications in pill form (Francisca, 2005). The technician enters the prescription information into the robots information system. The system determines whether the drug is in the robot and sends the information to the robot for filling. The robot then delivers the medication to the patient on a timely basis leaving the technician with the only task of confirming whether the medication is correct. In other words, robots are also being used for assisting medical practitioners in better serving the patients. Conclusion As has been seen, Robots have found a wide range of applications in modern days. In fact, it is argued that robots are gradually replacing human labor in the modern society. Their increased use is attributed to their great accuracy and efficiency in doing work as compared to human labor. They have also increased cost effectiveness since they can work for longer hours without breaking unlike human beings. Furthermore, their ability to work in areas deemed as being dangerous to human beings has been a crucial factors to their increased adoption. Currently scientists continue embarking on research aimed at developing robots which will have all human qualities and which will perform all tasks that human beings perform. Therefore, despite the fact that robots have been blamed for replacing human labor and hence leading to unemployment, they have found great uses today and will continue serving a great role in various aspects of life in the modern world. References: Angelo, J2007, Robotics Reference guide to a new technology, Westport: Greenwood publishing group. Mike, W2010, The history of robotics, New York, Oxford University press. NIKU, S.B2001, Introduction to robotics, California, Prentice Hall. John, T2005, Uses of robotics, Industry week journal, vol.15, no.10, pp.23-26. Joseph, H2007, Future of robotics, robots uses trends and applications, Routledge, London. Andrew, K2010, Practical uses of robots in modern society, MacMillan, Melbourne. Francisca, G2005, Robotics for health care, Routledge, London. Robert, U2005, Robotics, Applications and social implications, New York, Oxford University press. Read More