Who hasn't dreamed of having their own robot? Imagine -- a helper who never
gets tired and never complains. A helper who is afraid of nothing and is stronger
than any person could ever be.
That is one vision of robots. It's the one depicted most often in movies
and in science fiction books. But robots are everywhere. We don't notice most
of them because most aren't designed to look like you and me.
Robotics engineers are the designers behind the scenes, making these robots
and robotic systems to do the work humans often cannot do, or would prefer
not to. Robots make jobs easier, safer, and more efficient.
"The definition of robotics that we use currently is this," says robotics
professor Jurek Sasiadek. "It's simple and very short, but very good: Robotics
is the intelligent connection of perception to action.
"So the definition of robot now is very wide," Sasiadek adds. "The robot
is the manipulator that, let's say, does some kind of assembly. But a robot
could also be in the form of a UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle, so an aircraft-like
device, or a car-like device in the form of unmanned ground vehicles. And
the other possibility is that you could have... medical robots that are completely
different, of course, in the sense of design."
Robotics engineers spend a lot of time designing. They design the plans
needed to build a robot. They design the processes needed for the robot to
work. Sometimes they design the computer chips needed inside the robot.
They've even been known to design the actual machines needed to put the
robot together. Only when all the designing is done do they actually get busy
putting all the pieces together.
Robotics engineers build many different kinds of robots to be used in all
kinds of work. Before a robot can be built, a robotics engineer must do lots
of research to determine exactly what the robot needs to do and how it's going
to do it.
Building a robot sometimes takes a very long time. In fact, some engineers
may only work on a few different projects in their entire career. Robots are
extremely complicated and the building process can be tricky. That's why robotics
engineers must be very thorough in their work, and extremely patient.
Many robotics engineers share their time between an office and a lab.
They may spend some days at their desk, writing papers and working on plans.
Other times they may spend the entire day in the lab, working on just one
small mechanical part of a robot.
"A lot of robotics research still takes place in simulations, because robots
are expensive and if there's something wrong with your software you could
end up destroying your hardware," says robotics engineer Kjerstin Williams.
Robotics engineers work in several different industries building several
different kinds of robots. These robots can be designed to perform a variety
of different job functions. Often, they do what humans don't want to do, like
performing repetitive motions, or working in an area that is unsafe.
Robots are commonly used in the automotive industry along the assembly
lines. They can also be found working in electronics, food packaging, appliance
building, surgery, and in space. Robots are also used by the military and
by police units in their bomb squad departments.
According to the Robotic Industries Association, a total of 7,406 robots
valued at approximately $402 million were ordered from North American companies
during the first quarter of 2016.
By 2018, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) estimates that
2.3 million industrial robots will be in operation across the globe.
Robotics engineer Richard Hooper expects the field of robotics to keep
growing. But this means working on robotic systems -- not necessarily on robots
like those you see in science fiction movies.
"I'm not sure how much, or ever, there will really be a demand for robots
from science fiction -- humanlike things that aren't human," says Hooper.
"Some people think there will be, but I'm not convinced."
Robotic systems include machines such as ATMs and kiosks for automatic
ordering of fast food: "Machines that basically don't look like humans but
they replace the jobs that humans do," Hooper explains. "For example, you
may never talk to a bank teller again in 10 years, and at McDonald's you may
just order food with a keypad and the food will just pop out."