Lecture

The Future of Robots: Trends and Challenges

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Description

This lecture explores the evolution of robotics, from early adaptive machines in the 1950s to the emergence of artificial intelligence and the limitations faced by AI in the 1970s. It delves into Rodney Brooks' concept of robots adapting to their environment, the idea of intelligence stemming from interaction between brain, body, and environment, and the development of animal-inspired robots. The lecture also discusses humanoid robots, the rise of cobotics, the challenges of human-robot interaction, and the concept of robots learning autonomously. It concludes by contemplating the diverse forms and economic significance of future robots, the legal implications and responsibilities associated with robotics, and the evolving legislation around robots and AI.

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Related concepts (12)

Robotics

Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of electronics and communication, computer science and engineering. Robotics involves the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrates fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, information engineering, mechatronics engineering, electronics, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, control systems engineering, software engineering, mathematics, etc.

Robot

A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.

Human–robot interaction

Human–robot interaction (HRI) is the study of interactions between humans and robots. Human–robot interaction is a multidisciplinary field with contributions from human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, robotics, natural language processing, design, and psychology. A subfield known as physical human–robot interaction (pHRI) has tended to focus on device design to enable people to safely interact with robotic systems. Human–robot interaction has been a topic of both science fiction and academic speculation even before any robots existed.

Bio-inspired robotics

Bio-inspired robotic locomotion is a fairly new subcategory of bio-inspired design. It is about learning concepts from nature and applying them to the design of real-world engineered systems. More specifically, this field is about making robots that are inspired by biological systems, including Biomimicry. Biomimicry is copying from nature while bio-inspired design is learning from nature and making a mechanism that is simpler and more effective than the system observed in nature.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of human beings or animals. AI applications include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search), recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix), understanding human speech (such as Siri and Alexa), self-driving cars (e.g., Waymo), generative or creative tools (ChatGPT and AI art), and competing at the highest level in strategic games (such as chess and Go).

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