Robot Revolution

Children all around the world have a similar interest in robots. Check ePals.com to find schools in a wide variety of countries where students are eager to collaborate on robotic projects.

      The word "robot" was first used in Czechoslovakia by the playwright, Karel Capek, to describe human-looking machines that could do the same job over and over again. Nowadays, robots utilize software, computer chips, sensors, microphones, lasers, video screens, wireless communications, remote controls, solar power, nanotechnology, and gyroscopes. Robotic devices can replace injured body parts, like legs and arms; load and unload ships; install and weld parts on an assembly line and under water; work in outer space; operate on the human body; enter the body to fight disease and diagnose illnesses; carry supplies around offices and hospitals; perform dangerous tasks like checking for bombs and hunting for survivors buried in rubble after an earthquake; hit military targets; and create special effects for theme parks and movies. Now, they are about to work alongside people in electronics factories, too.

     Some robots are human-shaped, humanoids that move like persons; others look like machines. YoungExplorers.com, mindware.com, and Museumtour.com offer both varieties. With the help of a detailed manual, children can use the programmable rover they sell to make a robot that avoids obstacles and works for them.

     Usually, robots prefer perfectly predictable conditions. The Roomba robot, for example, can scoot around the floor sucking up dust and dirt, but, when we tried to use it in a women's clothing store, it would get stuck in the dressing rooms. Children can see if they can clean a floor with their own "Brush Robot" from mindware.com.

     Students (and adults) from all over the world who design their own robots enter competitions. Details about these events are available at robogames.net and robotbattles.com. A variety of websites offer free robot designs to get you started. Also, teens 13 to 18 can enter the annual Google Science Fair by going to googlesciencefair.com. Submissions this year are due by May 12, 2014.

     Scientists are trying to design robots with artificial intelligence that can think on their own and human cyborgs implanted with robotic parts connected to their nervous systems and the outside world. Some argue that a machine may have the appearance of having conscious understanding without actually having it. Creating an ethical and legal system to deal with artificial intelligence and cyborgs could be a job robots cannot handle.

     An article in Time magazine (September 9, 2013) noted three types of jobs that will not be replaced by robots: 1) solving unstructured problems (writing a persuasive legal brief or designing a corporate strategy); 2) working with new information (driving a truck in the fog on a rain slicked road); and 3) performing non-routine manual tasks (styling hair or fixing plumbing).

     One further note. In the October, 2013 issue of The Futurist, the magazine of the World Future Society, Julie Carpenter, a researcher at the University of Washington, discusses the relationship between military personnel and the robots they use on the battlefield. Ms. Carpenter is concerned about the human, emotional attachment that can develop. She found that some soldiers name their robots for their girl friends. A soldier whose robot had saved his life may not want the robot to return to danger on the battlefield. And if a robot is damaged or fails to perform correctly, a soldier may get angry with it or think of it as a "poor little guy" that needs a proper funeral.

     To keep up with developments in the field of robotics, check the library for Clive Gifford's How to Build a Robot, Mark Beyer's Robotics, and later books. If you want to draw a robot, like I did for this post, pick up the book, You Can Draw It! Robots, by Maggie Rosier and illustrated by Steve Porter.