Definition
Machine
An apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task. Origin from mid-16th century (originally denoting a structure): from French, via Latin from Doric Greek makhana (Greek mekhane, from mekhos 'contrivance')
Robot
A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer. Origin from Czech, from robota 'forced labour'.
History
Origin of machines
Between the 1860s and the 1960s there was an extraordinary quantum leap in humanity’s capacity to transform raw metal into highly complex machines. Together with contemporary developments in chemistry and electrical technology, this revolution in metalworking formed the industrial backbone of the modern world.
Beginning of computerised automation
Today computers control almost all forms of automation. This began in the 1980s where they were used to control some parts of the manufacturing industry. Today computer integrated manufacturing, or CIM, is at the forefront of automation, controlling virtually the entire process of creating a component, from the design, engineering, to the forming or casting and to the machining stage using such as an intricate machine as a CNC.
Money involved
The worldwide market value for robot systems in 2011 is estimated to be $25.5 billion.
Use
Sectors
Machines and robots are used for many different things in many different sectors. Below is a list of examples of the different sectors that use robots in certain ways.
Medical robots
First used medically in 1985, robots now make an impact in laparoscopy, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, emergency response, and various other medical disciplines.
Journal of Robotics
Military robots
Unmanned systems are widely employed as weapons of war. The defence industry has had initial success selling pilotless aircraft for surveillance and missile attacks. Now, developers say demand for systems that work on land, or underwater, are the next frontiers.
Wall Street Journal
Space robots
Space robotics is generally divided into two main areas: robotic manipulators - such devices are deployed in space or on planetary surfaces to emulate human manipulation capabilities, and Robotic Rovers - they are deployed on planetary surfaces to emulate human mobility capabilities.
robotmatrix.org
Robots in automobile industries
In the automobile industry, robotic arms are used in diverse manufacturing processes including assembly, spot welding, arc welding, machine tending, part transfer, laser processing, cutting, grinding, polishing, deburring, testing, painting and dispensing.
robotmatrix.org
Electronics/Semi-Conductors
Application of clean room Robots in semiconductor manufacturing results in the reduction in scrap from broken wafers and chips, which translate into major cost savings in wafer handling.
robotmatrix.org
Food and beverage
The vast majority of robots in the Food & Beverage industry are found in the packaging area, with secondary functions such as case packing and palletizing dominating.
robotmatrix.org
Construction
Robots are used in the applications like inner pipe crawling, excavation, load transport, mining and submersion, bricklaying, earth work, foundations/steel-framework, prefabrication of reinforcement, pavement work and many others.
robotmatrix.org
Challenges
Unemployment
Some people see a big future challenges in machine automation for the labour market, stemming from the view that machines will be able to replace human workers more quickly than the market is able to create new jobs:
“Today machines can outplay us at chess, perform surgeries, manage airports, design buildings, act in films. Soon they'll compete with us in nearly every field. Will this cause mass layoffs and riots?”
Others disagree saying that automation will create new and better jobs:
"While automation may transform the work force and eliminate certain jobs, it also creates new kinds of jobs that are generally better paying and that require higher-skilled workers."
Ethics
The concern about automation is not restricted to the labour market, especially the military application of robotics, where machines autonomously decides whether to attack a human target or not has raised a lot of concern among human rights activists:
Robot warfare and autonomous weapons, the next step from unmanned drones, are already being worked on by scientists and will be available within the decade, said Dr. Noel Sharkey, a leading robotics and artificial intelligence expert and professor at Sheffield University. He believes that development of the weapons is taking place in an effectively unregulated environment, with little attention being paid to moral implications and international law.
Others have the opposite view on autonomous military robots:
Some people, like the roboticist Ronald Arkin, argue that killer robots would actually be more humane than human soldiers, because they’d never fire out of fear for their own safety and would never act out of vengeance or spite.
Possibilities
Work and leisure
Some argue that the introduction of autonomous machines on the labour market will give us two possible future scenarios; one in which the majority of people benefit from the work done by autonomous machines, resulting in fewer hours spent working. And another where the benefits are solely concentrated on those who own the machines:
If one machine can cut necessary human labour by half, why make half of the workforce redundant, rather than employing the same number for half the time? Why not take advantage of automation to reduce the average working week from 40 hours to 30, and then to 20, and then to 10, with each diminishing block of labour time counting as a full time job? This would be possible if the gains from automation were not mostly seized by the rich and powerful, but were distributed fairly instead.
Key Countries
Estimated operational stock of multipurpose industrial robots at year-end in selected countries. Number of units:
(numbers from 2011)
1. Japan (307,201)
2. North America (Canada, Mexico, USA) (184,679)
3. Germany (157,241)
4. Republic of Korea (124,190)
5. China (74,317)
Estimated annual shipments of multipurpose industrial robots in selected countries. Number of units
(numbers from 2011):
1. Japan (27,894)
2. Republic of Korea (25,536)
3. North America (Canada, Mexico, USA) (24,341)
4. China (22,577)
5. Germany (19,533)
Prospects
The future prospects of automated machines are many and contested but most agree that robots will play an ever increasing role in our future society:
Robots will be intelligent machines to be incorporated into both domestic and industrial life: they will help us to clean our houses, will milk cows on farms, and will be programmed to work 24 hours per day in factories without resting, with a yield equivalent to three day shifts.
Profit – People – Planet
Bottom of the Pyramid
Automated machines and robotics are often seen as relating to First World economies only. But there is an NGO that seeks to make the benefits of robotics accessible to the people of the Third World:
The NGO AFRON – the African Robotics Network has launched a $10 Robot Design Challenge. The aim is to encourage educational interest in robotics in Africa and other emerging countries.
Miscellaneous
The Internet of Things
One of the many factors that will change the future role of machines in our society is the ability of machines to communicate with each other, the so-called Internet of Things:
More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks ... When objects can both sense the environment and communicate, they become tools for understanding complexity and responding to it swiftly. What’s revolutionary in all this is that these physical information systems are now beginning to be deployed, and some of them even work largely without human intervention.
Transition to Globalisation
Self-driving Cars: The Next Revolution
The new technology could provide solutions to some of our most intractable social problems—the high cost of traffic crashes and transportation infrastructure, the millions of hours wasted in traffic jams, and the wasted urban space given over to parking lots, just to name a few. But if self-driving vehicles become a reality, the implications would also be profoundly disruptive for almost every stakeholder in the automotive ecosystem.
Globalisation > Economy > Transportation > By Land > Cars
Transition to Political Tools
Russia to Build Military Robots Lab
A military robots development laboratory will be set up at the Degtyarev arms factory in the central Russian city of Kovrov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.
Political Tools » National » Russia » Basic Structure » Security » Defence
Transition to Political Actors
Paparazzi with Drones
“It’s very real, it’s very frightening, and it’s very inevitable,” longtime Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman said of drone-armed paparazzi. With small smartphone-controlled drones already available for several hundred dollars, he thinks drones with cameras will become commonplace in Hollywood by next year.
Political Actors » Business » Media » National » USA
