In simple terms, a robot is a mechanical device that is intended to do the work
a human would normally do. Robots can be as simple as a mechanical arm that helps
assemble cars in a car assembly plant, or as complicated as a two-legged mechanical
robot that looks very much like a real person. Robots are getting more and more
sophisticated each day. The robot to the left is named ASIMO. He was created by
Honda and is a little over 4 feet tall. He can walk and even run on two legs. Asimo
can recognize moving objects flying through the air. He can recognize people’s faces
and greet them by name. He can distinguish sounds and “hear” too. Asimo, like most
robots, is made possible by very sophisticated computers. The name ASIMO stands
for “Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility”. Although Honda will not admit it, it
is more likely that Asimo is named after the famous science fiction writer, Isaac
Asimov, who wrote the book I, Robot, a book that listed the Three Laws of Robotics
for the first time First Law – a robot may not injure a human. Second Law – a robot
must obey orders. Third Law – a robot must protect its own life as long as the protection
does not conflict with the First or Second law. Isaac Asimov is also credited with
coming up with the word “robotics”. The first recorded mention of the word was in
Asimov’s 1941 book, “Liar!”, after which Asimov was surprised to learn that the
word had not already existed (many believe the word had also been mentioned in a
1921 play in Czechoslovakia).
One of the first drawings of a robot was made by the famous painter, Leonardo da
Vinci in 1495. da Vinci’s notebooks, which were discovered in 1951, contained drawings
of a mechanical humanoid that could sit up, wave its arms, and move its head and
jaw. Nobody knows if Leonardo actually attempted to build the device. Later on,
in 1926, Westinghouse Electric Corporation created Televox, the first robot put
to useful work. They followed Televox with a number of other simple robots, including
one called Rastus and another named Elektro. It was about this time that computers
came into being, an innovation that would let people build much more powerful robots.
Today, robots have been commonplace and are even beginning to appear in people’s
homes. The Roomba vacuum cleaner appeared in 2002 and is now living in almost 3
million homes across the world. Robots are also commonly used to detonate bombs
(a job much too dangerous for humans) and to explore far away planets. Many believe
that robots will appear in every home within the next 10 years.
