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Business network PwC predicts that "30% of jobs could be automated by robots by the mid 2030's." Also a prediction is robots will have 50 million jobs by 2030. Why robots are taking over is because they are programmed to do exactly what told so they will have precise work.

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In this introduction to robotics, we take a look at what robots are, how they're currently used, and how they might shape the world in the future.
When we think of robots, we might imagine sci-fi inspired, human-like automatons. While these types of machines are still mostly still fictional, there are many other types of robots operating in the world today. But what are robots? And how will they change the world?

Here, we explore the history and types of robots, some pros and cons of using them, and how they might shape the future. We'll also outline some of the skills you'll need to get started with robotics and highlight some courses to help you build your skills.

What are robots?

Let's start with some definitions. Most of us are familiar with the concept of robots but may struggle to actually define them as a separate entity from other types of machines.

A more detailed definition explains that:

' Robotic systems can be defined as interconnected, interactive, cognitive and physical tools that are able to perceive the environment using sensors, reason about events, make plans using algorithms implemented in computer programs, and perform actions enabled by actuators '.

Robots are tools that can autonomously sense, reason, plan, and action. As well as performing tasks independently, they can also extend human capabilities, and mimic human actions. Ultimately, the word robot is derived from the Czech word , meaning forced labour.

What is robotics?

Robotics is the discipline of creating robots. It's a multidisciplinary field where computer science, engineering, and technology all meet. Those working in robotics focus on the design, construction, operation, and use of robots in a host of different settings.

Traditionally, the field of robotics centres on creating robots to perform simple or repetitive tasks at scale or to function in hazardous conditions where humans would otherwise be unable to work.

However, recent developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence means that we may see an increase in human-to-robot interactions in the future.

Types of robots

Although the concept of robots has existed for many years, it's only been in the last few decades that they've grown in complexity and use. Nowadays, there are many practical applications for robots across a wide range of fields.

Industrial. Perhaps the most common use of robots is for simple and repetitive industrial tasks. Examples include assembly line processes, picking and packing, welding, and similar functions. They offer reliability, accuracy, and speed.

Military. More recent developments mean that military forces worldwide use robots in areas such as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), triage and surveillance.

Service. One of the main growth areas in robotics is in the personal service industry. Uses include for manual tasks such as dispensing food and cleaning.

Exploration. We often use robots to reach hostile or otherwise inaccessible areas. A good example of exploratory robots is in space exploration , such as the Curiosity Rover on Mars.

Hazardous environments. Again, certain environments can be dangerous for humans to enter, such as disaster areas, places with high radiation, and extreme environments.

Medical. In the world of healthcare, medtech robots are being used in all kinds of ways. Whether it's managing laboratory specimens or assisting with surgery, rehabilitation, or physiotherapy.

Entertainment. Increasingly (particularly during the pandemic), people are buying robots for enjoyment. There are several popular toy robots, and there are even robot restaurants and giant robot statues.

Advantages and disadvantages of robots

The field of robotics offers solutions to many different problems. As we'll see, the future of robots could change the world we live in. However, that doesn't mean there aren't downsides to the technology.

Advantages of robots

They can offer increased productivity, efficiency, quality and consistency in certain settings.

Unlike humans, robots don't get bored.

Until they wear out, they can repeat the same process continuously.

They can be very accurate, even to fractions of an inch, making them particularly useful in the manufacturing of microelectronics.

Robots can work in environments that are unsafe for humans, such as with dangerous chemicals or in areas of high radiation.

They don't have physical or environmental needs in the same way humans do.

Some robots have sensors and actuators which are more capable than humans.

Disadvantages of robots

In some industries, robots are replacing human jobs, which can create economic problems.

On the whole, robots can only do what they are told to do, meaning they can't improvise (although AI and machine learning is changing this).

Current robotics technology means that most machines are less dexterous than humans and can't compete with a human's ability to understand what they can see. Although experts are working on developing robots that can better sense the world .

Robots with practical applications are generally expensive in terms of the initial cost, maintenance, the need for extra components and the need to be programmed to do the task.

The future of robotics: Will robots take over the world?

Other reports suggest that the stock of robots worldwide could reach 20 million by 2030, with automated workers taking up to 51 million jobs in the next 10 years. So, while they may not take over the world, we can expect to see more robots in our daily lives.

How robots will change the world

Workers will need technological skills, and there will be an even greater need for those with expertise in STEM. Similarly, many roles will require socioemotional skills, particularly in roles where robots aren't good substitutes, such as caregiving and teaching.

Robotics may also shape the future of medicine. Surgical robots can perform extremely precise operations, and with advances in AI, could eventually carry out surgeries independently.

The ability for machines and robots to learn could give them an even more diverse range of applications. Future robots that can adapt to their surroundings, master new processes, and alter their behaviour would be suited to more complex and dynamic tasks.

Ultimately, robots have the potential to enhance our lives. As well as shouldering the burden of physically demanding or repetitive tasks, they may be able to improve healthcare, make transport more efficient, and give us more freedom to pursue creative endeavours.

How to get started with robotics

If you're an aspiring roboticist, there are several ways you can get started in the industry. You'll need to work on some key skills, such as mathematics , , programming , and problem-solving. You'll also need to understand the basics of robotics and get some practical experience programming and building them.

With our course Robotics with Raspberry Pi , you can learn how to connect motors, add sensors and write algorithms to build your very own robot buggy. You could also develop expertise in a field such as deep learning to master areas of AI and machine learning.

You can also learn about some of the key areas within robotics, such as the use of robotics in healthcare and how we can build a future with robots .

Final thoughts

Although humanoid robots still remain mostly in the realm of science fiction, robotic machines are all around us. These feats of engineering already help us with many areas of life, and could transform the future for us.

Despite a variety of advantages and disadvantages, one thing's for sure; those with skills in robotics will be highly sought after in the future. Whether creating, programming or maintaining robots, there will likely always be work in the field of robotics.

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The future of robotics: How will robots change the world? - FutureLearn

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In this introduction to robotics, we take a look at what robots are, how they're currently used, and how they might shape the world in the future. When we think of robots, we might imagine sci-fi inspired, human-like automatons. While these types of machines are still mostly still fictional, there are many other types of robots operating in the world today.

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Farming: Robots will drive tractors to harvest crops.
Stockroom worker: Amazon has already caught on and now has some robots packing there boxes to ship to customers.
Soldiers: According to Robert Cone US army gen he says "robots could replace 1/4 of the military by 2030.

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10 jobs robots already do better than you

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Outsourcing these tasks to robots may free up humans for more rewarding work.

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In 2017 South Korea had the most robots at work at 710. To start you must make the robot move straight, side to side, and backwards. Algorithms are made to make it perform its task.

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Robots have been among us for a good two or three decades now. Nowadays, robots are more ingrained in our culture than ever before. Most robotic machines are in use in various assembly lines or perform intense physical operations in mines or industrial facilities across the world.

There are also home robots where engineers are programming robots to clean your house or perform other housekeeping duties. As of now, robotics programming is able to produce robots that perform relatively simple daily tasks. There are specific challenges in programming your own robot because a fully operational robot for home or office use requires six degrees of freedom (6DoF) to operate in the real world's three-dimensional space.

With that being said, your journey in learning about robotics programming should start with the 6DoF. This includes robotic capabilities to move forward and backward, up and down, turn left and right. It should also be able to rotate about three perpendicular axes, which are called pitch, yaw, and roll.

It is not that easy to learn how to program a robot that is able to perform all these moves and operate relying only on information coming from a limited number of sensors. Our robotics for beginners guide will give you the basics you should start with when programing your first robot.

Introduction to Robotics: How to Program a Robot

Let's start our robotics tutorial with the statement that your understanding of a robot as a smart machine is wrong. First of all, a robot might well be just a piece of software that has no physical presence in the real world. Java robotics programming is used to make foreign exchange trading robots that operate on different hardware such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. None of these Forex-trading robots have a physical body; these are just algorithms programmed to trade currencies in accordance with the set rules.

We also have autonomous robots and robots that need only limited or no autonomy to operate. Coding for robotics is different when you have an autonomous machine and another that performs a limited number of repetitive operations in an industrial environment. A good example of this is the robots that weld car components in an assembly line.

The problem of robotic programming depends on what you need to design. An autonomous robot will probably require certain machine learning capabilities or some degree of artificial intelligence, so you might have to use a different programming language compared to a robot programmed to perform a select number of functions.

Coding Languages for Robotics Programming

There are ongoing debates on how to program a robot and which programming language is the best one for robotics programming. Actually, it always depends on your ultimate goal and any language could fit the bill if you know what you want and how to achieve it.

There is a broad consensus that robotics programming should rely mostly on languages such as C/C++ and Python. C and C++ are the languages with which robotics beginners start, but you cannot just stick to these two languages if you want to develop as a good robot computer scientist.

Coding for robotics involves also numerous industrial robot languages by manufacturers of robotic equipment. Learning Pascal is a good starting point. This software deals with some of these proprietary robotics programming languages. But you still need to learn each of them in detail.

MATLAB is another tool you need to master when you study how to program a robot. Programming robots involves lots of mathematics and data analysis. You need the proper means to process data and get reliable results from your hardware and software sensors if you are to have your robot working as intended.

Once you have some knowledge in programming with C/C++, Python, Java, or another language used in robotics, the time has come to program your first robot. We suggest starting with a software robot as it is far easier to write a program code that performs functions not related to the control of a physical device.

Robotics Programming for Beginners

Image recognition and more recently natural language processing are among the core problems robotics scientists must solve in order to design robots that mimic human behavior. So, let's start our robotics programming tutorial with a simple algorithm to secure your home or office by introducing a robot that uses a connected camera to recognize faces.

How do you program such a software robot? All it takes are the following steps:

1. Install a motion sensor at your front door and connect it to a camera.

2. Instruct the motion sensor to activate the camera once someone is at the door.

3. The camera takes an image of the person's face as input.

4. Scan the image for a specific set of features.

5. Compare these features to a library of known faces.

6. If you find a match, instruct the door to open.

7. If there is no match, continue by taking another sort of action.

It does not matter what programming language you will use to program the software to perform this set of commands. Your first robotics programming algorithm will execute the above steps over and over again once the triggering condition is in place (i.e. someone activates the motion sensor at your front door).

This a simple robot that uses programmable hardware. In this case, the hardware includes a motion sensor, a camera, and a computer that will hold your database of known faces resides. The computer is especially needed to perform the very simple action of unlocking a door.

You can write this program in only 100 lines of code. However, this is only possible if you have ready-made software models that handle the facial recognition process. In truth, the skills to write the very facial recognition programming code are what make a software programmer an advanced coder.

Further Discussion on How to Program a Robot

Now that you have recognized your first visitor and let them in, you may decide to place a robotic arm that takes your visitors' coats and place them in a wardrobe.

What you need is to control a dynamic system that involves sensors and a robotic arm. What the arm should do is to recognize the coat in place, get it, and place it somewhere. How you do that? Your robotic arm programming will involve the following steps:

1. Application of control signals.

2. Results measuring.

3. Generation of new control signals calculated to bring your arm closer to our goal.

The process involves lots of mathematics and a constant flow of reliable data if you want your robot to get the coat and store it for your guest. It is about processing sensor data in real-time and then applying the fundamental logical operators "if" and "then" to control your robotic arm. If we simplify it further, you perform programming like "if too left, then move right" and "if too low, then move up." That is how coding for robotics works.

Final Thoughts on How to Program a Robot

Robotics is developing very fast. Keeping up with the latest developments in the field of programmable machines requires efforts that go beyond the familiarity with one or another language that is suitable for programming robots.

If you really want to master how to program a robot, you need to understand a robot's requirements and capabilities at both hardware and software level. Thankfully, a number of platforms enable robotics programming for beginners. This is done by eliminating much of the difficulties pertaining to knowing how hardware operates. It can also be done by programming systems at the level of zeroes and ones.

What you basically need in robotics for beginners is to have programmable hardware or pre-programmed software modules. Afterward, you can program to perform certain operations. In any case, you will need to learn one or more programming languages such as C/C++, Python, LISP, or Java to make even the simplest software/hardware robot work. When you advance further, it is advisable to get acquainted with tools like MATLAB. This ensures you are in full command and control of your robots.

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How To Program A Robot: Beginner's Guide | Robots.net

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Robots have been among us for a good two or three decades now. Nowadays, robots are more ingrained in our culture than ever before. Most robotic machines are in use in various assembly lines or perform intense physical operations in mines or industrial facilities across the world.

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The robot has 5 main ways to make it move. A body structure, muscle system, a sensory system, a power source, a brain system. The sensory system works by putting them on the end of the robot's arm to detect something hard or soft. The brain works with multiple spiked networks. After that then that simulates human behavior.

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The first robot was created in 1950 called Unimate. The creator's name is George C. Devol and is from Louisville Kentucky. It was not successful because no one bought it but it inspired many other people to create more.

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Origins of "robot" and "robotics"
Star Wars fame; to human-like machines that exist to serve their creators (perhaps in the form of the cooking and cleaning Rosie in the popular cartoon seriesthe Jetsons); to the Rover Sojourner, which explored the Martian landscape as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. Some people may alternatively perceive robots as dangerous technological ventures that will someday lead to the demise of the human race, either by outsmarting or outmuscling us and taking over the world, or by turning us into completely technology-dependent beings who passively sit by and program robots to do all of our work. In fact, the first use of the word "robot" occurred in a play about mechanical men that are built to work on factory assembly lines and that rebel against their human masters. These machines inR.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), written by Czech playwright Karl Capek in 1921, got their name from the Czech word for slave.
The word "robotics" was also coined by a writer. Russian-born American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov first used the word in 1942 in his short story "Runabout." Asimov had a much brighter and more optimistic opinion of the robot's role in human society than did Capek. He generally characterized the robots in his short stories as helpful servants of man and viewed robots as "a better, cleaner race." Asimov also proposed three "Laws of Robotics" that his robots, as well as sci-fi robotic characters of many other stories, followed:
Law One
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Law Two
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Law Three
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Definitions of "robot"
So what exactly is a robot? This actually turns out to be a rather difficult question. Several definitions exist, including the following:
"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of task."

Robot Institute of America, 1979

"An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human."

"a reprogrammable manipulator device"

British Department of Industry

"Robotics is that field concerned with the intelligent connection of perception to action."

Early Conceptions of Robots
One of the first instances of a mechanical device built to regularly carry out a particular physical task occurred around 3000 B.C.: Egyptian water clocks used human figurines to strike the hour bells. In 400 B.C., Archytus of Taremtum, inventor of the pulley and the screw, also invented a wooden pigeon that could fly. Hydraulically-operated statues that could speak, gesture, and prophecy were commonly constructed in Hellenic Egypt during the second century B.C.
In the first century A.D., Petronius Arbiter made a doll that could move like a human being. Giovanni Torriani created a wooden robot that could fetch the Emperor's daily bread from the store in 1557. Robotic inventions reached a relative peak (before the 20th century) in the 1700s; countless ingenius, yet impractical, automata (i.e. robots) were created during this time period. The 19th century was also filled with new robotic creations, such as a talking doll by Edison and a steam-powered robot by Canadians. Although these inventions throughout history may have planted the first seeds of inspiration for the modern robot, the scientific progress made in the 20th century in the field of robotics surpass previous advancements a thousandfold.
The first modern robots
The earliest robots as we know them were created in the early 1950s by George C. Devol, an inventor from Louisville, Kentucky. He invented and patented a reprogrammable manipulator called "Unimate," from "Universal Automation." For the next decade, he attempted to sell his product in the industry, but did not succeed. In the late 1960s, businessman/engineer Joseph Engleberger acquired Devol's robot patent and was able to modify it into an industrial robot and form a company called Unimation to produce and market the robots. For his efforts and successes, Engleberger is known in the industry as "the Father of Robotics."

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Star Wars fame; to human-like machines that exist to serve their creators (perhaps in the form of the cooking and cleaning Rosie in the popularcartoon seriesthe Jetsons); to the Rover Sojourner, which explored the Martian landscape as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission.