AY Honors/Robotics/Answer Key

Robotics

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1. Define the following terms:

a. Robotics

Robotics is a part of Engineering and Science. It has to do with the creation and building of robots, as well as computer programming. It is interdisciplinary, using mechanical, electrical and other kinds of engineering. Robots are sometimes used to do things that humans cannot, like finding and destroying bombs, or going places that are too hot, small, dangerous or distant for humans. Some robots look like humans, but most just look like machines.

Robotics comes from the word robot, which in turn comes from the Slavic word robota. Robota means labor, or work. [Source https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotics]

b. Automation

In the context of robotics, automation is when a device or a machine is changed in such a way that it can do the job it was created for without human intervention. With automation, human intervention is limited or absent. Some people fear that automation could eventually lead to significant unemployment in the manufacturing, engineering, and computing sectors of the economy.

There are several benefits to automation. 1. The output of the machine or device is more uniform, and that product quality is improved. 2. For tasks involved that are repetitive and boring, the machine an continue to automatically do the job without getting tired or making "bored" mistakes. 3. automated machines are designed so that humans no longer need to lift heavy weights or do dangerous things. [Source: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation]

2. Briefly describe three examples on how the use of robotics and automation has made an impact on society.

1. Automobile industry - cars are now affordable by the majority of people. Before robotics and automation, they took much longer to produce, and a lot more people had to be employed to make each part. Therefore the economics costs per car were much higher. 2. Technology - Highly precise items, such as electorics, computer devices, and other technologies are dependent on computer automation to perform microscopic and highly specific tasks repeatedly and without errors. The Laptop, mobile phone, medical devices, and other related industries are dependent on this highly automated engineering 3. Medicine - surgeries and medical procedures often involve robotics and automation to lower medical bills, decrease damage and healing times, and increase success rates for specific procedures that used to be impossible to reliably perform.