Get To Know 51+ Astonishing Robot Facts Here

Sridevi Tolety
Apr 10, 2023 By Sridevi Tolety
Originally Published on Feb 02, 2022
Edited by Naomi Carr
Fact-checked by Nishtha Dixit
Pupils in science lesson studying robotics

A robot can be described as a human substitute.

A robot is a programmed machine developed to perform specific tasks. It can mimic or assist human beings.

Initially, robots were designed to perform specific jobs, but since the expansion in robotics, the uses of robots have extended. A robot can be fully automatic or something that is human-controlled.

History Of Robots

A robot is an automatic machine that can substitute for human beings. It is merely a programmed machine with a set of instructions assigned to accomplish a particular task.

Robots have a vast history starting with human-created automation. Mechatronics is the field that combines electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering to design high-tech by-products such as an industrial robot. Robots might be able to detect health issues in a more precise way than medical specialists.

  • Robotics was first mentioned in Isaac Asimov's 'Runaround', which is a science-fiction story.
  • Ancient Romans and Greeks created simple automatons for their religious ceremonies and clocks.
  • Ali Jazari, an Arab polymath, left behind various theories and inventions like a large elephant clock, an automaton waitress, and a musical robot band.
  • By the 18th century, technology was well understood, which resulted in further progress in automaton development.
  • The very first biomechanical automaton was designed by a French engineer; he developed a human sculpture that plays the flute.
  • The Victorian Age increased the momentum of actual robotics.
  • During the early and mid 19th century, Charles Babbage (1791-1871) invented the basis of computer science, his most booming projects being the distinction analytical engine and the engine.
  • The word robot was coined by Karel Capek of Rossum's Universal Robots and derives from an old Slavic word that was synonymous with forced labor or monotonous.
  • 1930 saw the functioning of industrial robots.
  • During the '50s, a robotic arm, the Unimate, was developed by George Devol.
  • The Unimate was used for transporting die casting; the device was made operational in New Jersey and started working in 1961.
  • Joseph Engelberger, a robotic entrepreneur, and the Devol Company stand out amongst robot simulating companies.
  • The mid '50s saw the development of automated welding lines.
  • During 1968 and 1969, Kawasaki achieved a licensed Unimation structure of a hydraulic robot, and GM had acquired 90% of body welds utilizing Unimates.
  • Stanford University developed a Standard Arm in 1969, using small parts assembled together, integrating pressure and touch feedback.
  • Leonardo da Vinci, well-known as an artist, invented the mechanical knight, a humanoid arrangement whose entire body was armor shielded with a sword in one of his hands for defense.
  • 'The Mechanical Man', an Italian film produced in 1921, was the first movie to show robot combat.
  • The '70s saw automatic welding, microprocessor robots, and many developments in the field of robotics.
  • Artificial Intelligence has bestowed robots with behavior like humans through the use of computer chips.
  • Though industrial robots first bloomed in the United Nations, they did not work well at the time.

Uses Of Robots

Robots have replaced humans as a cost-effective option in many fields of work. Also, they perform some jobs better than humans. These artificial intelligence machines can be used for hardships without errors, which cannot be assigned normally to a human being. Following are a few facts about the uses and types of robots.

  • The greatest thing about robots is that they can execute repetitive tasks without becoming fatigued or bored, and they are more accurate than humans.
  • Robots do not have the urge to sleep, eat food, or get ill, and they can't complain!
  • Activities like exploring inside a gas tank, traveling Mars, exploring a volcano, or a hazardous contaminated environment, can be assigned to robots.
  • Robots can paint, weld, drill, and manage unsafe materials while cutting back on hazards, mistakes, and production costs.
  • Industrial robots can be useful in diffusing bombs without the risk of death.
  • A few robots are also crucial in performing some delicate surgeries.
  • Robots created to research planets are called planet rovers, which efficiently send radio signals from other planets to Earth with much of the work done by themselves without receiving any protocol from Earth.
  • A programmable robot could even assist you in domestic chores. Care robots and home robots are such examples.
  • A Japanese company developed a nursing robot, Robear, which is robust but has a gentle touch.
  • Robot farmers are going to be the next development in robotics; these robot farmers can do everything from harvesting crops to all related plant and seed activities.
  • Lack of reliability has restricted industrial and service robots, but toy robots are comparatively more reliable.
  • Russians developed unmanned round vehicles embedded with machine guns and other military equipment.
  • A robot developed by scientists and engineers of the Georgia Institute of Technology dived 1640 ft (500 m) deep into a seabed through a 12 in (30.48 cm) diameter cavity in the Ross ice shelf to discover why ice melts rapidly during summer.

How To Make Robots

A robot is a configuration of mechanical and electrical components designed to perform specific tasks. Robots require specific components to perform every specific task. Below are a few interesting facts about how robotics is used to create robots.

  • Robots are programmed with instructions that direct robots to execute the designated task.
  • One of the key components of a robot is a central processing unit or a control system.
  • This control system contains the necessary protocols that signal the robot to use its components.
  • The robot receives a stimulus from sensors and these sensors are electrical signals prepared by the controller.
  • Sensors like microphones, video cameras, photoresistors provide a robot with the ability to communicate with the outer world.
  • Robots are provided movement with the help of actuators.
  • Actuators comprise motors that move as a team to trigger the robot's movement on receiving signals from the control system.
  • Actuators could be made of metal or elastic and are operated by compressed air.
  • And robots need energy for them to survive as well, which is provided to them in the form of AC power supply for static robots, but most robots run on a lead-acid battery supply.
  • Expensive batteries for the high-end configured industrial robot contain silver-cadmium.
  • While designing a robot, it is important to consider weight, safety, lifecycle, and replaceability factors.
  • Each robot is externally embedded with physical effector components that help the robot carry out its tasks.

Fun Facts About Robots

Robots are becoming savvier and more helpful to humans in most industries. At the moment, robots perform medical practices, act as hotel personnel, do household chores, defuse bombs, amuse us through games, and accomplish various other duties.

  • In the late 1730s, the first inventions of an automaton by Jacques de Vaucanson were a flute player that could play 12 songs and a mechanical duck with 400 parts that could even eat and digest food.
  • In 350 BC, Aristotle, in his book Politics predicted that human slavery would be replaced by automatons, which we could consider to be Roombas.
  • Greek philosopher Archytas invented the first flying device; it was a flying pigeon that would produce steam on heating and thus took flight.
  • Roboticist, Mark Roshiem, developed a protocol for da Vinci's robotic knight in 2002, which could wave and talk, and later he used these theories to infuse robots he developed for NASA.
  • The first robot to acquire citizenship was the Hanson Robotics creation, humanoid robot Sophia; in 2017, which was granted citizenship of Saudi Arabia.
  • Some people suffer from panic attacks and anxiety when a robot approaches them, which is called Robophobia. Included in this list are Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk.
  • A robotic arm, which has six joints of seven metal partitions, is the standard for manufacturing a robot created with sensors operated by a computer.
  • During the '80s, 70% of robots created were dedicated to the automotive industry to perform welding, dispensing, and painting.
  • In 2017 Stuart Russell, a professor at Berkeley University, California, claimed that the technology to construct a killer robot exists already and should be banned for the safety of humans.
  • One of the most impressive robots ever created is the humanoid robot BINA 48, which was made to replicate the wife of Terasams co-founder, programmed by David Hanson. BINA can emote all 64 facial expressions and improve her grammar.
  • Hans Moravec, a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, estimates that by 2040, robots will evolve as a species and could perform every task a human can.
  • Nanobots are microscopic robots, conceived to fit into little spaces to execute a process. The expectancy is that nanobots can someday be inducted into the human body bloodstream to accomplish delicate surgical processes that are too complex for normal surgery.
  • The robot, Janken, uses high-speed reaction and recognition against the human hand to win rock paper scissors every time.
  • The first learned case of someone being killed by a robot occurred in 1979; a robot killed a factory worker in Michigan.
  • Surgical robots, aerobats, and microbots are just a few types of robots.
  • The future is the robot; research indicates that almost 60% of British people assume that there will be a robot in each house in the next 50 years and some of them can't imagine a life where a robot isn't present in the family.
  • The only limitation a robot has is that it does not have a brain like humans. Still, robotics remains a great means to serve humans, as robotic technology has been able to provide people with lost legs and arms. 
    Article image credit:  TY Lim / Shutterstock.com

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Written by Sridevi Tolety

Bachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

Sridevi Tolety picture

Sridevi ToletyBachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

With a Master's degree in clinical research from Manipal University and a PG Diploma in journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sridevi has cultivated her passion for writing across various domains. She has authored a wide range of articles, blogs, travelogues, creative content, and short stories that have been published in leading magazines, newspapers, and websites. Sridevi is fluent in four languages and enjoys spending her spare time with loved ones. Her hobbies include reading, traveling, cooking, painting, and listening to music.

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Fact-checked by Nishtha Dixit

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature

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Nishtha DixitBachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature

Nishtha is an experienced SEO writer and editor, with a passion for writing and self-expression. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate major in Literature and Communication and a minor in Political Science from the University of Delhi. Nishtha has completed a certificate master course in English from the British Council and has been appointed as the editor for the bi-monthly magazine of the University of Delhi.

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