The Future Is Here: Use of Robots in Day to Day Life
In past several years, there has been a significant improvement in the technology. Robotics is one such department that is changing the way we lead our lives. Actually not just changing, but protecting our lives.
Here are the four robots that are changing the way we lead our lives:
1. Military Robots
These robots are specifically designed for military application. They are generally used by the military for search, rescue and attack operations. They are either remote controlled or are fully autonomous.
Few of the military robots:
- Foster-Miller’s TALON
TALON is a military robot developed by Foster-Miller company for the US army. It is a small remotely operated vehicle used for various missions ranging from patrol to combat.
TALON is one of the fastest robot that can travel through sand, water and snow. It can even climb the stairs! The robot has 8.5 hours of battery life and can run for 7 days on standby mode. The TALON can be controlled from a distance of 1000m; it transmits to controller in color, black and white, infrared, and/or night vision.
The robot is controlled by a radio signal or a fiber optic link and provides continues data and video feedback to the controller. The controller unit from where the robot is controlled is portable and wearable.
- Foster-Miller’s SWORDS
Upon the success of TALON, the need for the weaponized robot was realized and SWORDS was developed. SWORDS - Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, is another weaponized version developed by Foster-Miller for the US Army. The weapons are mounted on the standard TALON chassis.
SWORDS can be fitted with M16 rifle, 5.56 mm SAW M249, 7.62 mm M240 machine gun, .50 cal M82 Barrett rifle, a six barreled 40 mm grenade launcher or quad 66 mm M202A1 FLASH incendiary weapon. A single unit costs $230,000 and is expected to cost $180,000 when it hits mass production.
The robot is not autonomous and needs to be controlled by a soldier. The company is currently working on Virtual Reality goggles and cutting edge console for its future deployment.
2. China’s Anbot “The Police Robot”
The China has developed its very own police robot “Anbot.” The Anbot is 1.5 meter in height and weighs 78 kilos; it just looks like Doctor Who's Daleks.
The Anbot has four high-definition cameras which will capture human faces and send them to human coworkers for further analysis.
It is not only a surveillance robot, it can even capture and incapacitate threats. The thief or terrorist can't run away from it. The robot can accelerate up to the speeds of 18 km per hour.
It is now working round the clock at Terminal 3 of Shenzhen airport.
3. Robots in Manufacturing Industries
Past several years has seen significant growth in the use of robots in manufacturing industry. Mainly they are being used in Material Handling systems. It is estimated that 25% to 30% of the cost of the product accounts for material handling systems. So, you can see why there is so much growth of robots in Industries.
Conventionally the worker used to move the raw material and products from source to destination in a factory. There are several disadvantages of a conventional method, some are:
- Worker problem
- Not so efficient
- the worker cannot maintain schedule and high workloads
The Automated guided vehicles have taken place of conventional method. These robots are designed to carry the payload from source to destination. The path they follow is preprogrammed. If any obstacle(human) is detected in its path then the robot stops and waits for the obstacle to move away from its path.
Industrial robots are the other type of robots which assist in manufacturing of a product. Typically they have a robotic arm which can move in two axes. Sometimes the manufacturing process maybe hazardous. In such cases, it eliminates the hazardous interference of worker with manufacturing process. Worker controls the manufacturing process indirectly via industrial robots.
4. Floor Cleaning robots for the home environment:
Yes, they have come to our homes also! Since 2008 we have seen a lot of home bots being developed by bigger companies like LG. We have become busy in our day to day lives to such an extent that there are robots developed to help you clean your house. LG Roboking, iRobot are few of them.
Common Features of home cleaning robots:
- They are Autonomous; they map and clean your house independently
- They can be controlled with the help of a mobile application
- They return to docking station for self-recharging
- Scheduled cleaning; so that it can clean your house when you are at office
LG Roboking detecting obstacles and cleaning the floor
So far, we have seen the use of robots in the military sector, police patrolling, industries and also in our homes! There several other sectors in which the robots are being used, one such sector is health sector. A decade or a two back we couldn't imagine the robots in our lives to such an extent; so who says Future is not here?
