The Robot Institute of America designates a robot as “a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.”
Robotics requires a systems integration approach of concepts from Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, Software Engineering, and Computer Science.
Early robots were all programmed by a method called teach by showing, which involved moving the robot to a desired goal point and recording its position in a memory that the sequencer would read during playback.
Since the arrival of powerful computer, a programming language is used. The robot computer contains a language processor which interpret the task programs and provides the data required by the control program to direct the robot’s motions.
Robotics is already making a remarkable impact in medical care through the development of advanced prosthesis devices as well as robot-assisted surgery.
Robotics: Integration between computer science and engineering
