Robotics engineering designs, builds and programs robots, machines that sense their environment and act on it through actuators under some degree of autonomous or programmed control. It draws together mechanical design, electrical and control systems engineering, and software, and spans applications from industrial assembly-line robot arms to autonomous vehicles, surgical robots and robots sent to explore other worlds. Modern robots typically run on modular software architectures such as the Robot Operating System, a widely used framework that lets engineers build flexible systems for tasks like motion planning, perception and autonomous decision making.
Facts
Core ConcernThe design, construction, control and programming of robots that sense their environment and act on it under autonomous or programmed control. 1 Core PrincipleRobotics engineering draws primarily on mechanical, electrical, software and artificial-intelligence engineering at once, because a working robot needs a body, power and sensing, and a controlling program engineered together rather than bolted on afterward. 2 Disputed
Origin YearThe first industrial robot, Unimate, was installed on a General Motors production line in 1961; robotics crystallized into a distinct academic and engineering field through the 1960s and 1970s that followed. Connections
Associated With
Industrial robots are a robotics product
A robot physical structure, actuators and manipulators are principally mechanical engineering design problems.
Robot, Inventions Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field
Robot behavior, perception and control depend on software running on embedded systems.
Surgical robots are a robotics application
Includes
Source George Devol (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Joseph Engelberger (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Victor Scheinman (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Open Questions
Source Robot (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source 2. Robotics Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
It involves a multidisciplinary approach, drawing primarily from mechanical, electrical, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) engineering.
Lead section, opening definition of robotics engineering
Robotics engineering is a branch of engineering that focuses on the conception, design, manufacturing, and operation of robots.
Fundamental disciplines section, kinematics subsection
Robotics engineers use forward kinematics to calculate the positions and orientations of a robot's end-effector, given specific joint angles, and inverse kinematics to determine the joint movements necessary for a desired end-effector position.
Software architectures and frameworks subsection
A popular framework in the field is the Robot Operating System (ROS), which facilitates communication between different subsystems and simplifies the development of robotic applications.
View the Source IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, About (ieee-ras.org)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersMission statementQuote, Mission statement
To foster the development and facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in Robotics and Automation that benefits members, the profession and humanity.
George Devol (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: George DevolView the Source Joseph Engelberger (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Joseph EngelbergerView the Source Victor Scheinman (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Victor ScheinmanView the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Who actually coined the word robot: Karel Capek, who used it in his 1920 play R.U.R., or his brother Josef Capek, whom Karel later credited as the actual originator of the word?
Karel Capek popularized robot in R.U.R. and is popularly credited with coining it, but in a 1933 letter responding to an Oxford English Dictionary etymology inquiry, Karel himself stated that his brother Josef suggested the word, derived from the Czech word robota, meaning forced labor.
What would resolve this Corroborating primary correspondence or contemporaneous documentation, beyond the account Karel gave later, confirming the specific nature of the contribution Josef made.
History of TechnologyWikipedia contributors, Robot (Wikipedia)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is kinematics, and why does a robotics engineer need it?
Kinematics is the mathematics that lets a robotics engineer predict and control how a robot moves. Forward kinematics calculates where a robot's end effector ends up given a set of joint angles, while inverse kinematics works backward, finding the joint movements needed to reach a target position, calculations that make precise tasks such as object manipulation or locomotion possible.
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