INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS
Recently there has been a lot of discussion about futuristic wars between
humans and robots, robots taking over the world and enslaving hu-mans. Movies like The Terminator, Star Wars, etc., have propogated
these ideas faster than anything else. These movies are beautiful works of fi c-tion and present us with an interesting point of view to speculate. However,
the truth is much different but equally as interesting as the fi ction. If you
look around yourself you will see several machines and gizmos within your
surroundings. When you use a simple pair of spectacles, do you become non-living? When an elderly person uses a hearing aid or a physically challenged
person uses an artifi cial leg or arm do they become half machine? Yes, they do.
Now we are rapidly moving toward an era where we will have chips embedded inside our bodies. Chips will communicate with our biological sensors and will
help us in performing several activities more effi ciently. An artifi cial retina is
almost at the fi nal stages of its development. Now we are thinking in terms of
nanobots helping us to strengthen our immune systems. Now we are already on
the verge of becoming half machine. Chips will be implanted inside our bodies
imparting telescopic and microscopic abilities in our eyes. Cell phones will be
permanently placed inside the ear. We will communicate with different devices
not through a control panel or keyboard; rather these devices will receive com-
mands from the brain directly. The next level of development will be the part
of the brain being replaced by chips, which will impart more capability to the
brain. You may ask, do we need all these? The answer is that the biological
evolution has already become obsolete. It is unable to keep pace with the rate
at which humans are growing. Many of our primary intuitions, such as mating
behavior, are still millions of years old. Evolution happens only after millions of years. But humans have built the entire civilization in only 10,000 years.
And now the rate of growth has become exponential. Now we need to replace
our brain’s decision-making software with faster/better ones. So, where are we
heading? Yes, we are slowly becoming robots. Robots are not our competitors
on this planet. They are our successors. Robots are the next level in evolution;
rather we can call it robolution. We will begin our journey with a brief history
of robotics.
humans and robots, robots taking over the world and enslaving hu-mans. Movies like The Terminator, Star Wars, etc., have propogated
these ideas faster than anything else. These movies are beautiful works of fi c-tion and present us with an interesting point of view to speculate. However,
the truth is much different but equally as interesting as the fi ction. If you
look around yourself you will see several machines and gizmos within your
surroundings. When you use a simple pair of spectacles, do you become non-living? When an elderly person uses a hearing aid or a physically challenged
person uses an artifi cial leg or arm do they become half machine? Yes, they do.
Now we are rapidly moving toward an era where we will have chips embedded inside our bodies. Chips will communicate with our biological sensors and will
help us in performing several activities more effi ciently. An artifi cial retina is
almost at the fi nal stages of its development. Now we are thinking in terms of
nanobots helping us to strengthen our immune systems. Now we are already on
the verge of becoming half machine. Chips will be implanted inside our bodies
imparting telescopic and microscopic abilities in our eyes. Cell phones will be
permanently placed inside the ear. We will communicate with different devices
not through a control panel or keyboard; rather these devices will receive com-
mands from the brain directly. The next level of development will be the part
of the brain being replaced by chips, which will impart more capability to the
brain. You may ask, do we need all these? The answer is that the biological
evolution has already become obsolete. It is unable to keep pace with the rate
at which humans are growing. Many of our primary intuitions, such as mating
behavior, are still millions of years old. Evolution happens only after millions of years. But humans have built the entire civilization in only 10,000 years.
And now the rate of growth has become exponential. Now we need to replace
our brain’s decision-making software with faster/better ones. So, where are we
heading? Yes, we are slowly becoming robots. Robots are not our competitors
on this planet. They are our successors. Robots are the next level in evolution;
rather we can call it robolution. We will begin our journey with a brief history
of robotics.
nice
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