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Workers Called "Robots" - Robotniks Doing Robota!

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Robots in the House? Robotic Cars? Robots in Medicine? Military Robots?

When I was a kid, robots were still mostly imaginary concepts presented by the science fiction writers and science fiction movie producers of those times.

Bot now (pun intended), robots are everywhere--maybe not appearing as they did in the science fiction illustrations and movies from the 1950s and 1960s, but they are working around us and sometimes alongside of us (and even sometimes in spite of us).

Some folks have the Roomba robotic floor cleaner, or perhaps a robotic lawnmower. You might not have a car like Kitt in Knightrider, but your dash-mounted GPS unit talks and tells you where to turn to avoid traffic congestion or your car tells you that your seat-belt needs to be fastened. Our military uses robots to defuse suspected troop hazard areas. Police departments use robots to investigate suspect areas. Medical centers use robots to perform surgery. And, many of our manufacturing centers are loaded with robots that not only handle the raw materials or do the welding or assembly of products, but also use their sensors to read the bar codes on packages to load pallets and place them in sectioned warehouses for shipping.

Some of the robots we have around us work under our direct control through remote or wired manipulating controls. Other robots work independently based on their sensors and how they've been programmed to interpret the environmental factors they can sense.

This Squidoo lens will provide more information on the interesting and fascinating world of robots and how they've "come along" since I first discovered them.

Row, row, row your bot. Cute & colorful illustration of a retro tin robot rowing a boat. A PoptasticTees.com original.

Robot Apocalypse Dark T-Shirt

From: LowEnd Designs

Celebrate the Robot Apocalypse with this funny take on human evolution.

Robot Family Kids Hoodie

From: Jelene's Pop Shop! Tickles Goldfish & Friends!

See more designs like these on CafePress

They Aren't "Cognizant" Yet... They Still Need Human "Input" in Some Way... But, ...

Robots are getting more and more advanced... with more sensors and more advanced capabilities!

Although robots were envisioned more than 100 years ago (actually, more than 1500 years ago... depending on where you get your information and what you consider to be a "robot"), they really came into their own over the past 60 or so years.

Science fiction writers added these "workers" to their stories--either as minor characters or perhaps even as the main characters to their work.

Their "robots" are presented as machines (usually with some resemblance to human physiology such as arms or legs and a distinct head with sensors that resemble eyes and a speaker where a mouth might be) that can interact with physical objects and can do a range of tasks and actions. Science fiction robots also can perceive and absorb data on their local physical environments and can process data and respond to stimuli. Robots of the science fiction writers generally have "super-human" strength and senses. These robots also generally communicate directly with humans through sound-receivers (microphones) and speakers in normal human language. Like the robot called "Robby" in the 1954 movie "Forbidden Planet", robots tend to be programmed to communicate in 188 different languages (hey, how can you sell them in different countries if they only speak English or Japanese or Russian, eh?).

Robot Pics? Robot Images through the Photographic Process!

Dalek, looking at you by ☺ Lee J Haywood

Like Hamlet, but different... by HJ Media Studios

automatically generated by Flickr

Robotic Ideas? They've Been Around for Long Time! Centuries, in fact!

An attempt at armor or a try at a robot?

Think about the European "suits of armor"... when someone is decked out in that armor, they resemble a robot... You can't see the human inside, but the armor does have the general shape of a human. Leonardo Da Vinci was so impressed by seeing men in armor that he came up with drawings in 1495 for a "mechanical knight".

Even now, you can come up with Halloween Costumes made of Cardboard that you've sprayed with silver or metallic paint... and you can go either way--looking like a knight in armor or a robot... depending on the remainder of the paint job and your movement in the costume (and what your kids want the costume to be).

Anyway, back to the story...

Even before Da Vinci, in 1206 an Arab inventor named Al-Jazari came up with "programmable humanoid automatons" in a boat with robotic musicians. And, nope, he wasn't the first... ancient Greeks and Romans (100 B.C. to 100 A.D.) were describing all sorts of "machines" and "automations" (including fire-engines, wind organs, coin-operated machines, steam-powered engines, and other contraptions) in their manuscripts. Homer's Iliad--written perhaps around 900 to 800 B.C.--in Book XVIII, mentions mechanical servants in which Hephaestus, god of fire, creates new armor for the hero Achilles, assisted by mechanical devices that resembled human females.

Moving forward from Da Vinci, in Japan, the inventor Hisashige Tanaka came up with mechanical toys that could serve tea, fire arrows, and paint... and this was in the 1800s.

Robots got their "official" name in 1921 when Czech playwriter Karel Capek created the play, "R.U.R" ("Rossum's Universal Robots"). "Robot" is based on the slavic word for "work", "robota" (it means work in Russian, Czech, Polish, and other slavic languages). In Russia, "robotnik" is a worker. A "robotnika" is a female worker.

And, almost 3000 years later, the famous biochemist and prolific author of both non-fiction and science fiction books, Isaac Asimov, came up with the "Three Laws of Robotics".

Since then, scientists and engineers (and artists and writers) have come up with all sorts of robots--those that are merely functional and do only one task (such as the Roomba floor-cleaning device) or the multi-functional, general purpose robots that can perform duties such as patrolling as tour guides during the day and security monitors during the nights.

Robots by the Bay... eBay, That Is!

Robot Links - Yup, They're Out There!

Technovillains... what happens when your robot decides to go haywire?: Yup, technology is nice, but sometimes things go wrong... and if they are robots, and they get a mind of their own... well... you get the idea.
Household Robots Do Not Protect Users' Security And Privacy, Researchers Say: Do you have household robots? (Boy, that sounds like a science fiction question... but I guess it's real enough)... This article is for you!
Robots Net... a Daily Dose of Robotics ...: All the News that's Fit to Assimilate ... Interesting photos and news items in the robotics world.
News Stories in Pictures...: This feature in the Boston.com website has 32 pictures of robots. Interesting images to enjoy!
Jameco Electronics: A compendium of robot goodies... parts, toys, kits, pictures, and all sorts of other things... Check it out.
Industrial Robots for Sale.... You can get the big ones here!: Interesting photos of big industrial robots... Transformers anyone?
Astroboy - The Movie..: This is the Website for the Astroboy Movie... cool illustrations!
Would You Trust This Robot?: Surgical Robots are one thing, but would you willingly put your arm out so that a contraption holding a needle could zap you? Bedside manners aren't this thing's strong point!
Willow Garage and Their Amazing PR2 Robot!: This robot that Willow Garage is developing reminds one of the Jetson's robotic maid in that cartoon series by that name back in the 1960s. The future is here!

Workers Called "Robots" - Robotniks Doing Robota!

Robots in the House? Robotic Cars? Robots in Medicine? Military Robots?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Robot Wear and Robot Decorations!

They Aren't "Cognizant" Yet... They Still Need Human "Input" in Some Way... But, ...

Robots are getting more and more advanced... with more sensors and more advanced capabilities!

Robot Pics? Robot Images through the Photographic Process!

Robotic Ideas? They've Been Around for Long Time! Centuries, in fact!

Robots by the Bay... eBay, That Is!

Robot Links - Yup, They're Out There!

Read Up on Robots! You Can Read About Them, or Make Them, or Program Them!

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Maybe You Want to See Robots Up Close and Personal....

Detroit has a lot of "automotive assembly robots", Disneyland and Universal Studios near Los Angeles have "Animatronics"!

Robots In Motion! Video Captures of the Things Moving!

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