Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the fundamental elements of the digital technology with great prospects on humanity, channels of possibilities, and pathways for various newer innovations....
COVER STORY
The role of robotics and the technological advancements in the human race is fast becoming a digital trend, leaving strands of hope in the minds of men, and traces of doubt on the survival of humanity in the near-to-distant future.
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the fundamental elements of the digital technology with great prospects on humanity, channels of possibilities, and pathways for various newer innovations.
However, there are certain questions that call for retrospection on the result of our interaction with the robots: fundamental questions on how these systems affect our lives, possible usage mishaps, automation and its effects on human resources.
How long can humanity keep these systems in control, and what does the future hold for humanity with our daily interaction with these automated systems? These are pertinent questions that need to be discussed at length.
Graphical imagery and the depiction of sci-fi movies and books create different notions on the interaction between the robotics and humanity. It is gradually becoming a case to worry about—how Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could affect the humanity’s social life on a day-to-day basis, and alter the status of our social environment by heaps and bounds.
In the 19th century, robots reached massive acceptance and dominance in the human space, increasing the rate of the production of robots, incorporation of artificial intelligence in our daily lives, and their practical roles in the work automation.
Ranging from the use of phones, the introduction of emails, voice prompts, and controls, digitalized medical care, and the production of cars, airplanes, and electronic devices, it is an inarguable fact that the robots have played an overall tremendous role in the progression of the humanity.
Its impact in the medical field, transportation, communication, financial, social, and economic rules, policies, and inventions are some glaring proof of their relevance in the human life today.
It is, therefore, of paramount importance to understand the fate of humanity with the presence of these automated systems.
The professional usage of robots has been categorized into several different fields and disciplines. The design, production, and application of robotic systems rely on some of the major fields of learning.
There are seven major fields of Robotics, and they basically include the following:
Aerospace: This includes the applications of science, engineering, and automation in the production of machines that fly and tour the awe-inspiring space. The role of robots and AI can be visible in the design or product models, construction, manning, and maintenance of various aircrafts and spaceships.
Biology: Innovations that focus on the study of life and matter, structure of biological components, theoretical and experimental analysis of the gene, species development, and survival, and the production of modern medical and biological aids to existence on the planet Earth.
Computer Science (CS): The study of algorithms, machine languages, hardware, and software systems birth the use of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybernetics, and modal logic to provide relational solutions to our everyday affairs.
Engineering: The engineering—as a broad field of learning—has been playing amazing roles in the robotics world. This encompasses the design and development of the machines, their applications in real-life situations, and maintenance. Engineering, as it relates to robotics and artificial intelligence, includes some of the following major branches—mechatronics, mechanical, electrical, and nano-engineering, etc.
Physics: This embodies the study of the laws of nature and& the universe principles; space, time and matter, and its interaction with the humanity.
Psychology: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has its root in the management of cognitive and behavioural sciences. Fundamentally, the ability to produce machines that can think, feel, and behave like humans has its root(s) in the field of psychology.
Military Science (MS): Military and national defense(s) are not left out with the need for software developers, robotics technicians and &operators to sustain the military force in the front-line.
How does robotics affect our lives?
Robots are becoming relational structures in our lives, affecting the major areas of human affairs. Advancements in communication systems, the introduction of self-driving cars, and entertainment structures have greatly changed the way we relate and do things on a daily basis—especially that, too, with the advent of the 21st century. These digital systems reduce the stress attached to our work duties, reducing errors in tasks, and increasing our levels of productivity. The work of humanity has become relatively easier and trouble-free with the introduction of such new technologies.
Their built-in intelligence and precision improve the human safety; they eliminate the risk of exposure to the toxic environments and conditions surrounding us, as they can function perfectly in these conditions with interruptions from the human aid.
Over the course of time, the robots, I believe, will definitely take over humanity in many functional roles, work duties, and employment functions.
The advent of the Industrial Revolution (1760, 1820-1840) saw a quick swipe from the use of manual labour to the rise of work automation. This displaced human beings in certain areas of specialization. Naturally, robotic dominance became visible in the textile industry, chemical factories, and production plants with the introduction of machines.
The cost of maintaining human labour, the possibilities of errors and human inconsistency makes the use of robots a viable option in the human space.
Robots are known for master crafts on procession, multi-tasking, and perfect, quality work production and delivery; but, there are certain levels of limitations peculiar to these robots. These can pose great disadvantages to its usage. These disadvantages include the following:
Power supply: Robots are usually powered by batteries or any backup source of electricity, and in order to maintain their usability and energy levels, it is essential to feed them with a steady supply of energy, else they become useless & unusable, unfortunately.
Communication: Robots are built with several sensors, processors, and communication loops that are built to navigate mapped environments. This structure and development will make it immensely difficult or slightly impossible for robots to function in such unmapped environments.
Human dependent: With the rapid innovations of AI, there hasn’t been a fully automated machine that doesn’t need the assistance of human effort, which is at times difficult for the managers and workers, etc.
Furthermore, robots are not trained to learn, reason, and handle complex and sophisticated duties on their own without the need of programmable commands—which are also programmed by intelligent humans.
Cost of production: The production of robots cost millions of dollars, making mass production of robots a highly difficult task for almost all the types of industries. Hence, it is very difficult to mass produce the several robotics; however, newer technologies are becoming more cost-benefit, fortunately.
Robots and automated systems are not just helpful to humans, but will also create amazing future avenues for the technological advancements.
From the use of drones, tractors, surgical smart systems, rockets, and automated transport robotics, the impact of robots is largely visible and beneficial to humanity collectively.
Moreover, the recent studies and scientific research are working to create future avenues that will improve the use of robots and their functionality to the humanity.
Basically, there are five crucial areas that robots can help humanity in the future.
Public security: Robots will become a helpful tool for the numerous law enforcement agencies to curb national and state crimes in a collective manner.
Education: The use of AI in classroom learning and study settings will bring great benefits to the educational sector(s). This includes the use of computer-based learning, humanoid robots, simulations for talking, listening, memorizing to boost the understanding and retaining ability of students. In a nutshell, AI will be of paramount importance in the various educational sectors. To some extent, they still are serving this very purpose; amid the COVID crisis, such ways of education (using AI) have been retained or incorporated.
Transportation: Self-driving cars are a very hopeful innovation to this purpose, but more designs can be applied to produce a fully automated car that can drive through the mapped and unmapped environments.
Healthcare: The future of healthcare relies on the machines powered by new technologies; such as, AI and the Internet of Things (IoT). This will involve the production of robots which have the ability to diagnose patients, administer treatments, and deeply read hormones, gene strands, and nerve impulses of individuals to ascertain their thoughts, pain, and well-being collectively.
Entertainment: The introduction of the virtual reality took the world on an endless wave of entertainment, opening the minds of inventors to the possibility of wireless streaming and virtual simulations, etc. This can be harnessed to produce more innovative devices which can entertain, engage, and interact with us in our respective homes duly.
With the world’s increasing interest and investments in the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we will eventually see a drastic diffusion of robots in the workplace, and all facets of the life and gross reduction in the amount of jobs available for humans.
However, the increase of robots in workspace and human activities would then also cause a proportional increase in jobs which robots cannot do. Because robots can work twice as fast as humans, more humans will also be required to commensurate the work done by these robots per project or task, etc.
Finally, we will also witness a rise in the human-robot relationships and inter-dependence. As more robots will need humans to function properly, and humans need them to do tedious and technical work, man will be forced to work hand in hand with them eventually.
