Many robotic applications are for tasks that are either dangerous or unpleasant for human beings. In medical laboratories, robots handle potentially hazardous materials, such as blood or urine samples. In other cases, robots are used in repetitive, monotonous tasks in which human performance might degrade over time. Robots can perform these repetitive, high-precision operations 24 hours a day without fatigue.
Activities in environments that pose great danger to humans, such as locating sunken ships, cleanup of nuclear waste, prospecting for underwater mineral deposits, and active volcano exploration, are ideally suited to robots. Similarly, robots can explore distant planets. NASA's Galileo, an unpiloted space probe, travelled to Jupiter in 1996 and performed tasks such as determining the chemical content of the Jovian atmosphere.
Robots are being used to assist surgeons in installing artificial hips and very high-precision robots can
assist surgeons with delicate operations on the human eye. Research in telesurgery uses robots, under the
remote control of expert surgeons that may one day perform operation in distant battlefields, remote.
areas.
It is sometimes said that, robots can cause the loss of jobs. However, robots only cause the loss of unskilled jobs, particularly on assembly lines in factories New jobs are created in software and sensor development in robot installation and maintenance, and in the conversion of old factories and the design. of new ones. These new jobs, however, require higher levels of skills and training. Technologically oriented societies must face the task of retraining workers who lose jobs to automation, providing them with new skills so that they can be employable in the industries of the 21" century.
Many
robotic applications are for
tasks
that are either
dangerous
or unpleasant for
human
beings. In medical laboratories, robots handle
potentially
hazardous materials, such as blood or urine samples. In other cases, robots are
used
in repetitive, monotonous
tasks
in which
human
performance might degrade over time. Robots can perform these repetitive, high-precision operations 24 hours a day without fatigue.
Activities in environments that pose great
danger
to
humans
, such as locating sunken ships, cleanup of nuclear waste, prospecting for underwater mineral deposits, and active volcano exploration, are
ideally
suited to robots.
Similarly
, robots can explore distant planets. NASA's Galileo, an
unpiloted
space probe, travelled to Jupiter in 1996 and performed
tasks
such as determining the chemical content of the Jovian atmosphere.
Robots are being
used
to assist surgeons in installing artificial hips and
very
high-precision robots can
assist surgeons with delicate operations on the
human
eye. Research in
telesurgery
uses
robots, under the
remote control of expert surgeons that may one day perform operation in distant battlefields, remote.
areas
.
It is
sometimes
said that, robots can cause the loss of
jobs
.
However
, robots
only
cause the loss of unskilled
jobs
,
particularly
on assembly lines in factories
New
jobs
are created
in software and sensor development in robot installation and maintenance, and in the conversion of
old
factories and the design.
of
new
ones. These
new
jobs
,
however
, require higher levels of
skills
and training.
Technologically
oriented societies
must
face the
task
of retraining workers who lose
jobs
to automation, providing them with
new
skills
so
that they can be employable in the industries of the 21" century.