ROBOTICS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 1

How can robots help the environment?

Benjamin Brickner

University of North Carolina Charlotte

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What is Robotics?

Robots. What really are they? Robotics is not something that is put into a few simple

words. In the end robotics is a broad term. The book Integrated Robotics puts it as, “This is

because the word “robot” is not one that has developed over hundreds of years. It doesn’t have

an etymology that can be traced to an ancient Latin root that has sprouted tons of words familiar

to readers of the English language today.” (Chow-Miller 2016) Robotics is a new term that is

still just getting into in the past decade or two. Throughout history there has been many things

made that have been considered to fall into the robotics category but in this day and age people

mainly see robotics as something that involves some type of electronics that in the system for it

to work. Nasa defines a robot as, “Robots are machines that can be used to do jobs. Some robots

can do work by themselves. Other robots must always have a person telling them what to do.”

(Dunbar 2015) How a robot is controlled usually is only a binary choice. A robot can usually be

either controlled by a human directly or some type of wireless communication and a robot can be

programmed internally or externally in some sort of way to be able to work without any human

interaction involved. Also, in some cases many people can choose to make a robot that are at

some parts controlled by human interaction and use programmed material to allow the robot to

be able to use assistance in more advanced or specific needs situations. In Nasa’s case, they

implement all three of these techniques. They use Rovers that operate all by themselves, they

have robotic space arms that need human assistance in order to work, and spacecrafts that require

both human and self control to be able to get into space. (Dunbar 2015) For a robot to work on

its own it either has very specific programming and trustworthy components (That mechanical

parts that make up the robot.) or by using one or more sensors that are put on the body of the

robot. A sensor on a robot allows it to be able to “see” its environment. It is almost the same as
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giving a blind man a walking stick so he can know what to expect when he is walking but in this

case it is using many scientific principles and advanced technology to allow the robot map out its

surroundings. Some sensors include Infrared sensors (Senses light), Ultrasonic sensor (Uses

sound to measure distance), and a lot more. (Adrian 2011)

Why do we do robotics?

Robotics are a lot of the time thought of as a thing that lazy people create to avoid doing

basic tasks that are in their routine. Now they can end up doing basic tasks for the lazy, such as

rolling a soda over to a person on a couch watching their favorite TV show. This is a brilliant

idea that someone should try to sell but robots have so much more potential and have

accomplished great things throughout history. They can be used to make process go faster, keep

people more safe, do hard tasks, and a lot more. If a person had to vacuum inside their house

every morning before they head to work they waste so much time just trying to keep their house

clean it would create a big toll on a person. Plus this leaves no room for error in the morning if

the person woke up late or had to do something else that morning. This is where robots can be

implemented. If the person had a robot that vacuumed everything up by itself it leaves lee way

for the person to do anything else they wish to do during the time they use to have to vacuum.

Moving back over to reality we have vacuum robots that do get floors squeaky clean. We use this

methodology of the person having to do a repetitive task in a lot of more practical sense. We use

robots in factories to do very repetitive task. In a car factory it is very common to see a robot

attach windshield or attach the car door to the frame of a car because of two reasons: one, these

tasks require assistance if humans were to do it and two, a robot would create less error than a

human would. Robots also can help do tasks humans are unwilling to do and that are too

dangerous for humans to do. If a there was a bomb threat inside a building and someone had to
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go in to defuse it, what would be the best option? Send in a person to defuse it and risk losing a

life, or send in a robot that can be controlled from the outside to do the job and risk only the

money spent on the robot.

How can robotics be used to help the environment?

If robots can be used to help do repetitive and dangerous task then people should be able

to use them to help the environment. Robots could help the world even without doing anything

physical with it. A robot can collect certain data that could help further studies and make

necessary changes that are needed for the environment. They also can remove water pollution by

filter microbes in the water to remove certain chemicals from tankers and pick up floating trash

in the water. Also they are able to kill invasive species in certain areas depending on the species.

(Dodge 2018)
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References

Adrian, L. (2011). Preliminary Circuit Design for Robotics Environment Mapping Utilizing
Ambient Light, Reflected Light and Stationary Infrared Radiation. Scientific Journal of
Riga Technical University. Power and Electrical Engineering, 29(1), 123–128.
https://doi.org/10.2478/v10144-011-0021-y
Chow-Miller, I., & Chow-Miller, I. (2016). Integrated robotics. Retrieved from
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.librarylink.uncc.edu
Dodge, A., Dodge, A., & Amanda Dodge. (2018, August 28). How Robots Are Helping in the
Fight Against Climate Change. Retrieved from
https://blog.ozobot.com/2018/08/28/robots-helping-fight-climate-change/
Dunbar, B. (2015, June 16). What Is Robotics? Retrieved from
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-
knows/what_is_robotics_58.html