机器人的含义

1.0   Executive summary执行摘要
 

本报告的主要目的是分析机器人的含义。该报告列出了个人，组织和政府的利益和限制。

在第一部分中，国内机器人和工程的好处，这些机器人可以帮助将被证明，机器人是良好的个人。机器人将被列出的限制。例如，机器人太贵了，机器人可能会导致意外。

在第二部分中，工业机器人的好处和优势，将分析表明，这些机器人可以带来的利益组织的利益。在这一部分中讨论了价格、重型驱动系统和降低工作机会的可能性等问题。

第三部分，分析了军用机器人和机器人探测功能的影响。更甚的是，机器人的问题将被列出。

第四部分：机器人技术在未来的应用及发展趋势。

第五部分，对个人、组织和政府的建议进行分析。

在最后一部分，作者对机器人的含义的看法将给予。The main purpose of this report is to analysis the implication of robotics. The report lists the benefits and limitations of robotics for individuals, organisations and governments. In addition, the application of robotics in future will be discussed. In this report, some recommendations for them will be concluded too. 

In the first part, the benefits of domestic robots and the works those robots can help will be listed to prove that robotics are good for individuals. The limitations which robotics has will be listed too. For example, robots are too expensive; robots may cause accidents. 

In the second part, the benefits and advantages of industrial robots will be analyzed to show the interests those robots can bring to the organisations. And the disadvantages such as the prices, the heavy driving system and the possibility of reducing the job opportunities will be discussed in this part. 

In the third part, the effect of military robots and the robots’ exploration functions will be analyzed. What is more, the problems of the robotics will be listed.

In the fourth part, the applications and development tendency of robotics in future will be predicted.

In the fifth part, the recommendations for individuals, organisations and governments will be analyzed. 

In the last part, the writers’ views toward the implication of robotics will be given.

 

2.0   Introduction介绍
 

The development of robotics is the result of the scientific and technological advance. It is also the inexorable outcome of the development of the productive force and mankind. In general, robots are considered to be some removable automated machines which are controlled by the computers. Robots can be programmed to accomplish certain kinds of works. Furthermore, some kinds of robots have the abilities to sense the environment and have logical and critical thinking. Robots have three major features: quasi-man functions, perceptive functions and working functions. Nowadays, the robotics plays an important role in the social and economic development. It has been applied in every field. In the 20th century, the robotics has been developed rapidly and has been widely used in industries. It becomes a comprehensive subject which includes the mechanics, electronics, computer science, automatic control engineering, artificial intelligence and bionics and so on. The robotics is the concentrated reflection of high technology and it has great development value (Dickey 2010, pp. 33-45). The development of robotics can bring great interests for individuals, organisations and governments. However, it has many limitations too. Therefore it may have some harmful effects. As a result, it is important to lead the development direction of the robotics to make it more helpful. In this report, the benefits and limitations of the development of robotics will be listed. Some recommendations will be given to help people know more about robotics.

 

3.0   Situational analysis情境分析
 

3.1   The benefits and limitations of robotics for individuals

3.1.1   The benefits of robotics for individuals

It is expected by a lot of people that robots can be introduced into the family in the near future. A magazine conducted a survey on 1000 Americans. It asked them about the kinds of robots they want. Most of them said that they were looking forward to robot vacuum cleaners and play fellows (Gregory 2011, pp. 07-13). In addition, an investigation report of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe showed that the market of domestic robots would become the most important market in the 20th century (Gutierrez 2012, pp. 29-37). Domestic robots can help people with household duties so that people can have more leisure time. Some of the domestic can do cleaning, guarding and cooking. Some of them can take care of the children, answer the phone and print files. According to the chart which was predicted by some experts, the quantity demand of domestic robots would become bigger and bigger.

  (Gutierrez 2012, pp. 29-37)

There are also many kinds of medical robots which can be used to rescue, transport, operate and recover the sick and wounded. On the one hand, there are surgical robots. The surgical robots have accurate desetopes and elaborate movements. They will help the patients avoid the infections as the doctors do not need to have immediate contact with the patients’ blood during the operations. On the other hand, there are patient-care robots. The statistics of the world health organisation suggests that there will be more and more aging population in the next fifty years. In addition, there are plenty of disabled people who need care and service. The patient-care robots can help the daily life of the patients and aging people.

 

3.1.2   The limitations of robotics for individuals

Firstly, the domestic robots are too expensive. It is also very expensive to keep them in good repair as the parts of domestic robots are very costful and hard to purchase. Therefore, only a few people can enjoy the benefits of the developments of robotics.

Secondly, the operations of robots are very difficult for many people. Most of the robots need to be operated by well trained workers. They are too advanced to be used by people who know little about the robotics.

Thirdly, as the systems of many robots are not so perfect, the robots may bring some accidents. On 6 September 1978, a cutting robot treated a work like the steel plate and operated on him. It was the first time that a robot killed a man (Keiji 2009, pp. 27-41). In 1985, the robot player released strong current on the metal chessboard and killed a man when it was playing international chess with him (Michele 2010, pp. 78-86). In addition, the robots will be against to the society and do harm to the human development if their programs are maliciously altered by people. 

Fourthly, there are many people who discriminate against the robotics. They do not have correct understanding on the robotics and they worry too much about the problems which the robotics may bring. As a result, the development of robotics will be blocked by these people.

 

3.2   The benefits and limitations of robotics for organisations

3.2.1   The benefits of robotics for organisations

The scope and working space of the development of robotics have been broadened a lot. It has been expanded into the manufactures and service industries. Many research institutions have been taken up research on the robots which have perceptive functions since 1970 (Marko 2011, p. 49). Therefore, the robotics has been used in many fields such as the automobile industry, mechanical and electrical industries (including telecommunications industry), general engineering industry, construction industry, metal processing and casting industry and other light industries. 

Robotics is the important symbol and key technology of advanced manufacture. It has been applied to increase the organisations’ production efficiency. For example, the robotics has been used in the automobile industry. Robots have taken the place of manual operation in the work of stamping, pressure casting, forging, machining, soldering, tempering, fitting, and testing and so on. The density of robots in automobile industry is the highest among all of the industries.

Compared with the traditional machines, robots have two major advantages: the full automation of productive process and the altitudinal adaptive capacity of production equipments (Maria 2012, pp. 27-84). As a result, by taking use of the robotics, most organisations want to cut down the size of personnel force and improve the quality of products. 

Robots have other three major functions which can benefit organisations a lot. First of all, robots can do things which people do not want to do. For example, the works which are poisonous, harmful, high-heat or dangerous can be accomplished by robots.  Secondly, robots can do things which are difficult. Robots can do repetitive works which are taxing. For example, some simple works like stamping, pressure casting, soldering, machining and fitting can be done by robots. Thirdly, robots can do things which people cannot do. For example, people can send robots into the outer space, the ocean or even the human body. 

To sum up, the robotics can help the organisations in many ways. It can reduce the labor costs, material wastes and production costs. It can also increase the productivity and improve the quality of products. The robotics can help the organisations increase the flexibility during the manufacturing process. It helps the organisations accelerate the turnover of inventory. With the help of the robots, the dangerous and wicked operating posts can be eliminated. In addition, the robotics can help promoting the organisations’ core competitiveness and sustainable development capacity.#p#分页标题#e#

 

3.2.2   The limitations of robotics for organisations

Firstly, the high production efficiency of the robots may lead to the situation of market over-supply. 

Secondly, the robots are hard to repair. If the critical components are broken, the robots cannot work and the duration of production will be delayed.

Thirdly, the robotics is not as perfect as the organisations expected. The driving system is too heavy. The transmission and processing speed is not fast enough. And the miniaturization and integration of sensors cannot satisfy the development requirement of the organisations.

Fourthly, as robots can take the place of human and do various kinds of manual and mental works, some people worry that the plenty kinds of robots will cause the increase of total unemployment (Ishida 2012, pp. 45-52). For example, the industrial robots can do welding, painting, transporting, fitting and processing so that the workers may lose their jobs. Therefore, they think that the tertiary industry which can be used to accommodate the surplus labor and the primary and secondary industry will be replaced by robots in the future.

 

3.3   The benefits and limitations of robotics for governments

3.3.1   The benefits of robotics for governments

The first industrial robot was created in the USA in 1960s and it created a new era of industrialization (Peter 2013, pp. 6-8). The development of robotics is the sign of the level of high technology and industrialization in a country. Therefore, the governments of many countries like the Japan and the USA have been driven away at carrying out the strategical plans about robotics. 

On the one hand, the government can take use of robotics to create a safer International and domestic circumstances. The robotics will be used in national defense and military in the first place. And the military intelligence mobile robots have been valued and developed by the governments since a long time ago. For example, the government of the USA controlled an unmanned aerial vehicle to kill the terrorists in 2002 (Richard 2005, p. 28). It predicted that the war can become unmanned in the future. For the past few years, the second military intelligence mobile robots have been developed. They can scout, fight and provide logistic support with the help of the independent control mode. On the battlefield, they have the abilities of seeing and smelling so that they can track the landform and select path automatically. They also have other functions such as the automatic search. The robots can recognize and eliminate the enemy targets. And along with the development of robotics, there will be more and more military intelligence mobile robots. 

On the other hand, the robotics can help the government to exploit the undeveloped resources. As is well-known, there are abundant resources in the international sea bad area. The governments of various countries in the world have been working on developing the manned submersibles to do the resource explorations. With the help of the robotics, many kinds of resources have been found. For example, there are manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crust, volcanogenic massive sulphide ore deposits and many creatures of the deep. 

Furthermore, the rapid development of robotics becomes an important driving force of the futures economy. The governments of America, Japan and Germany have been taken the development of robotics as a new growth point of the futures economic development.

 

3.2.2   The limitations of robotics for governments

The robotics can be helpful if it has been used correctly. However, there are people who may use it in illegal ways. For example, if the criminals use the robots to do drug trafficking, stealing and murdering, the subsequent investigation will become much harder.

The increase of military robots brings many worries and moral pressures. The military robots cannot determine the pros and cons; they cannot estimate the results of their aggressive behaviors. In addition, the programs of the robots may be controlled and the robots may break down. All of these problems are very dangerous on the battlefields. Some scientists also considered that the gap of weapons among different countries would cause merciless massacres (Roberto 2013, pp. 12-23). 

 

3.4   The application of robotics in future

Along with the rapid development of high and new technology, it can be predicted that the robotics will be improved a lot. The performance of the robots will be improved continually. For example, the speed and accuracy will be enhanced. The operations and maintenance may be more convenient. In addition, the prices of robots will be much cheaper than today. It is predicted by robotics experts that the modularization and reconfigurability of the robots’ mechanical structure shall be developed (Schoen 2007, p. 02). They also consider that the control system of robots will be turned into open type controllers on the basis of the personal computer. Therefore, the system will be much more reliable. The development and application of the fusion techniques will be helpful for the experts to improve the sensors.

It also can be predicted that there will be many changes in people’s lives. Firstly, the robots will become the most useful instruments which can help human explore and develop the universe, the ocean and the subsurface unknown world. Secondly, the robots will play a more and more important role in the future wars. Thirdly, robots will be used to enhance people’s health conditions and enrich people’s cultural life. Fourthly, the intelligent robots with perceptive functions and autonomic functions will be developed rapidly. Fifthly, the micro-robots will become the main part of robotics.

 

4.0   Recommendations建议
 

4.1   Recommendations to individuals on how they should prepare for the future of robotics

It is necessary for individuals to have a correct understanding on robotics. According to the Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, a robot may not injure the human being; a robot may not allow a human being to come to harm through inaction; a robot must obey orders given it by human beings and it must protect its own existence. In addition, it can be believed that the problems which are brought by the robots will be solved by the advanced technologies. 

People can also learn more about the advanced technologies so that they can enjoy the benefits of robotics. 

 

4.2   Recommendations to organisations on how they can utilise robotics in their businesses

The robotics is mostly used in the engineering industry which includes the automobile industry, electric appliance manufacturing industry, plastic molding and processing industry and machine-tool industry. The industrial application of robotics can be divided into four parts: materials processing, components manufacturing, production inspection and products assembly (Sage 2010, pp. 20-46). The components manufacturing includes the forging, spot welding, mashing and casting. The production inspection includes the explicit inspection and the implicit inspection. Products assembly is the most complicated application area which includes the online quality control, components supply, assorting and fastening and so on. The organisations can pay more attention on utilizing robotics in these areas.

In addition, although the robotics has been developed a lot, it still leaves much to be desired. The relevant organisations are expected to improve the robotics in future so that the can utilize robotics in their business conveniently. Firstly, the missions of robots can be defined clearly and the specialized robots should be developed. Secondly, more advanced handling methods and accomplishing means should be found out to improve the sensor and integrated technology so that the information fusion can be enhanced. Thirdly, communication network technology can be used to connect various kinds of robots to the computer networks. With the help of the soft computing methods, the robots can be controlled effectively. Compared with the traditional computing methods, the soft computing methods have more advantages such as the better robustness, usability and low cost and so on. When the methods are applied to the robotics, they can increase the speed of problem solving and deal with the multivariable problems of nonlinear system in a better way (Sabourin 2012, p. 79). Fourthly, the learning ability of the robots should be strengthened to acclimatize it to new environment which is complicated, uncertain and unstructured. And the functions of multilingual language, natural language understanding and recognition of pictures and hand writings should be improved as the demand of man-machine interaction is becoming more and more simplistic, diversified, intellectualized and humanized. The intensified functions can help the robots adapt to different users and accomplish different tasks. Fifthly, the multi-robot coordination and cooperation can be developed to complete the complicated works which one robot cannot finish. 

The organisations also can do many things to improve their abilities in utilizing robotics in their business. On the one hand, the organisations can enhance their investment intensity of scientific research and increase their enterprise R&D. They can purchase more advanced facilities and promote the close connection between scientific research and production. They should also promote the transform between intelligent robots and the achievements in scientific research of automation engineering technology. On the other hand, the organisations should develop their own robots which are delicate, sensitive, reliable and safe. The capability of independent innovation of the organisations should be strengthened. Most of the organisations should grasp the core technology like the automation control technology.#p#分页标题#e#

At last, it has been proved that all the advanced machinery equipments can raise labour productivity and improve the product quality. They can create more social wealth and provide more job opportunities. For example, Japan has the largest number of robots in the world. However, it also has the least number of unemployed populations. On the contrary, England has the least robots and the highest unemployment rate (Schoen 2007, p. 02). Therefore, the organisations should know that the development of robotics will not reduce the job opportunities.

 

4.3   Recommendations to governments on policy implications for robotics

First of all, governments should practice the international cooperation policy and technology import policy. With the help of these policies, the governments can learn advanced robotics from other countries. As a result, the manufacturing cycle of robots can be reduced and the quality of the robots can be guaranteed. As the prices of the robots are cut down, the application effect of them can be increased.

Secondly, government should formulate policies to guarantee the development of the spare parts industry. The development of robotics depends on the growth of the core technology of key components.

Thirdly, governments should establish more robot industrialization bases and scientific research bases. All of these can strengthen the high-level means of verification and satisfy the development demand of the robotics.

Fourthly, governments should carry out policies to encourage the industries to take use of robotics. For example, the industries which use robotics and have good influences on the society can enjoy tax preferences. 

 

5.0   Conclusion总结
 

The current robotics is not so perfect. It still should be developed by improving the relevant technologies and integrated applications. The increase of the robots’ autonomy and adaptation is the key of the development of robotics. At the same time, robotics involves the cooperative work of many subject disciplines. It not only includes the technological base but also includes the social sciences such as the psychology and ethics and so on (Theodore 2005, pp. 05-18). Robotics has many benefits. For example, it can relieve people from their heave, repetitive and dangerous works. It can also help the organisations to improve their product quality and increase their product output. The government can use it to strengthen the national defense and exploit the resources. It is believed by many people that there will be more and more robots of all forms in every walk of life. However, science and technology can be a double-edged sword. The robotics brings positive effects and social and ethical issues at the same time. Some people are afraid of the problems robotics may produce. Actually, intelligent robots are not omnipotent (Sabourin 2012, p. 79). They are only better than human in the aspects of working strength, operating rate and memory function. They will not have better ability of consciousness and ratiocination than human. Some robotics experts consider that even if the robots can have functions of self replication and common senses, they will not cause large-scale unemployment or even threatens toward human. People should treat and use robotics in a correct way. Organisations can make use of robotics to improve their production. Governments ought to put some effective policies into practice to lead the development of robotics. As a result, the robotics can service and bring more benefits to mankind. 

 

6.0 References文献
 

Dickey, J 2010, ‘Application of robotic technology in biomechanics to study joint laxity’, Journal of medical engineering & technology, vol. 34, no. 7-8, pp. 33-45.

Gregory, R 2011, ‘Anesthetic implications of robotic gynecologic surgery’, Journal of Gynecological Endoscopy and Surgery, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 07-13.

Gutierrez, S 2012, ‘Robotics, the New Industrial Revolution’, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 29-37.

Ishida, H 2012, ‘Chemical Sensing in Robotic Applications’, IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 12, no. 11, pp. 45-52.

Keiji, N 2009, ‘Applications of Robotics in Society’, Advanced Robotics, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 27-41.

Michele, A 2010, ‘Architectural paradigms for robotics applications’, Advanced Engineering Informatics, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 78-86.

Marko, S 2011, ‘A multiagent framework for industrial robotic applications’, Procedia Computer Science, vol. 6, no. 33, p. 49.

Maria, D 2012, ‘Force/tactile sensor for robotic applications’, Sensors & Actuators: A. Physical, vol. 175, no. 79, pp. 27-84.

Peter, J 2013, ‘Trends in industrial robotics development’, Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 282, no. 13, pp. 6-8.

Richard, P 2005, ‘Developments in industrial robotic safety’, Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 32, no. 4, p. 28.

Roberto, C 2013, ‘Automatic decision-making and reliability in robotic systems: some implications in the case of robot weapons’, AI & SOCIETY, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 12-23.

Schoen, M 2007, ‘Prosthetic devices: challenges and implications of robotic implants and biological interfaces’, Journal of engineering in medicine, vol. 221, no, 2. p. 02.

Sage, K 2010, ‘Social gating and pedagogy: Mechanisms for learning and implications for robotics’, Neural Networks, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 20-46.

Sabourin, C 2012, ‘Intelligent systems for industrial robotics: application in logistic field’, Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 39, no. 3, p. 79.

Theodore, B 2005, ‘Operational and technical implications of the robotics revolution’, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 9, no. 27, pp. 05-18.