What is Robotics?
Image credits: RazorRobotics

Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that combines Electrical & Electronics, Computer Science, and Mechanical engineering. Robotics engineers make everything from automatic floor cleaners to robots that perform gymnastics like Atlas (Boston Dynamics).

How do these different disciplines come together ?

To understand how the different fields come together let us look at an example. Nuro (a silicon valley startup) does autonomous delivery with self-driving vehicles. On the surface, Nuro autonomously drives and delivers products, but on the inside there is a complex interplay of different engineering systems.

First, let us discuss the cameras, Lidar, and other vision sensors involved in Nuro. These sensors provide information on Nuros’ surroundings. These systems fall under digital control systems/electronics.

Once this data is received computers run algorithms to detect its environment and to localize itself on the map. As Nuro travels it maps its path and localizes (locates) itself on the map. All of this comes under the computer science branch.

Image credits: Nuro

Once the robot perceives its location, orientation in space-time and plans its path, Nuro will have to control the car and move to the goal. This is where control systems come into the picture. A control system manages, directs, and regulates the way that the system functions. Based on the current location and final destination it decides the speed of movement.

Mechanics is the backbone of the robot from structure to design. All control algorithms are written based on the mechanical design of Nuro. It also involves other aspects such as; aerodynamics, materials used, and other thermodynamic considerations.

Mechanics plays a crucial role in robots such as Kuka (collaborative robot arm) where advanced mechanical engineering equations are used to determine the angles of the joins to reach for the arm to reach its desired point in space. And it also involves designing the entire robots physical structure

Image credits: Kuka

All of these individual disciplines are in rapid development and when they come together they create wonders.

As you might know, the Robotics market is on the constant rise (Check out my previous article).

So we should expect more from the robotics industry. As Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert puts it:

“I happen to believe that robotics will be bigger than the Internet” — Marc Raibert

Is there any other discipline with so much collaboration among other disciplines? Often roboticists take inspiration from the life sciences and the way nature works. This is a field that I believe will change the world drastically in the coming few years. And as a person interested in this field I would strongly suggest you try out searching more about this field and learn more about it.

Hope you found this article interesting. Reach out to me on: pramotharun.github.io to talk more about this and more!
['Pramoth Arun']
['Startup', 'Science', 'Technology', 'Collaboration', 'Robotics']