MODERN ROBOTS ARE not unlike toddlers: It’s hilarious to watch them fall over, but deep down we know that if we laugh too hard, they might develop a complex and grow up to start World War III. None of humanity’s creations inspires such a confusing mix of awe, admiration, and fear: We want robots to make our lives easier and safer, yet we can’t quite bring ourselves to trust them. We’re crafting them in our own image, yet we are terrified they’ll supplant us.

But that hesitation is no obstacle to the booming field of robotics. Robots have finally grown smart enough and physically capable enough to make their way out of factories and labs to walk and roll and even leap among us. The machines have arrived.

You may be worried a robot is going to steal your job, and we get that. This is capitalism, after all, and automation is inevitable. But you may be more likely to work alongside a robot in the near future than have one replace you. And even better news: You’re more likely to make friends with a robot than have one murder you. Hooray for the future!

Robotics is a broad topic which can include mechanical devices, sometimes resembling humans, or software entities. Generally such ‘robots’ can be set to perform one or more specific tasks.

Various aspects include:

• The physical robot – the mechanics, electronics and computer
• Its sensors which allow it to perceive its surroundings
• Its behaviour: how its movement is specified in terms of what it perceives – is this determined by humans – or can the robot learn?
• Its means of movement and is the desired movement achieved?
• How it interacts with other robots or humans