Robotics as a Future and Emerging Technology

he first machines in history were basically composedof mechanical parts, mechanisms, and some form ofactuators supplied by an energy source. For a fewcenturies, this has been the paradigm for machineslike windmills, textile frames, steam trains, andships. What really changed in modern times was the incorpo-ration of electronics into this basic scheme, allowing the inte-gration of sensors and control, and the evolution ofhuman-machine interfaces. This gave origin to mechatronicsas the modern paradigm of machine design and the baselinefor the development of robotics. This paradigm is todayadopted in most products, from appliances to vehicles, air-crafts, robots, and biomedical devices.The new complete scheme, as depicted in Figure 1, can beseen in an analogy with biological systems, integrating a mus-culo-skeletal apparatus with a nervous system and a circulatoryapparatus. When machine design takes inspiration from biology,as in this analogy, then it can be referred to as

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