Robotics : past, present and future

Robotics i s a systems science t h a t attempts t o i n t e g r a t e a r t i f i-c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e with feedback c o n t r o l o f mechanical devices. Mankind's i n t e r e s t i n mechanical contraptions t h a t move and a c t under automatic control date8 back a t l e a s t t o the ancient Greeks. The modern h i s t o r y o f robotics began w i t h work i n t h e 1950's on mechanical manipulators f o r handling radioactive mate-r i a l s. I n 1959, t h e f i r s t industrial robot wab introduced i n t o t h e commercial marketplaco. Acac3emi.e research i n t o robotics began s h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r a t MIT, Ca~e, Stanfo+, and SRI. (4) World Modeling (5) Programming Techniques and Learning (6) System I n t e g r a t i o n gory Processing Solving Future applications w i l l cover a broad spectrum. Robot technology f o r mobility, database access, and sensing w i l l p e r m i t robots t o l e a v e t h e r e l a t i v e l y structured environment o f t h e f a c t o r y and e n t e r t h e dynamic and c l u t t e r e d environment o f t h e construction s i t e , shipyard, farm, mines, undersea drilling, etc. Eventually t h e cost w i l l drop and t h e performance w i l l r i s e t o the point where robots can perform useful tasks i n t h e service industries, and even i n t h e home.