5.2 THE BASICS OF ROBOTICS 112 The term robot comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning forced labour. A telepresence surgical system is a telerobotic system which allows surgeons to feel as if their hands were present inside a patient s body, performing surgery with small-scale surgical tools mounted on the tip of the patient-side robots. Give a definition of Artificial Intelligence. ONLINE RESOURCES Sophia's sisters ROBOTS A robot is an automated machine that can perform specific tasks with high precision and speed. The field of robotics, which deals with robot design, engineering and operations, has remarkably advanced in the last fifty years. Essentially, there are as many types of robots as there are tasks they can perform, and they are categorised according to the field in which they operate or the task they carry out. Types of robots Androids are robots that resemble human aspect and behaviour. They are often mobile, moving on wheels or on a track drive. These humanoid robots are used in areas such as caregiving and personal assistance, search and rescue, space exploration, entertainment, education, and healthcare. Cobots are designed to function alongside or directly with humans. While most other types of robots perform their tasks independently, cobots can share spaces with workers to help them accomplish more. They are often used to eliminate manual, dangerous, or repetitive tasks from day-to-day workflows. In some cases, cobots can operate by responding to and learning from human movements. Telepresence robots simulate the experience of being physically present at a location. They combine remote monitoring and control via telemetry sent over radio, wires or optical fibers, and enable remote healthcare like surgery , home monitoring, childcare, and more. Industrial robots are automatically controlled, reprogrammable multipurpose manipulators which are used in industry to optimise process performance, increase productivity and efficiency, speed up product development, and lower costs. Swarm robots (also known as insect robots) work in fleets (from a few to thousands) under the supervision of a single controller. These robots are similar to insect colonies with an ability to carry out complex tasks through interaction. They are mainly used in nanorobotics and the military field. Smart robots are the most advanced kinds of robots. They have a built-in Artificial Intelligence system that learns from the environment and enhances capabilities to continuously improve themselves. A smart robot can collaborate with humans and help solve problems in areas like food waste, study of marine ecosystems, product organisation in warehouses, and clearing of debris from disaster zones. caregiving: assistenza to clear: liberare debris: detriti to enhance: migliorare fleet: flotta rescue: salvataggio surgery: chirurgia swarm: sciame 248 aUToMaTioN aND roboTics Elettronica-Informatica.indb 248 25/01/24 16:09