Basic Robotics

In the past, our encounters with robots were mainly as an automation tool for speeding up the manufacturing process. This is evident with the early definition of robotics. For instance, The British Robot Association (BRA) defines a robot as “a reprogrammable device with a minimum of four degrees of freedom designed to both manipulate and transport parts, tools or specialised manufacturing implements through variable programmed motions for the performance of the specific manufacturing task.” Similarly, International Standards Organisation (ISO) defines a robot as “an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulative machine with several degrees of freedom, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.” Nowadays, robotics finds its place in many diverse areas from medicine to planetary explorations. For instance, two landmark examples are the da Vinci surgical robot used in surgeries demanding great care and precision and the Curiosity Rover sent to explore Mars.