Audio Lecture Text

Automation refers to the process of using mechanical equipment to perform tasks that a human would normally do. This is possible through the use of a robot, which is a mechanical device that has the ability to move, grab, and view things, as it is being controlled by a human's programmed instructions or real-time manipulation.

Robotics refers to a detailed process that includes the design, construction, operation, and application of an equipment that will perform the function of a human operator.

Robots are basically IoT devices that facilitate an automation process. This is accomplished through the use of device sensors that allow the device to understand its surrounding area, gather information, and control its environment in order to function and make decisions.

Automation and robots are extremely useful and helpful to society.

For example, in 2011 an earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered a catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Human beings couldn’t go into the heart of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors, thus a team of engineers developed a robot—a bread-loaf-sized, red and white machine equipped with five propellers, a transparent dome, front and rear video cameras, and an array of lights and sensors - Nicknamed Little Sunfish, to find and photograph the melted-down radioactive fuel that had gone missing inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant.