Robots
📖 In short
A robot is a machine that moves and works on its own thanks to a small computer inside it. It has “senses” to feel what's around it, “muscles” made of motors to move, and a “brain”, which is its program. Some robots look like people, but most don't at all: an arm in a factory, a vacuum cleaner going round the house, or a rover on Mars.
🤩 Did you know?
- The word “robot” first appeared in 1920 in a Czech play, and it means “hard work”.
- A message from Mars can take several minutes to reach Earth, so a robot there sometimes has to act on its own.
- Some factories have more robots than workers.
- There are tiny robots that swim like fish and others that fly like insects.
🔎 Find out more
🌟 A robot's senses
Instead of eyes a robot has cameras, instead of ears microphones, and it has sensors that measure distance, heat and touch. That's how it knows there's a wall ahead and stops before bumping into it.
🔍 Robots that help us
In factories robots put cars together precisely without getting tired. In hospitals they help surgeons with delicate operations. And at home they vacuum the floor and mow the lawn.
💡 Adventure robots
Robots go to places that are dangerous for people: the depths of the ocean, inside volcanoes and to other planets. The Perseverance rover has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2021, looking for signs of water and life.
🎯 Does a robot think?
A robot does what programmers wrote for it. Some modern robots learn from experience, but they don't feel or dream like us. People design them and decide what they do.
🧭 How does a robot move?
Motors turn wheels or move joints like the joints in your arm. Some robots walk on two or four legs, which is very hard because they have to keep their balance with every step.
🌈 Sense, think, act
Every robot repeats three steps: it senses what's around it with its sensors, its program thinks about what to do, then it moves. Then it starts again, many times a second.
📊 See how it works
📚 Key words
- Sensor
- The robot's sense that measures what's around it
- Motor
- The robot's muscle that moves it
- The program
- Instructions that tell the robot what to do
🧪 Try it at home
Be a robot vacuum: walk slowly with your hand held out in front of you (somewhere safe, with a grown-up), and whenever your hand touches something, turn right and carry on. That's how some robot vacuums get around the house!
🧩 Test yourself
1 What does a robot use instead of eyes?
2 Which planet is the Perseverance rover exploring?