2 · Why we build robots

If a robot is just "sense, think, act," why bother building one? Because robots are great at jobs that are one of the three D's: dull, dirty, or dangerous.

• Dull — doing the same exact motion thousands of times without getting bored or sloppy. (Think of a machine tightening the same bolt on every car.)
• Dirty — working where it's messy, hot, or unhealthy for a person.
• Dangerous — going where a human can't safely go: inside a volcano, deep underwater, or 140 million miles away on Mars.

NASA puts it plainly: it uses robotic systems to "explore other planets and objects in our solar system as precursors to crewed missions" and to assist astronauts — robots go first, into places that would be too risky or too far for people right now (NASA, n.d.-a).

But here's the honest part: robots are not smarter than you. They're fast, tireless, and precise, but they only do what they're built and programmed to do. A robot that's brilliant at welding car doors would have no idea how to make you breakfast. Humans are still the ones who imagine the problem, design the robot, and decide what's worth doing. That's the part this course is really about — learning to think like the engineer, not just admire the machine.

The word "robot" itself is young — it comes from a 1920 play and means roughly "forced labor." That tells you what we've always wanted robots for: to take over the work people would rather not, or can't safely, do.

Check yourself. Name the "three D's" — the kinds of jobs robots are especially good for — and give one real example of each.

Sources

NASA. (n.d.-a). Robotics. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://www.nasa.gov/robotics/