When I was a child, robots were machines of the future, found only in books, comics, and movies. I remember being a robot at a costume party; I wore a cardboard box and a lot of tinfoil. But robots are no longer for the future—they are here and now, and for me, this is very exciting. Robots do not look how I imagined they would when I was a child—there is less tinfoil. They can also do things I hadn’t imagined.
My favorite robot was a clockwork toy that waddled across the table. There are now so many to choose from. If you could make a robot, what would it look like? How would it move? Would it have wheels, tracks, or legs? Would it slither like a snake or swim like a fish? Would it fly? Would it be able to see things we cannot see or smell things we cannot smell? Would it be here among people or investigating areas we cannot go, like deep under the ocean or visiting other planets? What does your favorite robot do? Does it need a human to help it, or can it do everything for itself? Would you like to work with a robot? Would you like one as a pet? As a friend?
This book helps to bring many of the jobs robots are doing for us now to life—from exoskeletons that help people walk to machines that make dangerous or dirty work safer for people. This book provides a comprehensive guide to the variety of today’s robots—in size, complexity, and function. But it is not just a catalog of robot types. It also gives a good understanding of how robots work, sense, move, and think.
Robots have come a long way since I was a child. But over the next few years, they are going to improve further. They will become part of our everyday lives. To appreciate how they do the amazing things that they do, how they work, and how they are designed and controlled is of great benefit—both now and in the future.
