ISBN Robotics: A Very Short Introduction English

Robotics is a key technology in the modern world. Robots are a well-established part of manufacturing and warehouse automation assembling cars or washing machines and for example moving goods to and from storage racks for Internet mail order. More recently robots have taken their first steps into homes and hospitals and seen spectacular success in planetary exploration. Yet despite these successes robots have failed to live up to the predictions of the 1950s and 60s when it was widely thought - by scientists and engineers as well as the public - that by turn of the 21st century we would have intelligent robots as butlers companions or co-workers. This Very Short Introduction explains how it is that robotics can be both a success story and a disappointment how robots can be both ordinary and remarkable and looks at their important developments in science and their applications to everyday life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.