There are currently several types of robots to meet increasingly specific needs. The world of robotics is advancing by leaps and bounds, so it is likely that we will see increasingly accelerated progress in this industry.
Although you may think that there are only certain types of robots for very basic and elementary activities, the truth is that this is a field that is becoming more specialized and it is increasingly common to find robotic mechanisms focused on some activity that we did not even dream of… they even send them into space!
In this post, we will teach you more about the most recent technological advances in robotics and you will learn about the different types of robots that exist today. want to learn more? join us!
1. Industrial robots
The types of industrial robots are the best known and most widely used around the world. Your cell phone or your car has probably been built by one or more of these robots.
If we think of a robot, we quickly imagine that image that many movies have shown us (Thanks Star Wars and Transformers!). However, this industrial mechanism is far from that.
Most industrial companies, especially those in charge of building products with heavy or hard elements, use industrial robots. For this reason, it is common to find this type of industrial robots in industrial production plants, such as vehicle assembly lines.
The main value of industrial robots is that they surpass the strength of a human being. However, they are used with great care, because there is a risk of accidents with workers.
Advantages of industrial robots
The growth that robotic engineering has maintained in this sector, during the last decades, has managed to reform and improve the production processes to which you were accustomed. However, are there other advantages of the technological development of these artificial mechanisms in the industrial sector?
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of producing these types of robots:
Production costs are decreased and production is increased.
There is an improvement in the quality of the products/services offered.
Operators should not be exposed to work in high-risk areas.
They may perform repetitive and strenuous tasks.
Unlike an employee, they can remain in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with no impact on robot rest and fatigue.
Currently (although this may change over the years), it is not necessary to pay any extra tax for robots.
These are some of the benefits of using different types of robots for industrial activities. However, is it all rosy when it comes to robotics?
Disadvantages of industrial robots
Like everything in this life, within the creation of types of robots, there are also drawbacks. Not everything can be beautiful or perfect, even within the world of robotics, so we present you some disadvantages involved in this type of industry.
The initial investment to finance the robotics world can be very large.
People working within the industrial sector suffer the risk of losing their jobs, replaced by autonomous entities.
Preventive maintenance is necessary for this equipment.
what are cobots?
Within industrial robots, what are known as Cobots, or collaborative robots, are emerging. These are mechatronic arms that work with sensors to perform different movements and more specific tasks.
In simpler terms, Cobots are robots that help people to perform functions such as the following:
Welding
Packaging
Cargo
Assembly
Classification
Etc
Source: Unsplash
2. Military robots
By now, you should know that a robot is a vehicle or machine with some degree of autonomy that serves to perform operations that previously could only be performed by people in a given field. Well, this is one of those types of robots that are aimed at a specific field: in this case, the military industry.
Many countries, especially world powers, are investing in these types of robots. Thus, the growth of military robots is experiencing a great leap recently.
There is speculation that, in several countries, they are preparing to stop fighting with armies of people and fight with robots. So, in the future, Robot Wars are more likely to develop.
At the moment, the use of military robots are as follows:
Bomb disposal
Terrain mapping
Transportation of materials
Search for objects
Rescue of persons
The most amazing thing about these types of robots is that they are all-terrain and are prepared to work in the midst of natural disasters .
The most famous military robots are:
U.S. RipSaw 45 M5.
Uran-9 from Russia
Source: Sputnik World
3. Medical Robots
This is one of the types of robots that has taken great strength, after the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and is the one that is receiving more investments from world powers and laboratories.
Following the health situation, there was an accelerated growth in the field of robotics. As revealed by the International Federation of Robotics, by 2020, there were a total of 113 robotic units per 10,000 employees in the world. Which is significant, considering that, 5 years ago, the figure was only 73 robots per 10,000 workers.
The role of these types of robots lies mainly in the field of surgery, because medical robots bring great value in precision to perform operations through, for example, multiple robotic arms. These types of robots can even be used to perform remote surgeries.
One of the types of medical robots that went viral during the pandemic were assistive or nursing robots, which are responsible for providing medicine to patients, or assisting the sick in their rehabilitation, or in the purification of hospital rooms.
Other widely used medical robots are the auxiliary robots in operations, which are responsible for delivering the material needed by the doctor. These are mainly robots with various types of artificial intelligence.
Source: Diario Gestión
4. Virtual Robots
While we have told you about physical robots, there are also virtual robots or, rather, virtual platforms. Let’s stop for a moment at this point.
Before we continue talking about the different types of robots, we must make a clarification. There is a lot of confusion about the difference between a robot and a bot, so we will point out the difference between them:
what is a bot?
A robot is a tangible entity, since it requires mechanisms and physical equipment for its operation. Regardless of the types of robots, the operation is very similar in most of them.
Although some are rudimentary and others are very advanced, they have certain patterns that make them function in the way we know. The action process of a robot is governed by the sum of its parts:
Initially, the robot “observes“, thanks to the fact that it is composed of sensors, which are what allow it to see the activity to be performed.
Then, the robot “decides” to execute an action, determined by the software or program that defines its behavior or the reason for which it was built.
Finally, the robot “acts”, so it executes the action with the machinery it has at its disposal to do so.
To make robots, robotics combines several new technologies. Among them is artificial intelligence (AI), which, according to the Medium portal, is responsible for “automating the unimaginable”.
It is in AI where elements such as the following are integrated:
Everything that is machine learning and deep learning
Process automation
Big Data Analytics, IoT and more
Source: Unsplash
what is a bot?
A bot is a software that executes repetitive tasks, through a virtual system in the Cloud. One of the best known is the chatbot, which is able to have a conversation with a person and respond to their different questions or requirements.
Compared to other types of robots, they do not require a lot of work to create. However, this does not mean that chatbots are not important for people and companies.
The main uses of virtual bots are:
Voice or text customer assistants
Task automation
Virtual education
Personal assistants
Automated activities, as mentioned by Professor Sergio Maldonado from the online course Task Automation: create your first bot, can help you “with your daily performance”, so activities that you considered tedious or repetitive are now simplified.
5. Space robots
Nasa is the expert institution in building space robots for its off-planet missions. For example, in recent explorations of terrains and environments on Mars and the Moon, highly trained space robots have been used for exploration and data transmission.
Among these robots are those used in space stations as astronauts’ co-workers. And, of course, we cannot forget the explorers.
Source: Pexels
6. Domestic robots
To be clear on this, first, it must be said that Siri and Alexa are not domestic robots. So, what kind of robots are these?
Domestic robots are those that are used for household chores. Surely with this you are already imagining the vacuum cleaner robot; however, there are not only of that type. We can find domestic robots that do activities such as:
Cleaning pipes
Mowing the lawn
Cleaning swimming pools
With all that they do, wouldn’t you love to have these household robots in your home? To show you just how useful these types of robots can be, here’s a look at the world’s most famous robot.
Ballie Robot
The Ballie robot was unveiled at CES 2020, the world’s most important technology trade show, bySamsung. This robot was able to attract several attendees because of its ball shape, its colors and its incredible functions.
Ballie falls into the category of domestic robots, because it is a robot that helps people to perform various household operational tasks.
The main functions of the Ballie robot are:
Autonomous mobility
Smart home system controller
Owner recognition
Learning morning routines within the home
Automating household chores: opening and closing the curtains, turning on the TV and watching the house
7. Surveillance robots
These types of robots help to safeguard a certain perimeter from malicious persons or accidents. Therefore, surveillance robots are like a kind of police that, through their integrated cameras, monitor and detect suspicious events.
In addition, it is very common for these types of robots to use facial recognition to detect strangers.
Source: Robotix
8. Messenger robots
This is one of the types of terrestrial robots that are going to be more accessible to the public in a very short time. why? Because they are dedicated, as their name suggests, to courier and transport services.
Basically, this type of robots can be seen delivering packages and food to the homes of customers of a particular company. Which responds to a need, originated by companies such as Alibaba or Amazon, to respond to the massive orders ordered by their users.
Among some types of courier robots that you can find in the market are the following:
Digit Robot
Cassie Robot
Startship
For their part, companies like Kiwibot have promoted these types of robots in the United States, mainly within universities, to bring food to college students. Something that seems like a thing of the future is already a reality.
9. Humanoid robots
These are the most popular robots because of their design. why? Because they resemble a person!
While these types of robots are very attractive and desirable, they are also the most difficult to create. Despite this, you can find famous humanoid robots that have caused a great sensation and have been presented at important technology and innovation conventions.
One of the great characteristics of humanoid robots is their level of autonomy and control. This happens because they are supported by deep learning technology, through algorithms that seek to resemble human neurons to learn by themselves.
Let’s take a look at some of the most famous humanoid robots in the world:
Atlas Robot
The Atlas robot was created by one of the most successful companies in robot production called Boston Dynamics.when the company released the video of the Atlas robot, it quickly caused great surprise and wonder in the media, due to the great ability to move and perform acrobatics in such a natural way.
In addition, another feature of the Atlas robot, which makes it different from others, is that it can walk upright, push doors, walk in the snow and maintain great balance.
Undoubtedly, the Atlas robot is the first step towards the creation of more autonomous robots capable of performing operational tasks and making people’s lives easier.
Sophia Robot
Sophia is the humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics, a company located in Hong Kong. This humanoid robot became known worldwide for being the first robot to acquire a Saudi Arabian nationality. Crazy, isn’t it?
In addition, it is the robot that has had the most appearances in news and television shows around the world. She has even been interviewed by great presenters such as Jimmy Fallon.
The main functions of the Sophia robot are:
Ability to maintain eye contact
Facial recognition
Understanding and using human language
Asimo Robot
Asimo is one of Honda’s newest humanoid robots. Like Atlas, it is characterized by its high autonomous mobility.
Since its launch in 2011, Asimo has received new updates and improvements every year to continue to impress the world.
10. Zoomorphic robots
But, just as we have humanoid robots, we must also mention zoomorphic robots, which are a representation of robotics within the animal world. These types of robots are characterized, mainly, by locomotion systems that allow them to imitate behaviors of various living beings.
You may have seen 4-legged figures, similar to a robotic dog. Well, you’re looking at a zoomorphic robot, although the list of creations goes far beyond this.
There are the multipedal walking zoomorphic robots, which are among the most common ones made so far. The main value of these is that they can be used for tasks that involve:
Serving as vehicles in dangerous terrain and even inside volcanoes.
Pilot over difficult areas.
Traverse spatial surfaces.
If properly developed, the contribution of these autonomous mechanisms will help the study of space exploration or the study of volcanoes, just to mention two areas.
want to see a zoomorphic robot? meet the most famous of them all!
Robot Spot or robot-dog
Like Atlas, the Spot robot is one of the greatest creations of Boston Dynamics and is the first robot to be offered for sale by the company, but with a strict filter to decide which companies or institutions to sell to.
The most peculiar thing about this type of robot is in the shape and movements it has, since it resembles a dog. In addition, it is a robot that can be customized and new elements and functions can be added.
The main features of the Robot Spot are:
360-degree vision of its environment
Can move at a speed of 1.6 meters per second
It can carry 14 kg of weight to transport products from one place to another.
Ideal for moving in industrial environments
Every year robotics surpasses itself and tells us that we are in a constant technological advance that will never stop. So, in a few months, we will probably see new and peculiar types of robots in the world.
Regarding Latin America,in 2018, it was reported that Mexican companies acquired more than 5,500 robots, which placed Mexico as one of the countries with the highest number of robots in the world. In addition, Brazil and Argentina top the list with the highest use of robots as well. However, despite these figures, the use of robots in Latin America is still low and there is no sustainable growth.
What there is no doubt about is that the future is already here, so you must be prepared for what is coming in terms of technology and industry. So, if you are interested in this topic, you can start learning about programming. Therefore, we leave you our list of HTML tags and CSS properties, so you can get started in the world of software development and expand your knowledge of the most elementary concepts.