Robotics: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #330

by Alan Winfield

Robotics is a key technology in the modern world, a well-established part of manufacturing and warehouse automation, assembling cars or washing machines, or moving goods to and from storage racks for Internet mail order. Robots have taken their first steps into homes and hospitals, and have 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 as well as the public--that we would have, by now, 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, and how robots can be both ordinary and remarkable. Alan Winfield introduces the subject by looking at the parts that together make a robot. Not surprisingly, these parts each have a biological equivalent: a robot's camera is like an animal's eyes, a robot's microcomputer is equivalent to an animal's brain, and so on. By introducing robots in this way this book builds a conceptual, non-technical picture of what a robot is, how it works, and how "intelligent" it is.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Engineering, Technology

143 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2012

About the author

Alan F.T. Winfield is Professor of Robot Ethics at the University of the West of England, Bristol and Visiting Professor at the University of York.

He received his PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Hull in 1984, then co-founded and led APD Communications Ltd until taking-up appointment at UWE, Bristol in 1992.

Reviews

[Marius CEO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book!

One of the best books on Robotics fundamentals I have read so far.

I am so glad I began the AVSI series. Will purchase more soon.

You should too. Totally worth it, trust me.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robots are very fascinating entities, and they have always been one of the foremost subjects of science fiction. The very name robot originated in science fiction writing, although one could argue that the notion of autonomous mechanical artifacts has a very long tradition that predates science fiction. The golden age of robots in science fiction was probably a few decades ago. Unfortunately as the developments in robotics have lagged well behind of what the sci-fi writers had made us to expect, the interest in robots has somewhat cooled off. However, the first low-scale commercial robots are finally making their mark, and the robotic parts are well within the reach of most casual hobbyists and enthusiasts. Furthermore, as first fully autonomous cars are starting to roll on the highways, it is quite possible that the age of widespread everyday use of robots is finally upon us.

“Robotics: A Very Short Introduction” is a great little book about robots and robotics. The author is a bona fide authority in the field, and his enthusiasm for robotics clearly shows. Unlike some other similar books, this one really does go into the nitty-gritty aspects of robots – what are robots, how can they be classified, how are they designed and built, what is the state of art of robots right now, and what can we reasonably expect to see in the upcoming years and decades. This, however, is not a how-to book on robots, and if you are looking to actually build your own first robot you may want to look elsewhere.

There are a couple of issues that I wish were covered in more detail: the ethics of robots, and the legal aspect of having robots in our society. The author mentions briefly some ethical problems that will arise with a widespread use of robots, namely safety and the ethical treatment of robots themselves. However, I think that a bigger ethical issue will be the changing relationships that humans will have to their environment – and to each other. Would there be anything wrong if a substantial number of humans start preferring companionship of robots to that of each other? The legal issues are even more pressing. In fact, right now legal conundrums are the single biggest obstacle to the wider adoption of fully autonomous cars. Of course, both the ethics and legal challenges of robotics could fill a book of their own, but at least a few pages dedicated to these concerns – if not a whole chapter – should have been included in here as well.

Despite the omissions that I mentioned above, this short introduction is a great read and fully deserves a high rating. Anyone who has any interest in robotics as a field would definitely enjoy reading it.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the wide range of academic subjects being studied at present, robotics is one of the most likely to stir up popular interest. The author of this book wisely sidesteps philosophical and ethical questions about artificial intelligence (a subject generally best left to sci-fi writers), and explores the various areas of current research, as well as overviewing the enormous potential for future developments. Exciting and intriguing.

[Dennis Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read many books on robotics and if you have never read one this where to begin. Afterwards I would read the classic "Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology" (1984) by Valentino Braitenberg and then "The Robotics Primer" (2007) by Maja Mataric. But read this one first and soon as the field of robotics is rapidly changing.

[Ella Catherall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really concise but it didn't seem to cut back on detail and was written clearly so someone with no prior knowledge would be alienated. Thoroughly recommend for people looking for an introduction into robotics.

[سليمان العوشن · Rating 4 out of 5]

إذا كنت تبحث عن مقدمة شاملة ومبسطة في عالم الروبوتات، فهذا الكتاب يمنحك ما تحتاج إليه بالضبط. يأخذك المؤلف في رحلة معرفية ممتعة، حيث يشرح لك المفاهيم الأساسية لعلم الروبوتات، من تعريف الروبوت إلى أحدث تطبيقاته في الصناعة والطب والاستكشاف
ستقدّر كثيرًا أسلوب الطرح الذي يجمع بين العمق العلمي والبساطة، مما يجعلك تفهم كيف تفكر الروبوتات، وكيف تعمل، بل وكيف تتطور أيضًا. كما يسلط الضوء على الجانب الأخلاقي لهذه التكنولوجيا، ويجعلك تتأمل في مستقبلنا المشترك مع الآلات
يتميز الكتاب بوضوح فصوله وتدرج أفكاره، مما يجعله مناسبًا لك سواء كنت مبتدئًا أو لديك خلفية علمية بسيطة. بعد قراءته، ستجد نفسك تنظر إلى الروبوتات بعين أكثر وعيًا واهتمامًا


تابعني على شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي

سليمان العوشن

http://about.me/aloshan

[Ogi Ogas · Rating 2 out of 5]

My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love robots!!! I love to learn more about them, and this is the perfect little book to do so. It's presented in digestible chapters, each exploring different aspects of robotics, all of which interested me the entire time.
I also made the decision of reading the last chapter while listening to 'one is glad to be of service' by april rain, a song with audio taken from bicentennial man, a film about a robot learning to be human......I am quite emotional now...

[Saunaguy · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://digitalsauna.wordpress.com/20...

[Niklas Angmyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intressant presentation trots att boken har tio år på nacken. Det är inte hyllning utan en saklig framställan om fördelar, nackdelar och utmaningar.

[Ryan]

centibots, maybe millebots, but no microbots ... yet.

[Joe Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise interesting introduction to many fields of robotics

[Chad Handley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good summary for someone not exposed to the field of robotics.

[Lucas Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book, covers topics well

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Robotics A Very Short Introduction by Alan Winfield which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. The term robot was coined by a Czech author in a science fiction novel. Probably the science fiction author most associated with robots is Isaac Asimov who wrote I Robot among other books. The idea in that robots will be like people's helpers is likely to start to become a reality by about 2020. By 2025 most families will have at least 1 robot do something like housework or gardening. As there was a revolution with computers a similar thing will happen with robots. Industry has already embraced the idea of robots. Everyone knows that robots help build cars but what about repairing work where natural gas is being drilled. Often it would be impossible for a human to get to it and what about milking cattle, it's a form of robot that does this. There is development in building predator robots that can digest house flies or slugs which can incorporate energy cells. These robots could use a very low current and be slow moving or release a fragrance to attract pests to a compartment where they can be digested. In the case of slugs they are notoriously difficult to detect but do reflect red light. For example they are cold blooded and could easily be confused with leaves and dirt. There is also an idea of having several robots of simple design that group together to do a task and if several malfunction the ones working can take over for them. There is even the idea of varying the specifications and even having living robots much like genetically enhanced farm animals and crops we have today. You can see this book covers a whole plethora of different types of robots. This book isn't all that long but is a good read.

[James Carmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A briskly written, unassuming and clear introduction to a number of the topic that touches on the big philosophy (what is intelligence? what is consciousness? etc.) but stays nicely focused on concrete current state-of-the-art and applications.

[Syed Hameed]

alan winfield