Robots at Work

A robot is a machine that can sense the world, think about what to do, and then act. It doesn’t have to look like a person — in fact most robots look nothing like the ones in films. A robot might be a mechanical arm, a flat vacuum cleaner, or even a car the size of a small 4x4 driving on another planet.

Robots follow instructions written by people. These instructions are called a program, and writing them is called coding. The robot can’t decide anything by itself unless a programmer has taught it the rules first.

Robots have sensors instead of senses. Cameras act like eyes, microphones like ears, and touch sensors like skin. A robot vacuum uses bumpers and maps to learn the shape of your rooms. Self-driving tractors use satellite signals to plough perfectly straight lines.

In factories, robot arms work faster and more precisely than any human, welding car parts or placing tiny electronics. Deep-sea robots dive where humans would be crushed, and space rovers explore Mars, sending photographs home across millions of kilometres.

Will robots take over the world? Don’t worry — robots only ever do what their programs allow. The real magic is in the humans who dream up clever jobs for them, then teach them, step by step, exactly how to do it.