• Explores one of the key technologies of the modern world and its impact
• Considers the use of robots in a variety of contexts - including the established manufacturing and warehouse automation to new uses in homes and hospitals
• Introduces robots as an imitation of life by looking at the parts that make a robot - to build a conceptual picture of what a robot is, how it works, and how 'intelligent' it is
• Examines the successes of robotics in planetary exploration
• Looks to the future of robotic research and practical uses

  
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.