The term Robotics is often mentioned these days. There were many local inventions that were presented in mass media recently highlighting the possible use of Robotics in healthcare industry to meet the challenges faced under the COVID -19. 
Daily News Business discussed the possible uses of robotics in healthcare industry with Engineer Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma. Dr. Padmaperuma is a Chartered Professional Engineer and a former Senior Lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). He is also holding a PhD from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in Instructional Design for Computer-Based Learning.
Appearing below are some excerpts of the discussion
Dr. Padamaperuma said that local innovators need to be congratulated and supported to ensure their prototypes are developed and converted in to fully commercially viable ventures.
Modern commercial and industrial robots are widely used for performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans and robots are used for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing industry, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry and laboratory research, he elaborated.
Background
Dr. Padmaperuma said the word “Robot” in Czech language, meaning forced labour, has served as the root for the word Robotics. Per ISO 8373:2012, industrial robot is defined as an automatically controlled reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three or more axes, which can be either fixed or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.
He further said robotics is known as an interdisciplinary field at the interface of computer science and engineering. Robotics also involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots.
He said the goal of robotics is to design intelligent machines that can help and assist humans in their day-to-day lives and keep everyone safe.
“Robotics draws on the achievements of information and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and others”.
He further highlighted that there is evidence to show that mechanized human-like figures date back to ancient times, to Greece and the concept of an artificial man is found in works of fiction since the early 19th century.
“Despite these initial thoughts and representations, the dawn of the robotic revolution has begun in earnest in the 1950s. American inventor George Devol created the first digitally operated and programmable robot, named Unimate in 1954. This ultimately laid the foundation of the modern robotics industry.Many significant and gigantic developments in the timeline of robotics happened thereafter, which led to the modern commercial and industrial robots.
As an academic discipline
Dr. Padmaperuma said as an academic discipline, robotics is a relatively young field with highly ambitious goals, the ultimate goal being the creation of machines that can behave and think like humans and this attempt to create intelligent machines naturally leads us first to examine ourselves – to ask, for example, why our bodies are designed the way they are, how our limbs are coordinated, and how we learn and perform complex tasks.
Usefulness
Dr. Padmaperuma also highlighted that one key feature of robots is the ability to learn from a human and play back. A skill of a well-trained painter, for example, can be transferred to a robot. This can be done by ‘teaching’ the robot through conducting a painting job by the skilled worker while holding the arm of the robot,
“The robot will learn all the movements, paths and forces applied by the human in doing the job and remember. A robot can repeat the painting work the same way as the skilled worker when instructed.
Of course, some fine tunings need to be made before a perfect result can be achieved,’ he said.
Applications in everyday life
According to Dr. Padmaperuma, following are some examples of the use of robotics in everyday life, further to their widespread use in different Industries:
- Automated Transportation (Self-driving Robot)
The day is not that far when human drivers won’t be needed for driving vehicles. As a result, the accidents happening today due to human errors may be reduced.
- Security, Defense, and Surveillance
Robots monitor homes when people are away from their homes. These robots help people to monitor the skies, ground, and water from a remote location.
- Medicine
Robots are capable of doing things which need precise and accurate performance. For drug delivery systems (targeted drug delivery), robots can locally concentrate therapeutic payload (dosage of medicine) around pathological sites (where actually treatment is needed) so that they can reduce the dose of administrative drugs and side effects caused by them.
In the case of robotically-assisted minimally-invasive surgery, instead of directly moving the instruments, the surgeon uses one of two methods to administer the instruments. These include using a direct telemanipulator or through computer control, allowing the possibility for remote surgery.
- Education
Robots can help the students attend their classes remotely. The robot performs as a person in the classroom which is controlled by the person himself. Robot’s cameras are his eyes, and its body is for interacting with other students and teachers. So, the person can see and do everything in the classroom that he wants to do, from a remote location.
There are many other areas in everyday life that Robots can and will be able to assist in the near future, including home maintenance, cooking and acting as friends to humans.
Future of Robotics
As technological developments have done in the past, the next generation of robots, utilising artificial intelligence and automation to streamline processes currently handled with the assistance of human workers, will significantly alter the job market.
Robotic engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more human, to make it easier for us to work with them.Realistic looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment.
For example, a robot that senses your touch on the shoulder and turns to greet you.
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