what can robots do ulimately

You wonder what can robots do but i wonder what it can't ?and i hope mine question is quite tougher na..today U.S.A has designed robots that helps and supports the u.s army force

Now lets read more on this sizziling hot cakes   Today, over one million household robots, and a further 1.1 million industrial robots, are operating worldwide. Robots are used to perform tasks that require great levels of precision or are simply repetitive and boring. Many also do jobs that are hazardous to people, such as exploring shipwrecks, helping out after disasters, studying other planets and defusing bombs or mines. Robots are increasingly marching into our lives. In the future, robots will act as carers, medics, bionic enhancements, companions, entertainers, security guards, traffic police and even soldiers. Domestic invasion Despite the longevity of the robot concept, robotic butlers that roam our homes and relieve us from housework still seemed far from reality until very recently. Instead, the vast majority of robots worked in factories performing the industrial functions of brainless machines. However, a combination of increased computing power and advances made in the field of artificial intelligence, or AI, have now made software smart enough to make robots considerably more useful. A recent report published by the United Nations revealed that sales of domestic robots had tripled in a single year. What's more, they were well on their way to outstripping their industrial cousins. While a large portion of the household robots were made up of robotic vacuum cleaners, mops, lawn mowers, pool cleaners, security bots and even robotic baby-rockers - the real boom was in entertainment robots. Suddenly people were happy to pay for robots that had no specific functional value. Instead these bots, such as Sony's Aibo robotic dog and its robo-pups served as robo-pets and companions, rather than slaves. This is partly because many domestic chores still pose a real challenge for robots, in terms of dexterity and intelligence, even with seemingly simple chores such as ironing. Movers and shakers Away from the domestic front, the modern bot can take many other forms. Some are even designed to change their form, such as shape-shifting tetrabots or self-cloning robots. And while we often think of robots being humanoid, such as Honda's Asimo and Sony's Qrio, there is as much interest, if not more, in emulating other creatures like insects, lobsters, orang-utans, alligators, snakes and fish. A robot guard dragon has even been created. Whether they have two legs, many legs, or no legs at all, considerable advances have been made in robot locomotion, including bipedal walking, rambling, crawling, rock-climbing, bouncing, slithering and swimming. There are also wheeled bots that work as autonomous vehicles, such as the desert racers that compete in the DARPA Grand Challenge to be the fastest to cross a desert without any human control. Robot wars One area where even more advances in autonomy have been made is the development of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. These are essentially remotely-controlled spy planes that are capable of flying themselves if they lose contact with their pilot. These planes can also be used to monitor forest fires. Some robots have even learnt to fly of their own accord. The Pentagon has started arming some UAVs, making them capable of responding with firepower against aggressive attacks - so-called unmanned combat vehicles, or UCVs. Robots that act as battlefield spies have also been designed. Also aiming to remove humans from dangerous situations are space agencies, such as NASA, who have developed many space exploration robots. For example, the robonaut is a remotely-operated robot, designed to perform dangerous space walks in the place of an astronaut. In addition, NASA has already sent robotic rovers to Mars, developed robotic dirt scoopers, "flying eyes" and probes for interplanetary exploration and even sent droids off to try to explore asteroids. Space probes such as Huygens (which landed on Titan) and Russia's Venera 9 (which landed on Venus) are sometimes considered robots too. And it's not just other planets that robots are good for exploring. Robotic submarines, also known as remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, have now become important way of exploring the deep ocean or ice-capped waters, while heat resistant robots are now used to patrol and monitor the activity in volcanoes. A robotic rover has even been used to explore Egyptian pyramids. Precision surgeons Operating on the human body requires high skill but also great control, something robots can provide. The idea of robotic surgery prompted early fears of unsupervised robots let loose to operate, but the reality is that robots now assist surgeons to perform precision procedures. The most successful of these is arguably the da Vinci robotic surgical system, which is used for keyhole surgery, to operate on anything from gall bladder removals and brain surgery to heart bypasses.

Analog robots (they use analog circuitry to perform goals such as going towards light; its analog circuitry is used extensively in BEAM robotics) Arthropod robots (exoskeletons) Autonomous Robots Autonomous research robots Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Humanoid robot Hyper redundant robots Locomotion Styles Differential wheeled robots Snakebot Walker Biped Robots Multi-legged robots: Quadruped Robots, Hexapod Robots Nanorobots Service robots Domestic robots (Domobots) Educational Robotics LEGO Mindstorms BEAM robotics Boe-Bot robot by Parallax, Inc. Vex Robotics Design System