Robots are a diverse bunch. Some walk around on their two, four, six, or more legs, while others can take to the skies. Some robots help physicians to do surgery inside your body; others toil away in dirty factories. There are robots the size of a coin and robots bigger than a car. Some robots can make pancakes. Others can land on Mars.
In fact, the term robot means different things to different people. Even roboticists themselves have different notions about what is or isn’t a robot. And for most of us, science fiction has strongly influenced what we expect a robot to look like and be able to do.
So what makes a robot? Here’s a definition that is neither too general nor too specific: A robot is an autonomous machine capable of sensing its environment, carrying out computations to make decisions, and performing actions in the real world.
Think of the Roomba robotic vacuum. It uses sensors to autonomously drive around a room, going around furniture and avoiding stairs; it carries out computations to make sure it covers the entire room and when deciding if a spot needs a more thorough cleaning; and it performs an action by sucking dirt,
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