Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
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Robotics Engineering

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Robotics engineering designs, builds and programs robots, machines that sense their environment and act on it through actuators under some degree of autonomous or programmed control. It draws together mechanical design, electrical and control systems engineering, and software, and spans applications from industrial assembly-line robot arms to autonomous vehicles, surgical robots and robots sent to explore other worlds.

Facts
Core Concern
The design, construction, control and programming of robots that sense their environment and act on it under autonomous or programmed control. 1
Core Principle
Robotics engineering draws primarily on mechanical, electrical, software and artificial-intelligence engineering at once, because a working robot needs a body, power and sensing, and a controlling program engineered together rather than bolted on afterward. 2
Disputed
Origin Year
1961 1
The first industrial robot, Unimate, was installed on a General Motors production line in 1961; robotics crystallized into a distinct academic and engineering field through the 1960s and 1970s that followed.
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Mechanical Engineering, Fields

A robot physical structure, actuators and manipulators are principally mechanical engineering design problems.

Software Engineering, Fields

Robot behavior, perception and control depend on software running on embedded systems.

Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2. Robotics Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Quote, Lead section
It involves a multidisciplinary approach, drawing primarily from mechanical, electrical, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) engineering.
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2. Robotics Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of robotics engineering
Quote, Lead section, opening definition of robotics engineering
Robotics engineering is a branch of engineering that focuses on the conception, design, manufacturing, and operation of robots.
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IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, About (ieee-ras.org)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersMission statement
Quote, Mission statement
To foster the development and facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in Robotics and Automation that benefits members, the profession and humanity.
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