New Age Robotic Systems

Warehouse robots can enhance order accuracy in a warehouse environment in the following two ways:

1. Accurate picking of items: Warehouse robots can pick objects precisely from shelves, which helps reduce human errors during order picking.
2. Barcode scanning and correct sorting: Robots such as ABB FlexPicker scan barcodes on delivery packages and sort them into the correct bins, ensuring correct order packaging.

Completed table is given below:

The potential benefits of using robots at home are as follows:

1. Convenience
2. Security
3. Energy efficiency
4. Comfort
5. Improved quality of life

1. False

2. True

3. False

4. True

5. True

True

Reason — Warehouse robots are designed to autonomously move within warehouses and perform tasks such as picking objects, sorting items, and arranging shelves, which helps in sorting and stacking products efficiently.

True

Reason — Assistant robots are designed to work as helpers to humans and can provide assistance to people who are elderly, disabled, or live alone by helping them in their daily tasks and improving their quality of life.

True

Reason — Smart homes offer features such as smart security, automated lighting, and automated thermostats, which help in enhancing comfort, security, and energy efficiency.

True

Reason — Smart schools aim to create an environment where technology is integrated seamlessly into various aspects of education, promoting collaboration, engagement, and efficiency for the benefit of students, teachers, and administrators.

False

Reason — Smart mobility focuses on using technology to create efficient and sustainable transportation solutions, not non-sustainable ones.

True

Reason — Autonomous cars can drive autonomously without human intervention, whereas driver assisted vehicles require human drivers to monitor the vehicle on the road.

False

Reason — Autonomous drones are designed to fly autonomously and do not require human control to navigate and take decisions.

True

Reason — Robots are used in medicine and healthcare for tasks such as surgery, rehabilitation, patient monitoring, nursing assistance, and patient care.

True

Reason — Fixed-wing drones can fly for a longer time and cover larger distances and are generally used for aerial mapping and surveillance.

False

Reason — Elevators are robotic systems that assist in vertical transportation of people and cargo between the floors of a building, not diagonal transportation.

Warehouse robots

Reason — Warehouse robots are machines designed to work in warehouses and perform tasks such as picking objects, arranging shelves, sorting objects, and packaging items.

All of the above

Reason — Assistant robots are designed to work as helpers to humans and are used in different applications at homes, industry, education, hospitals, and many more.

Improve security, energy, and work efficiency

Reason — Smart homes use connected devices and automation to enhance security, improve energy efficiency, and make daily tasks more convenient and efficient.

Facilitate online learning and administrative processes

Reason — Smart schools aim to create an environment where technology is integrated into various aspects of education to improve learning and administrative processes for students, teachers, and administrators.

Operating without or with any human intervention

Reason — Autonomous cars can drive autonomously without human intervention, and some vehicles also operate with partial or conditional automation where human drivers may still be present or required.

Surgical procedures and patient care

Reason — Robotics for medicine and healthcare involves the use of robots in tasks such as surgery, rehabilitation, patient monitoring, nursing assistance, and patient care.

All of these

Reason — Autonomous drones, autonomous cars, and robotic vacuum cleaners are all examples of robotic systems as they can perform tasks automatically using sensors, controllers, and actuators.

Flexible wing

Reason — The types of drones are fixed-wing drones, multi-rotor drones, and hybrid drones. Flexible wing is not a type of drone.

Warehouse robot

Reason — Kiva Systems robots are used in Amazon warehouses for picking up and packaging orders. They are capable of moving items, picking them from shelves, and taking them to packing stations.

All of these

Reason — Autonomous vehicles use a variety of sensors such as cameras, radar, and lidar to help them navigate surroundings, detect obstacles, and make driving decisions.

1. Smart homes utilise connected devices and automation to enhance comfort, convenience and security.
2. Smart mobility focuses on using technology to create efficient and sustainable transport solutions.
3. Autonomous drones are unmanned aerial vehicles that can operate and perform tasks independently.
4. Robotics for medicine and healthcare uses robots to assist in surgical procedures and patient care.
5. Elevators are common examples of robotic systems used for vertical transportation in buildings.

The various tasks of a warehouse robot are:

• Picking objects
• Arranging shelves
• Sorting objects
• Packaging items

The various examples of assistant robots are:

• Pepper robot
• Amazon's Astro
• Samsung's Bot Handy
• LG's CloiHomeBot
• iRobot's Roomba
• Dyson's 360 Heurist

The various advantages of smart mobility are:

1. Improves speed and efficiency of transportation
2. Provides convenience in the movement of goods and services
3. Enhances safety and security using sensors and smart systems
4. Enables autonomous and remote transportation systems

The purpose of security robots in smart homes is to enhance home security. They help in protecting homes from break-ins and other problems by using systems such as face recognition-based locks and sensor-based locks.

Autonomous drones navigate using GPS (and onboard sensors) to know their position and direction. They avoid obstacles using sensors like cameras/LiDAR/ultrasonic sensors to detect nearby objects. The onboard computer then calculates a safe path (turns, rises, or slows down) to bypass the obstacle and continue to the destination.

Benefits of using warehouse robots:

1. Warehouse robots improve the speed and accuracy of warehouse tasks.
2. They can perform tasks such as picking objects, arranging shelves, sorting objects, and packaging items efficiently.
3. Warehouse robots help in reducing human labour and can work continuously without fatigue.
4. They are increasingly useful in large-scale logistics operations, making warehouse management more efficient.

Challenges of using warehouse robots:

1. The initial cost of installing warehouse robots and related technology can be high.
2. Warehouse robots require advanced hardware, software, and maintenance.
3. Skilled personnel are needed to operate, control, and manage these robotic systems.

Assistant robots, as the name suggests, are designed to work as assistant to humans. They can be used in different applications at homes, industry, education, hospitals, and many more. They are designed to perform tasks like cleaning, cooking, inventory management, surgery, and disaster management. They work like a helpful assistant that can make our lives easy.

Some examples of smart school robots are:

• Teaching assistant
• Language learning robot
• STEM robot
• Homework helper robot

Smart home robots improve our quality of life by making homes more convenient, safe, energy-efficient, and comfortable. They automate routine household work (like cleaning floors—robot vacuum cleaners such as iRobot Roomba / Dyson 360 Heurist; and even helping in tasks like folding laundry/loading the dishwasher—Samsung Bot Handy). They also help with daily assistance and companionship, especially for elderly, disabled, or people living alone (assistant robots like Amazon Astro).

In addition, smart home systems enhance living by providing smart security (e.g., face recognition systems, sensor-based locks; devices like August smart lock and Ring smart doorbell), automated lighting (lights controlled automatically or by voice/app, e.g., Yeelight), and automated thermostats that adjust temperature and save power (e.g., Nest). Overall, these features reduce human effort, improve safety, and make day-to-day living smoother and more comfortable.

Autonomous drones are pre-programmed to fly on their own using an onboard computer/controller. The controller runs software that takes input from sensors (such as GPS and cameras) and then generates control signals to guide the drone's movement.

Based on this sensor input, the drone:

• plans an optimal route to the destination using GPS
• detects obstacles (e.g., buildings/trees) and avoids them,
• on reaching the destination, it can use the camera to scan/verify (e.g., barcode scanning and even face recognition for recipient verification)
• and after completing the task, it returns to its base location and is ready for the next job.

New age robotic systems have a significant impact on the economy in the areas of job displacement, cost savings and market competitiveness.

• Job displacement and changing skills: Robots can replace repetitive and routine tasks such as picking, sorting, packing, and assembly (e.g., warehouse and factory robots). This may reduce demand for some manual jobs, but it also creates new roles like robot operators, maintenance technicians, programmers, and supervisors. So, the economy sees a shift in skill requirements from manual work to technical and monitoring-based work.

• Cost savings for organisations: Robots can work continuously with high speed and accuracy, reducing errors, wastage, and delays. For example, warehouse robots speed up order handling, and healthcare/industrial robots support precise work. This improves efficiency and can lower long-term costs such as labour cost per unit, accident-related costs, and time losses.

• Improved market competitiveness: Companies using robots can produce faster, more reliably, and at larger scale, helping them offer better quality and quicker delivery. Sectors like logistics (warehouse robots, delivery robots, drones), manufacturing (automated systems), and healthcare (surgical/telepresence robots) can become more productive, which increases competitiveness in both national and global markets.

Overall, widespread adoption of these systems can increase productivity and efficiency in industries, but it also makes reskilling and upskilling important so workers can adapt to the new job roles created by automation.

The widespread adoption of new age robotic systems (used in warehouses, homes, schools, transport and healthcare) can bring major socio-economic changes.

1. Redistribution of wealth

• Robots such as warehouse robots (used for picking, sorting, packaging) and automated manufacturing systems can work faster and with higher accuracy, so companies can reduce operating costs and increase productivity and profits.
• Autonomous delivery robots, drones, and driver-assisted vehicles can make logistics and transport more efficient, which can increase the earnings of businesses that own these systems.
• However, income may shift away from workers doing repetitive jobs (e.g., warehouse handling, assembly-line tasks, some driving/delivery roles), concentrating wealth more with owners of technology and skilled professionals.

2. Changes in skill requirements

• As robots need sensors, actuators, and controller software, jobs will increasingly require skills in operating, programming, monitoring, and maintaining robotic systems.
• New opportunities grow in areas like robot servicing, safety supervision, data handling, and technical support—especially as robots spread into smart homes, smart schools, smart mobility, and healthcare (telepresence, surgical, rehabilitation, pharmacy robots).
• At the same time, traditional low-skill roles may shrink, so re-skilling and training become essential for workers to shift into new roles.

3. Societal inequalities

• Advanced systems like smart home devices, assistant robots, and healthcare robots can improve comfort, safety, and quality of life but these technologies may be costly, so richer groups may benefit earlier and more.
• If students and workers do not get equal access to technology-enabled learning and training (even though smart schools aim to improve engagement and support), the skill gap can widen, increasing inequality.
• Therefore, without affordable access to training and technology, robotics can unintentionally increase the divide between high-skill/high-income groups and low-skill/low-income groups.

The use of new age robotic systems can bring both environmental benefits and drawbacks:

Environmental benefits

• Better energy efficiency in use: Smart-home robots and devices (like automated thermostats and automated lighting) can save electricity by adjusting temperature settings and switching lights ON/OFF only when needed, reducing unnecessary energy use.
• Reduced material wastage: Robots used in warehouses and manufacturing perform tasks like picking, sorting, and packaging with high precision, which can reduce errors, rework, and extra material wastage.
• Lower travel-related pollution: Systems such as telepresence robots (remote consultation/monitoring) and smart mobility robots can reduce the need for repeated human travel in some cases, helping cut fuel use and emissions.

Environmental drawbacks

• Higher energy demand: Many robots operate for long hours and require continuous power for sensors, controllers, and motors, along with repeated battery charging, which can increase overall electricity consumption.
• High material usage during production: Building robotic systems needs advanced hardware like sensors, actuators, microcontrollers and embedded systems, which increases the use of metals, plastics, and electronic components.
• E-waste and battery waste: When robots become outdated or damaged, disposal can generate electronic waste (circuits, sensors, wiring) and battery waste. If recycling and safe disposal are not followed, this can harm the environment.