Next generation light robotics

Conventional robotics provides machines and robots that can replace and surpass human performance in repetitive, difficult, and even dangerous tasks at industrial assembly lines, hazardous environments, or even at remote planets. A new class of robotic systems no longer aims to replace humans with so-called automatons but, rather, to create robots that can work alongside human operators. These new robots are intended to collaborate with humans—extending their abilities—from assisting workers on the factory floor to rehabilitating patients in their homes. In medical robotics, robot-assisted surgery imbibes surgeons with superhuman abilities and gives the expression “surgical precision” a whole new meaning. Still in its infancy, much remains to be done to improve human-robot collaboration both in realizing robots that can operate safely with humans and in training personnel that can work proficiently with the collaborative robots