Foundations Reading 12A

Chap 23

Reading 12A THE ROBOTS ARE COMING! You have probably seen robots in movies such as Star Wars or Transformers. But soon, robots may be part of our daily lives. Today's scientists are working on robots with various skills. For example, it is likely that robots will soon help take care of children or the elderly, or do dangerous jobs such as fighting fires. Early robots were made to do simple things, mainly in factories. Since then, robots have changed a lot. Humans operated these early robots. Today's robots—like Honda's ASIMO—work on their own. ASIMO can run, climb stairs, and dance. Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot can run fast, jump, and even do backflips—all on two legs! Then there are robots designed to be like humans. These robots have faces and can also talk. Such robots can learn new things, and show us how they "feel." Sophia—a social robot—has a face that looks so human she sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable.

Animal-bots Scientists aren't just building humanlike robots. They are also making robots that look and act like animals. At NASA, for example, scientists have made a robot snake. These snake-bots can enter holes and move over rough ground. They might one day help scientists look for signs of life on Mars. Other animal robots include the frog-bot, which can jump over objects, and the sticky-bot, which can walk up walls. There are also doglike robots, like SpotMini, which have four legs and can run at high speed. Who knows? Perhaps in the future, we'll all have our own robot pet.

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