Robotics

Key people

• Grant ImaharaAmerican electrical engineer, roboticist, television host, and actor (1970–2020)
• Raj ReddyIndian-American computer scientist
• Kevin WarwickBritish robotics and cybernetics researcher
• Hans MoravecAustrian-American researcher

Timeline

• 1960Industrial robots for manufacturing and assembly: Robots have been increasingly used in manufacturing since the 1960s.
• 1980Several robots, built in the 1980s by Marc Raibert at the MIT Leg Laboratory, successfully demonstrated very dynamic walking.
• 2003By 2003, an IBM keyboard manufacturing factory in Texas was fully automated as a "lights out" factory.
• 2011As of 2011, the number of robotics-related jobs was steadily rising as factories increasingly utilized robots.
• 2025By 2025, Figure AI developed a vision–language–action model that can control two humanoid robots at once.

Read

• R.U.R. and The insect playKarel Čapek · 1920Book
• I, RobotIsaac Asimov · 1950Book
• The Robots of DawnIsaac Asimov · 1983Book
• Robots and EmpireIsaac Asimov · 1985Book

Watch

• I spent 3 days at MIT... the robot hype is worse than you thinkFireshipVideo
• Best Robot Vacuum India 2026 | ILIFE vs Eureka Forbes vs NARWAL vs Dreame vs ECOVACSThe GrapevineVideo
• Chinese robot maker Unitree set to become China's first humanoid robot stock | DW NewsDW NewsVideo

Listen

• Automate It: A Robotics PodcastPolymath RoboticsPodcast
• Robotics 24/7 PodcastRobotics 24/7, a division of Peerless Media LLCPodcast
• Talking Robots - The Podcast on Robotics and Artificial IntelligenceLaboratory of Intelligent SystemsPodcast
• Introduction to RoboticsOussama KhatibPodcast

By the numbers

• 73.6Internet users (%) — global, 2025 (World Bank)
• 111.5Mobile subs / 100 — global, 2025 (World Bank)

Debates

• Will robots ultimately displace human jobs or create new opportunities?One view: Robots automate tasks, potentially leading to widespread job losses in various industries. · Another: Robots create new jobs in design, manufacturing, maintenance, and programming, shifting the labor market.Open question
• Should autonomous robots be allowed to make life-or-death decisions?One view: Robots lack human empathy and moral reasoning, making them unsuitable for such critical decisions. · Another: In certain scenarios, autonomous robots could make faster, more objective decisions, potentially saving more lives.Open question
• To what extent should robots be integrated into personal and social care?One view: Extensive use of robots in care roles could diminish human connection and emotional support. · Another: Robots can provide valuable assistance in care for the elderly or disabled, improving quality of life and independence.Open question

Glossary

• RobotA machine capable of carrying out complex actions automatically, often programmable.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)The simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.
• ActuatorA component that controls a mechanism or system by converting energy into motion.
• SensorA device that detects and responds to physical input from the environment.
• End-effectorThe device at the end of a robotic arm, designed to interact with the environment.
• AutonomyThe ability of a robot to perform tasks without continuous human input or control.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Student research

Published policy papers by One Young India delegates — every delegate leaves published under their own name.

• The Plasticity Paradox: Technology’s Impact on The Adolescent BrainNeeti Singh
• Rethinking Education in the Digital Age: Bridging the Gap Between Technology and AccessGovind Mehra
• Untangling The Threads of the TikTok Ban's Impact On Global Trade via Trade, Technology, and DiplomacyAanya Menon

Threads 4

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Perception & Attention Psychology

  A robot that looks almost human, but slightly off, creeps us out way more than an obviously fake cartoon one. That queasy 'uncanny valley' feeling might be ancient disgust: the almost-human face trips the same alarm your brain uses to flinch from a corpse or something diseased. Nearly-right feels dangerous in a way that clearly-fake never does.

• The Cell & Molecular Biology Science

  Inside your cells, tiny protein 'legs' called kinesin literally walk step by step along microscopic tracks, hauling cargo like a delivery robot. These are real working nanomachines, and they're powered by chemistry, not batteries. The futuristic idea of molecule-sized robots? Your body has been running billions of them the entire time.

• Social Institutions Sociology

  Robots rarely swallow a whole job; they nibble at specific tasks. When ATMs took over cash handling, banks didn't fire all the tellers, they shifted them to selling loans instead. So automation quietly reshapes what people do all day, even while the number of people on staff barely changes.

• The Population Question Sociology

  Japan builds robots to care for the elderly not because it loves gadgets, but because it has to. There simply aren't enough young workers for its many old people. Automation becomes a patch for a population that's aging and shrinking.