Theme 4: Environment
One of the key features of an intelligent robot is the ability to sense its environment and then act accordingly. In the early days of robotics, special environments were designed to suit the robot, in automated warehouses or car assembly plants, for instance.
Now, robots are required to be smart enough to be able to operate in unstructured or unknown environments, or to co-habit human environments. Operation without direct minute by minute human supervision means that robots need to become more autonomous. Robot autonomy is not just in decision making; truly autonomous robots should also be able to forage or extract energy from the environment.
This theme will focus on how robots can be both environment-smart and environmentally friendly. Mindful of the current issues surrounding the environment we will look at how robots can be used to positively support efforts to reduce carbon emissions and address both the causes and effects of global warming.