Robot explorers

One area where robots are beginning to excel in, and which causes less controversial debate on their usefulness, is as explorers. The only real debate here is their cost.

With China poised to join the elite club of sending humans into space, it is robots that have paved the way so far.

Robot space explorers

The number of nations that are now involved in robotic space exploration is steadily growing, with the NASA (USA) and the ESA (EU) organizations taking the lead so far.

For the future of humankind it seems essential that we get off this rock with its limited resources and room to grow and into that final frontier - our universe at large, starting with our own solar system.

Earth is not the only planetary body in our solar system. There are nine planets, dozens of moons, countless asteroids and other bodies out there, many of which contain material that we need to feed our growing civilization.

With our own moon and Mars as the nearest planetary bodies being first in line for serious exploration - or exploitation - we need to establish whether these worlds contain life before we contaminate it with Earth life. So far the answer is "No" but this may differ on other worlds we explore.

Robots with scientific payloads are eminently suited for this task as the cost and problems involved for sending out humans at this stage is not only prohibitive but also somewhat irresponsible. (Not that that ever stopped us before...) There is plenty of time for humans to take to space once robot explorers have set up bases or sent back Meanwhile a number of robots have been sent out as explorers, with many more on the drawing boards.

Earth explorers

While shooting robot explorers into space is a highly satisfying and lucrative pastime for many professionals and their companies around the globe, other robots are designed to explore areas on or inside our globe.

There are many areas of our Earth that need further exploration. The oceans being a prime example. Here, as in space, the environment is hostile to humans and machines would be better suited to do the exploring.

Our atmosphere, which protects us from harmful radiation as well as keeps us alive, needs better monitoring, and our ecosystems, which are disappearing at an alarming rate need careful checking.

And then we have still only scratched the surface of our planet. We know very little what goes on deep inside it.

In all these areas robots can help us to explore and monitor developments, provide statistical information on a wide range of issues and warn us of impending trouble.

As such robots are set to become an integral part of our global control system which in turn should give us a better idea of the complete and highly complex system we are a part of, how we affect it and how it affects us.

 And there are also the military robots, such as mine clearers and the flying drones, used in surveillance and targeting.

Nano robots

Moving right along from the outer to the inner universe, the smallest robots of all, nanobots, will be exploring the human body, as well as other organisms, repairing and correcting, providing information on how we work on the inside.

Already this field of technology - nanotechnology - is expanding rapidly. Although there are no nanobots as yet, there have been advances in manufacturing nanoparts, such as engines. Nanotechnology is also used in various industrial and medical applications.

So for those of us who think that robots are still only science fiction, think again. We are already living in our future and robots are increasingly becoming a daily aspect of this current future.