Robotics is the study of how to design, build, use, and work with robots. Although there is no consensus regarding the definition of the term robot, it is commonly defined as a mechanism that can sense its environment, process what it senses, and act upon its environment based on that processing.

Precursors of Robots

Automatons—mechanisms that perform predefined tasks with some degree of autonomy —are the early predecessors of robots and have existed for more than 1,000 years. In the ninth century, the Chinese built a statue of Buddha surrounded by steam-powered servants that would move in a circle around the central figure. In the eighteenth century, the French constructed small mechanical "scribes" that, when powered by hand, could write up to forty pre-set characters using an attached writing implement. In the nineteenth century, automatons gave way to automation. In 1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1754–1834), a French...