Robotics, the New Industrial Revolution

Robots are becoming an important part of the new social technology defined by Hirai [1], where finding a robot in any environment is becoming more common. While we are used to finding robots in different environments such as supermarkets, nurseries (e.g., robotic pets), hospitals (e.g., for surgery), or at home (e.g., vacuuming robots), the environment that still has the most robots is industry (e.g., the automotive industry). For that reason, many studies are required to find the appropriate mechanisms to integrate robots at all levels of our society. We must consider issues from many perspectives, such as history, literature, economics, culture, technological developments, electronics, computers, or industry. The conclusions obtained will help us achieve the most positive and beneficial integration of robots with humans. © 2012 IEEE.