The pandemic provoked a race in the robotics market: Amazon announced the release of a home robot assistant in 2021, warehouse robot maker Locus Robotics raised $150 million, and agricultural robot developer FJ Dynamics raised another $70 million.
Robotics today is an entire industry that includes a large number of markets and areas of science and research. It is responsible for the design, production and application of programmable mechanical devices – robots that can act without human assistance. Robots work according to a pre-programmed program and receive information about the outside world through sensors – analogues of the senses of living organisms. They can both communicate with the operator (receive commands from him) and act autonomously.
What is growing in the robotics market
Industrial robotics has received the greatest development among all areas. The first automated industrial robots appeared back in 1947 – the impetus for their emergence was the development of nuclear power. Today, this market continues to grow: welding, bending, soldering and other operations in most large enterprises have long been performed by robots, and the number of solutions is only growing every year.
Another area worthy of attention is medical robotics. One of the most popular solutions here is the four-armed da Vinci robot, which holds tools in its hands.
Most car companies, including Tesla, Mercedes, and Volkswagen, as well as Yandex and Uber, which are far from the automobile industry, are doing research on unmanned vehicles. In addition to unmanned cars, drones are also actively used in today’s world, both in the military industry for reconnaissance and bombing operations, and in the civilian industry for entertainment and video recording.
According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), worldwide sales of service robots grew 32% to $11.2 billion in 2018-2019. Sales of logistics robots more than doubled by 110% and medical robots more than doubled by 28%. The total number of service robots sold for personal and home use increased 34% to 23.2 million in 2019.
In the pandemic, these types of robotics have grown even faster: people in remote work are actively buying household robots, and players in the growing logistics and medical markets are developing and selling devices to replace couriers and medics. From 2019 to 2021, the number of large companies deploying robots doubled, according to data from the National Association of Robotics Market Participants (NAUR).
Where to learn how to make robots
The development of the entire robotics industry and its individual areas means there is a shortage of specialists who will implement, develop and operate the devices. With a shortage of personnel, employment and high salaries are guaranteed – which is why the robotics industry has begun to focus on the education system.
In the last few years the market for private robotics courses is actively gaining momentum: dozens of new robot clubs are opening across the country, where children assemble robots, understand the basics of algorithms and launch their own projects. According to our data, there are more than a hundred brands on the market.
Private courses are only one area of educational robotics. It is also taught in children’s creativity palaces and other municipal budgetary institutions of additional education, in general education schools and in universities. In Russia there is no unified program of robotics education approved by the Ministry of Education, but there are general recommendations for creating educational programs. Lego, Robbo TRIC and other companies’ sets are usually used in circles and schools to introduce children to the general course of engineering, physics and programming. At universities, classes are usually based on existing industrial or service robots – with their help, students can learn the features of mechatronics (computer motion control), computer vision, navigation, programming, neural networks, and object recognition.
Why children need robotics
A child can start learning robotics at the age of six with a Lego Education set. What is it for? Robotics develops responsibility, discipline, teamwork, imagination, attentiveness, creative thinking, orientation in space, fine motor skills, memory, and independence. By constructing robots, a child also learns step-by-step work “from simple to complex”, patience, and determination. Together with this science, he masters the basics of computer literacy, the basics of mathematics, working with different mechanisms, and even gets a basic knowledge of technical English. All of this is suitable for children of all ages and genders and can be serious preparation for further study of applied sciences. Children who study robotics can qualify in the future as robotics engineers, designers of children’s machinery and robots, or developers of neuro-interfaces.
However, children’s robotics programs have a downside. Many schools try to attract parents who want to put as much knowledge into their child as possible. Such schools emphasize learning mathematical models and other complex designs, which, of course, will be used in the future, but are hard for very young students to grasp. Often educational programs do not include gamification elements and turn into another boring lesson. Gradually, children may develop a negative perception of robotics – similar to the disciplines where parents try to lead them by force and where lessons are reduced to persistent rote memorization of materials.
The first impression of robotics is also negatively influenced by the manufacturers’ desire to reduce production costs: robots often do not include the use of different housings, design and customization elements, or voice interfaces. As a result, a schoolboy is essentially assembling not a robot, but a square with wheels that rides along a line. He does not feel satisfied with his work, because he came to study robotics, build transformers and robocars, but got a set of gray parts.
The combination of these factors can lead to children developing a negative attitude towards robotics in general as early as adolescence. Children will not be interested in technology, and they will not be interested in the engineering profession. When a student comes to university, he or she can categorically refuse to take a course when he or she hears the word “robotics” – because it is not interesting and boring.
How to choose a robotics class
How to avoid a negative perception of robotics by a child? First of all, it is worth looking at the educational program in the club. If the educational materials are dominated by numbers, formulas, program code, and the lessons are based on the fact that the child will have to sit and program most of the time – this is by definition a red flag. The child will quickly get bored and will not want to continue development in this area. If the program contains elements of gamification from the teacher, competitions, for example, races of assembled robots, robo-sumo, sparring – this is a positive sign. A child is more likely to enjoy the lessons and become interested in robotics.
It is also worth paying attention to the material base of the club. If it contains only one type of set, such as Lego – it is also a warning sign. Certainly, there are interesting robotics programs based on one type of constructors, but anyway, one set is a sign of poor approach of the organization to education.
The learning process itself is also important. Robotics in today’s world is not just about programming and hardware, it’s also about design. If the club has machines, locksmith’s equipment, workbenches, it means that the robot will get additional elements – for example, an unusual body, which will attract additional attention of the child. This is as important a factor for learning and involvement as the teacher himself.