Saskia Lacey
Reinventing
ROBOTICS
Consultants
Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D.
Kent State University
Lori Oczkus, M.A.
Literacy Consultant
Publishing Credits
Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed. , Publisher
Conni Medina, M.A.Ed. , Managing Editor
Dona Herweck Rice , Series Developer
Emily R. Smith, M.A.Ed. , Content Director
Stephanie Bernard/Susan Daddis , M.A.Ed. , Editors
Robin Erickson , Senior Graphic Designer
The TIME logo is a registered trademark of TIME Inc. Used under license.
Image Credits: Cover and p. 1 Chris Willson/Alamy Stock Photo; p. 4 Chris Howes/
Wild Places Photography/Alamy Stock Photo; p. 6 Paul D. Stewart/Science Source; pp.
67 PAINTING/Alamy Stock Photo; p. 8 Science Source; pp. 89 Ford Motor Company;
p. 11 Chris Willson/Alamy Stock Photo; pp. 1213 Creative Commons Honda E0E6 and
P1P3 by Morio, used under CC BYSA 3.0; p. 13 catwalker/Shutterstock.com; pp. 1415
Dakota Fine/The Washington Post via Getty Images; p. 18 Angela Ravaioli/Dreamstime.
com; p. 19 dpa picture alliance archive/Alamy Stock Photo; p. 20 Seoul National
University Biorobotics Laboratory; p. 21 WENN Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo; pp. 2223 Photo
Courtesy Virginia Tech/Amanda Loman; pp. 2425 Harvard School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering; pp. 2627
Daily Mail/Rex/Alamy Stock Photo; p. 28 Andra Aubert/Science Source; pp. 2829
Victor Habbick Visions/Science Source; p. 30 ermess/Shutterstock.com; pp. 3233
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; p. 34 urbanbuzz/Alamy Stock Photo; p.
37 Allstar Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo; pp. 3839 Peter Cade/Getty Images; pp.
4041 Adam Taylor/ABC via Getty Images; p. 42 Marilyn Nieves/Getty Images; all other
images from iStock and/or Shutterstock.
All companies and products mentioned in this book are registered
trademarks of their respective owners or developers and are used in this
book strictly for editorial purposes; no commercial claim to their use is
made by the author or the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lacey, Saskia, author.
Title: STEM careers. Reinventing robotics / Saskia Lacey.
Other titles: Reinventing robotics
Description: Huntington Beach, CA : Teacher Created Materials, Inc., [2017] |
Audience: Grades 7 to 8. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identiers: LCCN 2016031453 (print) | LCCN 2016034560 (ebook) | ISBN
9781493836239 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781480757271 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Robots
Juvenile literature. | Robotics
Vocational
guidance
Juvenile literature.
Classication: LCC TJ211.2 .L33 2017 (print) | LCC TJ211.2 (ebook) | DDC
629.8/92dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031453
Teacher Created Materials
5301 Oceanus Drive
Huntington Beach, CA 926491030
http://www.tcmpub.com
ISBN 978-1-4938-3623-9
2017 Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Synched Read-Along Version by:
Triangle Interactive LLC
PO Box 573
Prior Lake, MN 55372
ISBN-13: 978-1-68444-954-5 (e-book)
Table of Contents
The Robotics Age ....................
A Brief History of Bots ...............
Robots That Fly ....................
Robots That Swim ..................
Robots That Heal ...................
Robots That Drive ..................
Robots That Entertain ...............
Junior Engineers ...................
The Futures Future ................. 42
Glossary ..........................
Index ............................. 45
Check It Out! ...................... 46
Try It! ............................
About the Author ................... 48
The Robotics Age
Coining the Term
Science ction author Isaac
Asimov coined the term
robotics in the 1940s . He
was interested in the idea
of artificial intelligence
and featured many robots
in his work .
Robots are no longer the dream of a distant future .
State-of-the-art robots have arrived. There are bots that y ,
swim , talk , walk , and even drive . Engineering teams around
the world are busy building more sophisticated machines .
You can join this team of innovators.
There are thousands of ways to pursue a career in
robotics . Some engineers design bots that are faster and
stronger than humans . Others research androids that
interpret and enhance how humans communicate . Some
build robots for mass entertainment mechanized toys we
buy in stores and see on the big screens .
No matter your technology talents , you will nd
that robotics is a team sport . Designers , engineers , and
programmers , whether they work in movies or medicine ,
collaborate to bring their robotic designs to life .
o What do you know about
the history of robotics
and robots from the past ?
o How do robots affect
daily life today ?
o How would the world
change if we no longer
had computers , which
robots rely on to operate ?
A Brief History of Bots
Leonardo3 Museum
Leonardo3 , a research center in Milan ,
Italy , currently builds full-scale models
of da Vincis inventions , including his
famous ying machines . Some of their
exhibitions include little-known designs
that are being built for the rst time .
Robots are not recent inventions . People have been
building machines for centuries . Before we tour the bots of
today , lets analyze some of their most primitive prototypes .
In the 1500s , Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical
lion for the king of France . Two hundred years later , Jacques
de Vaucanson , a French inventor and artist , built a robotic
duck . The mechanical duck appeared to
eat and digest grain . These early
