READING. 3. Read the text about robotics and complete sentences 1-3 with words from the text:

3. Read the text about robotics and complete sentences 1-3 with words from the text:

1. A robot is described as a machine designed to …. one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision

2. Guided …. using video cameras, there are mini-androids that investigate and defuse bombs.

3. Feelers, contact switches and bump sensors let a robot know when it has made …. with walls or objects.

Robotics

According to the "Robot Institute of America", 1979, "A robot is defined as a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks." A robot is described as a machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision (Webster's dictionary).

People keep finding new uses for robots. Robots can make and package drugs, textiles, and foods. Certain dangerous jobs are best done by robots. Guided remotely using video cameras, there are mini-androids that investigate and defuse bombs.

Robots can also go into dangerously polluted environments, like chemical spills or radioactive "hot zones" in nuclear power plants. Some spider-like robots are designed to explore areas with extreme radiation that would kill a human.

Some robots "see" using ultrasonic sound, much the same way bats do. Touch sensors, also help otherwise blind robots navigate. Feelers, contact switches and bump sensors let a robot know when it has made contact with walls or objects.

Robotic sensors can detect specific gases including gases that humans cannot smell. One of the most important uses of smelling robots is in airports, detecting fumes from explosives hidden in luggage and shoes.

Speech recognition systems have come a long way in the last decade. There are already systems that let you "type" into a computer with your voice and some telephone menus use speech recognition systems to let you make your selections verbally. Processing language is complicated for any kind of robots.

If you think robots are mainly the stuff of space movies, think again. Right now, all over the world, robots are on the move. They are painting cars at Ford plants, assembling Milano cookies for Pepperidge Farms, walking into live volcanoes, driving trains in Paris, and defusing bombs in Northern Ireland. As they grow tougher, nimbler, and smarter, today's robots are doing more and more things humans can't—or don't want to perform.

Ninety percent of robots work in factories, and more than half make automobiles. Car factories are so highly automated that most of the human workers supervise or maintain the robots and other machines. Robots assemble car body panels and weld them together, finish and paint the car bodies, and stack and move partially completed cars.

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