Sensor capabilities have seen much advancement in
recent years. Sensors can be seen in almost every home, vehicle, and cell
phone. Android phones have a multitude of sensors including pressure,
temperature, GPS, and accelerometer sensors. This is a device that ordinary
people carry around in their pockets on a daily basis. Scientific fields such
as aerospace, defense, medicine and robotics feature even more advanced sensors
with capabilities that will usher in a more automated and computer based
future. Sensors are vital in communication with software and hardware. They
allow systems to sense the environment and, in most cases, respond in a certain
way.
In the field of robotics, scientists apply sensors
in order to allow the robot to hear, see and touch the surrounding environment.
These functions allow robots to function more independently and perform tasks
with minimal human interaction. With respect to robotic sight, sensors are
being developed to allow a robot to navigate based on sight, much like a human.
(Jafar) For example, robots may no longer need to be programmed in order to navigate
buildings or other spaces. New technology allows robots to visually see their environment
and determine its own location and goal. Advanced audio sensors may also allow
robots to hear and sense the way humans talk. They will be able to identify
aggression and other emotions based upon the pitches of a humans voice.
(Batliner) The field of robotics heavily relies on advanced sensors in order to
perform tasks and interact with humans.
In the medical field, doctors and scientist heavily
rely on sensors in order to monitor patient health. Pacemakers, for example,
are modern pieces of medical equipment that have been introduced to advanced
sensors. Utilizing sensor technology, these pacemakers monitor the beat of the heart
and apply electric stimuli to the heart in order to keep the heart in rhythm. Modern
pacemakers may also adapt to a user’s activity and react accordingly through
the use of accelerometers. They also include metabolic sensors which allow the
pacemakers to adapt according to the user’s physical and mental state. (Shi)
This is only one example of the extraordinary capabilities that sensors have
related to the medical field.
Sensors will only become more advanced as time goes
on. Humans already rely on these sensors so much without the majority of people
even knowing about them. Depending on
how far sensors advance, it is quite possibly that most actions will be
completely automated in the future.
References
Batliner, Anton, et al. "Whodunnit–searching
for the most important feature types signaling emotion-related user states in
speech." Computer Speech & Language 25.1 (2011): 4-28.
Jafar, Fairul Azni, et al. "An
environmental visual features based navigation method for autonomous mobile
robots." International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and
Control 7.3 (2011): 1341-1355.
Shi, Wei Vivien, and MengChu Zhou.
"Body sensors applied in pacemakers: A survey." Sensors Journal, IEEE
12.6 (2012): 1817-1827.
That's amazing that robots are able to use sensors to learn to navigate on their own...I cannot fathom the kind of programming that enables that sort of function. Everything I read about sensors and including some of the robotic articles from our classmates mentions self-learning technology and a degree of artificial intelligence. I feel as though sensors are the key to enhancing any pre-existing artificial intelligence our technology now already possesses.
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