Futuristic Humanoid Robots: An Overview

Abstract

Like never before, technology can bring imagination to life. Humanoid robots are without question a hot topic in research today. But will they really be the next break-through invention that changes the face of the world. For decades, popular culture has been enthralled with the possibility of robots that act and look like humans. We are promised by film, fiction and television that humanoids will cook for us, clean for us, become our best friends, teach our children, and even fall in love with us. Recently, the media has covered a surprising number of new humanoid robots emerging on the commercial market. Like many new technologies, these early generations of commercially available humanoids are costly curiosities, useful for entertainment. Yet, in time, they accomplish a wide variety of tasks in homes, battlefields, nuclear plants, government installations, factory floors, and even space stations. Humanoids may prove to be the ideal robot design to interact with people. Humanoid robotics also offers a unique research tool for understanding the human brain and body. Already, humanoids have provided revolutionary new ways for studying cognitive science. Using humanoids, researchers can embody their theories and take them to task at a variety of levels. Aside from their traditional roles, humanoid robots can be used to explore theories of human intelligence. This paper reviews a wide variety of humanoid robots being used throughout the world and explaining its typical applications and future challenges while developing humanoid robots which may come across such endeavours. This paper would review successes and failures in the field where humanoid research began. Further, an extrapolations of recent developments is also given where it may take us in the future. Hitherto, this paper would discuss how these technological developments have and continue to affect the ways in which the present researchers understand