The world of IoRT: How IoT and Robotics are evolving together

 Internet of Robotic Things: Concept, and evolution  

In just the last few decades, probably when you were just born (if you are still a young champ), industrial robots are a run of the mill. But what is interesting is that this technology continues to evolve and gain popularity for the profits it brings to the table.  

 

On one hand, robotics has created a revolution in the world of manufacturing, and on the other hand, IoT and industrial IoT has developed rapidly over the last few years impacting everything right from our lifestyle. What we are seeing now, is a collaboration of robotics and IoT, which we call the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT).  Throughout this blog, you will find "robotic things" used very frequently. Just to make things clear, "robotic thing" is a common word for any robotic application.  

 

And now, we can start with this adventure ride to explore how two leading technologies converged to form the powerful IoRT.  

 

IoT and Robotics: Two peas in a pod  

 

Although we have always studied IoT and Robotics as two distinct fields, yet the two communities seem to be evolving simultaneously. If you think of IoT alone to its essence, it is a community of uniquely identifiable IP objects equipped with sensing abilities that come from actuators. These, what we call the IoT devices, communicate with other devices and to platforms where the data is analyzed. The next step is feeding applications and systems with the data, to enable decision making and visualization. So, you see, it is a whole world that involves data gathering, analysis, communication, and application, leveraging data from passive sensors. Unsurprisingly, both robotics and IoT use sensors to understand their stimuli (gather data), process them, and then generate a response.  

 

Then how are these two technologies different? 

 

Well, that's a very valid question. While the principle behind the two technologies is the same, however, robots depict the physical aspect component of IoT as they take real action. No wonder, we can generalize them as robotic things! This simply means that robots can handle immediate situations while IoT applications only handle predefined tasks. While IoT is more about sensing, monitoring,  and tracking, robotics primarily concerns interaction and autonomous behavior. 

 

Pause for a moment and think- how powerful the combination will be.  

 

IoRT: Two trends converging  

 

Several reports predicted the boom in the IoRT market which will be worth $21.44 billion by 2022. Now that's quite a big number, and it is interesting to note how the trend has emerged over the years. "Intelligent things" gave rise to advanced applications, which further accelerated the development of the autonomous system design paradigms and the expansion of IoRT. IoRT is a concept where sensor data coming from a wide range of sources are incorporated, processed, and further employed to control and manipulate objects in the physical world. A simple way to think of it is "Sophia". Do you remember Sophia? Well, she was the first robot to earn citizenship.  

 

IoRT applications are a result of robotic applications that can communicate with other things in the environment including humans, and learn autonomously. In addition, IoRT applications also exhibit qualities like self-maintenance, self-awareness, and self-healing. It is the continuous, real-time interaction with the environment that makes perception, cognition, computation, location, communication, and integration with digital platforms in new-generation IoRT applications possible.  

 

Until today, robotics and IoT have been driven by distinct yet very related objectives. But now, robotic things are empowered with better situational awareness, thanks to IoT sensors. This combined with the latest data analytics technologies is leading to efficient task execution.  

 
How exactly does an IoRT work?  

 

Since we are combining two technologies to make one, the IoRT has distinct intelligent components that function as one unit.  

 

• IoT's sensing capabilities  

 

The robotic thing now has embedded monitoring capabilities that it uses to sense the environment. The data comes from various sources.  

 

• Edge computing for data analysis  

 

With the virtue of edge computing, collected data is processed and analyzed locally. This boosts efficiency as we don't have to transmit a wealth of information to the cloud anymore. Data collected from various events of the environment is analyzed in this phase.  

 

• Robot's action tendency  

 

From steps 1 and 2, the robot generates a response. With this response, it can control or manipulate the physical environment. This component enables interaction between machine and machine and/or man and machine to render a wide range of advanced services.  

 

So, IoRT empowers robotic things to become active participants in the natural environment while exchanging information with other robotic things, IoT devices, and humans. This results in robotic things that can recognize, process, and respond to alterations in the environment with high precision.     

 

Conclusion  

 

Like any other technology, there's a lot that IoRT holds for the future. IoRT is transforming supply chain businesses. Research reveals a wide range of possibilities including advanced e-commerce and security with IoRT. We are in the process of developing technologies that would, in no way, be inferior to human beings. And with this goal, IoRT is both the present and future.