What is a robot?
A robot is a machine that can be programmed to do tasks for us. Unlike a simple toy, a robot can sense the world around it and act on its own. Robots help in factories, hospitals and even at home, like a robot vacuum cleaner that cleans the floor.
Parts of a robotic system
A robotic system has three main parts working together:
- Sensor — detects things around the robot, such as light, distance or touch.
- Controller — the brain of the robot; it reads the sensors and decides what to do.
- Actuator — the part that moves or acts, such as a motor that turns the wheels.
Key idea
Sensor senses → Controller decides → Actuator acts. This loop lets a robot respond to its surroundings.
The brain on a chip
The controller is often a microcontroller, which is a tiny computer on a single chip. We give it a program, a set of instructions, so it knows what to do. A flowchart can show the steps of the program before we code it.
Example
A line-following robot uses a light sensor to see a black line, its controller decides to steer, and its motors (actuators) move it along the line.