doing a research paper on robotics

[fuzion22]

i'm doing a research paper on robotics for my english class.  so far this is my outline.

1. introduction- going over history of robots, what a robot is
2. profiling land based robots such as Honda ASIMO, autonomous land robots and such
3. profiling underwater based robots
4. profiling air and space based robots such as Mars Rover
5. delving into the applications of robotics such as searching, security, military, transportation
6. profiling the robot at my college
7. conclusion.

what do you guys think?  i know this is an odd first post but my teacher wants us to get involved in a forum based on our topic.  any ideas of what i can add to my outline?

thanks

[Admin]

Is your outline set already, or are you still flexible?

if not, here are ideas . . .

Write about what a robot is and what a robot isnt. No two people really agree on what makes a robot. For example, some say battlebots arent actually robots because they are just remote control cars with weapons. Others say your washing machine is a robot because it has autonomous microcontroller intelligence. Still others say it has to be capable of doing battle with Arnold Schwarzenegger . . . Your paper can debate this, perhaps . . .

or . . .

Write about what makes a commercially successful robot - why some robot companies fail when others succeed. For example, some robot toys and iRobot vacuum cleaners have been very successful, while Asimo and Qrio have been failures (in terms of profit, not features).

The reason why I mention these ideas is that your paper isnt really research, but more of just a history report. If you pose a question/theory to the reader, and try to influence the reader to your conclusion, this would be research.

[Steve Joblin]

It might be useful if you let us know your grade level...  are you in middle school or high school?

You may want to consider limiting your research to a more specific topic, like "Robots in Industry" or "Robots in the Military", or "Robots in Research"...

[Kohanbash]

Possible suggestions are paragraphs talking about robotic perception, reality vs what people think robots can do, competitions such as DARPA grand challenge and the new DARPA urban challenge.

A good source of robots is www.ri.cmu.edu and looking at the projects. if you look under centers FRC and NREC have cool projects.

[fuzion22]

I'm a sophomore in college pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering Technology. actually my paper isn't really research but more along the lines of a reference guide. my apologies for not making that clear. I'm trying to develop a guide to robotics that shows people whats going on today in the world of robotics.  i figured i would profile (describing the robot in detail) and go over the general things that have to do with a robot.

what do you guys think?

[Steve Joblin]

At the college level, I would assume that a deeper dive into one specific area would be more what your professor would be wanting (as compared to a brief overview)... Robotics is a very broad topic and interwinds a variety of diciplines including electronics, programming, and mechanics.  You might want to focus on one aspect (such as the new mechanical techniques (see the leg institue at MIT) in robotics)... you could dive into balancing robots, muscle wire, legs, whegs, etc.