Robots Artifact of the Humans and Environments

Humans absorb information from the surrounding environment and act upon the environment, transforming it for their benefit. They introduced robots as intermediates for some tasks. Robots are defined by their relationship with the humans and the environment. Robots receive order and report on their interaction with the environment from which they extract information and upon which they act. Robots can be seen as artifacts that:
• Replace humans in some of their roles in this interaction
• Extend human capability to interact with the environment

The robot shape is chosen to fit the environment and the task to be performed. There are situations in which a non-human size and/or shape is not only desirable, but in fact necessary. For instance, a worm like shape is more appropriate than human shape for small robots that would burrow to penetrate ice in Europe. This is an extension of a capability since humans might have never performed directly this task. In other word, where humans have already been performing the tasks, the choice of the robot form is more subtle. One can design tailored solutions that are more efficient than humans by specifically defining the roles in which the humans are to be replaced. For instance, industrial robots on the fabrication lines are more efficient solution than humanoid robots at handling machine customized tools. It should be noted, that those robots function in fully artificial, structured environments, doing repetitive tasks mainly.

When tasks and roles performed previously by humans are very broad, environments in which they operate are human oriented, and interaction with humans are a primary factor, anthropomorphic designs may offer some advantages.

The main goals of this article are:
1. To argue for the need of humanoid robots.
2. To introduce the concepts and bring justification for developmental robotics and robot fostering.
3. To provide an example on fostering humanoid robots to learn motor skills by imitation.
This article will continue to robot fostering technique subjects.