The Robot Taxonomy Project:
an introduction
Welcome to the online edition of the Robot Taxonomy Project. The Robot Identification Institute is adapting our Field Guide, Robots: a Practical Taxonomy to Internet use, and encourages the expansion of this resource to benefit anyone interested in robots.
This guide presents different types of robots commonly found within the realms of fact and fiction using a carefully considered taxonomic approach. With four major classes, numerous subclasses and categories, the similarities and differences of robots are tracked. Each classification offers examples, cross-references, and where appropriate, historical information to clarify both the taxonomic positioning and the importance of cultural usage.
This project developed out of a need to answer a simple question: When one says robot, what kind of robot is it? Popular perception of robots varies wildly from person to person, colored by cultural experience. A frequent answer is “a metallic thing with arms and legs resembling a human, like C-3P0 from Star Wars”. Sometimes it is a cartoon. Occasionally the robot is a working, industrial model commonly represented as an arm, or one of the inexpensive automated room cleaning devices type. A scientist might mention a Mars Rover, while a science fiction fan might respond with Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek. All of these are robots, but navigating from a Hollywood fiction to a space rover stretches the ability of the robot definition to retain meaning. When newer considerations of human modification in the form of cyborg enter the discussion, it becomes even more complicated to connect how these types are related, much less whether they are robots at all.
