Robotics and automation are already a cornerstone of commercial manufacturing. Predictable environments and repetitive actions make it relatively simple for programmers to teach robots how to behave and perform tasks safely.
In the real world, however, robots will need to be adaptive. Angela Schoellig, assistant professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), builds smart robots to extend human capabilities, much like how computers and the internet have changed our daily lives, bringing robots out of the factory and into the real world alongside people.