Immersive experiences and robotics

Immersive experiences stimulate our senses (sight, sound, even touch) so that we can see, feel and react as if we were really there. They are used in 3D films, games, and simulators that train people to drive or fly.

• Virtual Reality (VR) creates a complete, three-dimensional, computer-generated world that simulates a real one. You explore it through a VR headset, sometimes with sound, smell and motion added. You may be sitting in one place, yet feel you are somewhere else entirely, as in the VR games found in some malls. VR is used in gaming, military and medical training, and engineering.
• Augmented Reality (AR) adds computer-generated information on top of the real world around you, seen through a phone or tablet camera. Photo filters that put funny glasses on your face are AR. A location-based AR app can show information about a historical monument when you point your phone at it. AR does not create a new world; it adds to the real one.

A robot is a programmable machine that can do tasks automatically, with great accuracy. Sensors are one of its prime components: they let it sense its surroundings. Types of robots:

• wheeled robots;
• legged robots (such as a robot dog);
• manipulators (robot arms, used in factories);
• humanoids: robots that look and act like humans, such as Sophia.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover, which explores the surface of Mars, is also a robot.

A drone is an unmanned aircraft. It can be remotely controlled, or fly autonomously using GPS and sensors. Drones are used for filming, delivering goods, disaster management, search and rescue, agriculture (spraying crops), mapping, and patrolling borders.