Free Essays on Brief Look at Robotic

for work and worker. Robots first appeared in a play, Rossum's Universal Robots, written in 1920 by the Czech playwright, Karel Capek. The play tells of an engineer who designs man-like machines that have no human weakness and become immensely popular. However, when the robots are used for war they rebel aga... Free Essays on Brief Look at Robotic Free Essays on Brief Look at Robotic Two years ago, the Chrysler corporation completely gutted its Windsor, Ontario, car assembly plant and within six weeks had installed an entirely new factory inside the building. It was a marvel of engineering. When it came time to go to work, a whole new work force marched onto the assembly line. There on opening day was a crew of 150 industrial robots. Industrial robots don't look anything like the androids from sci-fi books and movies. They don't act like the evil Daleks or a fusspot C-3P0. If anything, the industrial robots toiling on the Chrysler line resemble elegant swans or baby brontosauruses with their fat, squat bodies, long arched necks and small heads. An industrial robot is essentially a long manipulator arm that holds tools such as welding guns or motorized screwdrivers or grippers for picking up objects. The robots working at Chrysler and in numerous other modern factories are extremely adept at performing highly specialized tasks - one robot may spray ! paint car parts while another does spots welds while another pours radioactive chemicals. Robots are ideal workers: they never get bored and they work around the clock. What's even more important, they're flexible. By altering its programming you can instruct a robot to take on different tasks. This is largely what sets robots apart from other machines; try as you might you can't make your washing machine do the dishes. Although some critics complain that robots are stealing much-needed jobs away from people, so far they've been given only the dreariest, dirtiest, most soul-destroying work. The word robot is Slav in origin and is related to the words for work and worker. Robots first appeared in a play, Rossum's Universal Robots, written in 1920 by the Czech playwright, Karel Capek. The play tells of an engineer who designs man-like machines that have no human weakness and become immensely popular. However, when the robots are used for war they rebel aga...

English-Learning Podcasts for Teachers and Students

English-Learning Podcasts for Teachers and Students Podcasting provides a means of publishing audio programs via the Internet. Users can automatically download podcasts (usually mp3 files) onto their computers and transfer these recordings automatically to portable music players such as Apples extremely popular iPods. Users can then listen to the files anytime and anywhere they choose. Podcasting is especially interesting for English learners as it provides a means for students to get access to authentic listening sources about almost any subject they may interest them. Teachers can take advantage of podcasts as a basis for listening comprehension exercises, as a means of generating conversation based on students reaction to podcasts, and as a way of providing each and every student diverse listening materials. Students will obviously find the ability to listen to these podcasts useful especially due to its portability. Another extremely useful aspect of podcasting is its subscription model. In this model, users subscribe to a feed using a program. The most popular of these programs, and possibly most useful, is iTunes. While iTunes is not by any means solely dedicated to podcasts, it does provide an easy means to subscribe to free podcasts. Another popular program is available at iPodder, which focuses solely on subscribing to podcasts. Podcasting for English Learners and Teachers While podcasting is relatively new, there are already a number of promising podcasts dedicated to English learning. Here is a selection of the best I could find: English Feed English Feed is a new podcast I have created. The podcast focuses on important grammar and vocabulary subjects while providing great listening practice. You can sign up for the podcast in iTunes, iPodder, or any other podcatching software. If you arent sure of what podcasting is ( a listening practice that you can receive automatically), you might want to take a look at this short introduction to podcasting. The Word Nerds This podcast is very professional, delivers excellent information about relevant topics and is a lot of fun. Created for native speakers of English who enjoy learning about the ins-and-outs of the language, The Word Nerds podcast is also excellent for advanced level English learners - especially those who are interested in idiomatic English. English Teacher John Show Podcast John focuses on understandable English speaking in an extremely clear voice (some might find the perfect pronunciation unnatural) provides useful English lesson - ideal for intermediate level learners. ESLPod One of the more mature - if you can say that anything is mature at this point - podcasts dedicated to ESL learning. The podcasts include advanced vocabulary and subjects which will prove especially useful for English for Academic Purposes classes. Pronunciation is very slow and clear, if rather unnatural. Flo-Joe Also, a commercial site for teachers and students preparing for Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Advanced level English podcasting with a decidedly British accent - both in terms of pronunciation and themes about British life.