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A robot vacuum cleans while its “owner” relaxes with her tablet computer.

TYPES OF ROBOTS Robots come in all sizes. An example of a small robot would be the Roomba robot vacuum that keeps your carpet clean. On the other hand, the Japanese engineer Masaaki Nagumo built a 28-foot (8.5-meter) tall, 5-ton robot he named LW-Mononofu. It can’t walk very fast, but it has a bazooka- like air gun on its right arm that can shoot sponge balls at around 87 miles (140 kilometers) per hour. Few people would want to get into a sponge ball fight with LW-Mononofu! But a robot’s size is just one way to look at the different types of robots and their functions. Some have two legs, or three, four, or more arms. Others have no arms. Droids can fly, travel on or under the water, or ride on train tracks or other track systems. Some robots can walk and run, while others are anchored in place but have moveable arms. Others are designed to act and look just like humans. It’s clear that there are countless types of robots. The following paragraphs provide more information on the different types of droids.

12 COOL CAREERS IN SCIENCE: ROBOTICS DEVELOPERS