The history and future of robotics

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Siri - Italian Association of Robotics and Automation, the president Domenico Appendino wrote the book SIRI 1975-2025: History of Italian robotics and SIRI from its origins to the present. The work was born from the Siri council's need to celebrate this anniversary with a significant cultural contribution. This year, under the patronage of Siri, the RomeCup represents a further opportunity to reflect on the past, present and future of robotics in Italy, highlighting the strategic role of this discipline in technological innovation and in the education of new generations.

RomeCup 2025 explores the combination of artificial and human intelligence for holistic well-being. What role can robotics and automation play in this context, both at an industrial level and in areas closer to everyday life, such as healthcare or agriculture?
In recent years, the speed of innovation has increased incredibly fast, making possible technological developments that were unthinkable until recently. Consider the increase in computing capacity, the use of increasingly high-performance and miniaturised hardware, the development of software such as artificial intelligence that is truly revolutionising the way computers are made and used, and the possibility of human-machine communication that is becoming increasingly similar to that between human beings. 

All this has become an integral part of automation and robotics, allowing these technologies to play an increasingly important and pervasive role in society. In fact, on the one hand, human-machine communication is becoming increasingly easier and more immediate, making applications simpler to manage and programme; on the other hand, the performance of robots is increasing faster, as they are equipped with increasingly high-performance sensors and increasingly powerful controls which, with the growing use of artificial intelligence, make them more ‘intelligent’ and ‘autonomous’. Safety has also increased and robots, if collaborative and inserted in a specific automation for this purpose, can work close to humans without the danger of hurting them. So robots are finding new applications that were previously impossible due to complexity or safety reasons and we now see them working not only in industry, but increasingly in agriculture, hospitals and in everyday life. The well-known needs during the recent pandemic have been a further boost to growth in this sense. The historical distinction between industrial robots and service robots is gradually becoming blurred and I think it is destined to disappear. Furthermore, the cost of robots has also decreased and medium-term forecasts suggest that this trend will continue. In this context, there is increasing talk of the ‘democratisation of robotics’: in addition to costs, the approach to knowledge and technologies in the field of automation is becoming more widespread and accessible to a wider audience. The idea of breaking down barriers to allow a wider range of individuals and organisations to benefit from the potential of robotics to increasingly help people not only in their work but also in their daily lives is becoming more and more real. The original mission of robots, to relieve humans by replacing them in dangerous, tiring and repetitive jobs, is therefore expanding considerably and we can truly begin to see robotics and automation today as a very important factor for holistic well-being.
 

What do you think the new generations can bring to the world of robotics, and what role can RomeCup play in bringing young people closer to new technologies?
The new generations were ‘born digital’ and therefore much more ready than previous generations for a change in the language of technology. Industry 3.0 was that of mechatronics, that is, the meeting of mechanics and electronics in a phase of great change thanks to the development of semiconductors. During the second half of the last century it was responsible for the birth and development of robotics that we could now call ‘traditional’. At the beginning of the third millennium the internet and the whole world of communications allowed the connection between machines, robots and systems that led to integrated solutions in companies and outside companies, in fact industry 4.0. As already mentioned, today we are once again in a period of great change that many label as Industry 5.0, characterised today, and I think this will also be the case in the future, by being piloted by artificial intelligence. The main driving force behind this development is highly advanced software and young people, who are more familiar with this language, will certainly be the main players. I strongly agree with the content of the ‘Manifesto for collective action on artificial intelligence and robotics’ of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which sees the rapid development of artificial intelligence and its convergence with robotics for the development of intelligent machines and systems centred on the person as ‘a historic opportunity and at the same time an unprecedented challenge, with an as yet unpredictable social impact’ and I believe that from the very beginning RomeCup has been an event that is absolutely centred on the theme of bringing young people closer to these technologies. I would also like to point out that all the values and objectives presented in the manifesto are perfectly in line with the mission of Siri, which I have the honour of temporarily chairing.
 

What are the main challenges you see for the robotics and automation industry in the coming years?
It is always difficult to make predictions for the future but personally I think that in robotics artificial intelligence will lead to three main challenges that have already begun:

• the development of more powerful and high-performance sensors that will make robots increasingly independent and able to tackle new applications
• the development of automatic learning systems that will minimise programming time
• the development of human-robot communication that will replace the already reduced programming, reducing it to the point of understanding instructions from the human voice.

Success in these challenges will lead us to robots that are increasingly ‘sensitive’ and ‘intelligent’ with an ever-increasing degree of independence. And from these developments I believe the greatest and truest challenge of man in robotics and automation of the future will arise: we will be able to manage the impetuous advance of technologies while maintaining our humanity if and only if, regardless of the architecture and performance of the ‘super robots’ that we will have produced, we will design and build them in such a way that they are machines operating with a degree of autonomy limited by what is expressed in the laws of Asimov, so that they are always and in any case tools of man, designed to operate in his service.
 

There is talk of a gap between the world of education and the world of work. How can we encourage greater synergy between universities, businesses and institutions to better prepare young people for the challenges of Industry 4.0?
In such a fast-evolving technological development, I believe a gap between the world of education and the world of work is inevitable. Moreover, we must not forget that the training of trainers is also necessary. In this world characterised by continuous and rapid change, training will increasingly have to accompany or rather be an integral and constant part of everyone's work. I agree that universities, companies and institutions must certainly increase their synergy to facilitate this process and provide all the necessary or at least available skills. However, I understand that in our country this synergy has yet to be created, but I strongly believe that, in addition to this, it is also necessary that universities, companies and institutions each do their part as best they can.

The university should focus not so much on a segmentation of courses and specialisations, but rather on training students in logic and method. This means teaching people to learn, something that is very important especially in a period of great change. Fortunately this is a historical characteristic of the Italian education system that should be strengthened and I think it is the reason why it is different from other countries that welcome thousands of our graduates every year with generous offers. I think this characteristic is one of the main reasons why various researches show that 40% of Italian universities are among the best 1,000 out of over 20,000 in the world. 

Companies should clearly perceive school-work exchanges, which in Italy have perhaps too recent a history, as an important opportunity aimed at bridging a gap that is useful to no one, completing the transversal training of young people who in the near future will necessarily be part of companies.
The institutions should provide significant aid to incentivise post-school education, with the clear understanding that their task does not end with the school qualification with which working life begins, but that it must continue afterwards too.

How can AI and automation become tools to make young people's work more stimulating and inclusive, instead of being perceived as a threat to employment?Automation and robotics have already demonstrated that their growth is not a threat to employment. Important studies show that in countries where the robot population curve is growing, the unemployment curve is decreasing, and that the countries with the lowest unemployment rates are those with the highest robot density. These are real statistical data that cannot be disputed, not opinions or supposed market trends. It is true that robots ‘kill’ a significant number of jobs, but it is equally true that they create many more other, more skilled and better paid jobs. So, as already mentioned, robotics and automation have eliminated a large number of jobs that are harmful, unhealthy, dangerous or even just repetitive or boring for humans, contributing considerably to their health and well-being. This is what has been happening in the world of blue-collar workers since the 1960s with the birth of robotics, and it continues to happen today. Naturally these new jobs require higher skills and therefore more training and hence its importance is clearly revealed. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, operates and will operate mainly in the world of ‘white collars’ and certainly it too is eliminating and will eliminate many jobs in this world but it is already creating and strengthening others, just as I believe happened in robotics. We don't yet have enough data to prove my conviction and hope, but if in this sector too, man uses the new developments in artificial intelligence as an opportunity to improve his life, artificial intelligence will be a great professional possibility, especially for young people who will have incredible new work tools in all sectors that, if used well and intelligently, will enhance their intellectual activity and creativity.

Interview by Alberta Testa, social media manager