Main Idea with Robots
Directions: Read
each passage and ask yourself, “What is the author doing in this
paragraph?” Write your answer in the
summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the
main idea of the passage.
1. What do you get
when you cross a robot and an astronaut?
A Robonaut! Robonauts are robot
helpers designed to work side-by-side with astronauts. Work on the first Robonaut began in 1997, and
by 2002 Robonaut B was revealed to the public.
Robonaut B may have featured interchangeable lower bodies, like four-wheel
mode or hydraulic legs, but scientists and engineers continued to improve
Robonaut. In February of 2010, Robonaut
2 was released to the public. Robonaut 2
moved four times faster than the first Robonaut. An advanced version of Robonaut 2 was finally
tested in outer space in 2011. Robonaut
functioned exactly as designed.
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
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An appropriate title:
_____________________________________________________________
2. Automation is the use of machines to
reduce the need for human labor. In
other words automation is when jobs done by people become jobs done by
robots. Automation can be a good thing. Because of automation, clothing, cars, and
other manufactured products are available at good prices and in large supply. But automation can also be a bad thing. Because of automation, there are over 700,000
robots in America
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
|
An appropriate title:
_____________________________________________________________
3. From airplanes to
forklifts, hydraulic power is the strength behind many amazing technologies
that affect our daily lives, even the breaks on your school bus, but how do
they work? First, fluid is rapidly
released into a chamber through a valve.
As the fluid collect, the valve is slammed shut which causes a pressure
spike. Because the chamber is sealed,
the pressure has nowhere to go. The
hydraulic mechanism channels the pressure and provides great power. And that’s how, with the help of hydraulics,
Grandma can stop a car with one foot.
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
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An appropriate title:
_____________________________________________________________
4. Many people use
the words cyborg and android interchangeably when, in fact,
they have different meanings. Both terms
refer to beings powered by robotics, but an android is powered entirely by
robots. Though androids are completely
mechanical, they are designed to look like humans. They may have synthetic skin, hair, and other
features, but no human organs. On the
other hand, cyborgs are part human and part machine. They may have robotic hands, legs, or eyes,
but all cyborgs have surgically implanted technologies that enhance their
abilities.
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
|
An appropriate title:
_____________________________________________________________
5. It is widely
acknowledged fact that machines are stronger than people, but is it possible
for them to become smarter than us too? Some
scientists fear that it is, or so says the theory of technological
singularity. In a nut shell, the theory
of technological singularity says that when a computer becomes capable of
improving its own capabilities, even in just the slightest way, it will go into
an infinite loop, getting progressively smarter, which would inevitably lead to
machines becoming smarter than people, or so the theory goes. Such gains in available intelligence might
lead to huge improvements in science and medicine. Diseases could be cured and so forth. On the other hand, it could lead to the total
domination of mankind by robots, which would be bad. I, for one, welcome our new computer
overlords.
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
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An appropriate title: _____________________________________________________________
6. Fellow Members of
the Springfield Robotics Club: It has
come to my attention that the workshop has been left an absolute mess on at
least two separate occasions. Remember,
that this is a shared space, so we must clean up behind ourselves after every
meeting. It is in the spirit of keeping
our club meeting space that we establish this rule: when you take a tool off
the rack, put it back. If everyone puts
their tools back immediately after they are done using them, there will be
minimal mess to clean up, and we won’t get kicked out of the spot. So, if you like having a meeting place, put
your tools back.
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Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be
specific and clearly explain the main idea.
|
An appropriate title:
_____________________________________________________________
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