Published: 
By  Audra Book

According to the International Federation of Robotics, 2.4 million industrial robots are operating infactories worldwide in 2020. Human interactions with cyber-physical systems, like robots, drones and self-driving vehicles, will continue to increase dramatically. Although science fiction often paints a future when robots replace humans, a far likelier scenario involves humans and robots working side-by-side. Referred to by researchers as human-cyber-physical systems, the trend is accelerating in all economic sectors including health care, manufacturing and energy. The hurdle to that future is humans' lack of trust of cyber-physical systems. Humans must be assured of safety and reliability before cyber-physical systems will be adopted broadly.