Key Technologies Defining Robotics – Positioning and Navigation What will the series cover? In this series of six blogs, we take a look at the key technologies defining the way robots are being designed and used today, and how that may evolve in the future. It will cover developments at the hardware and software level, and how innovations such as AI are already shaping the future of robotics. Blog 4: Key Technologies Defining Robotics – Robot Operating Systems Blog 5: Key Technologies Defining Robotics – CoBots and AI Blog 6: The Future of Robotics Positioning and Navigation For almost 70 years, industrial robots have been capable of a lot of movement. Even the very first industrial robot (see the first blog in this series for more details) had 9 degrees of freedom in its central 'arm', as well as having roll and yaw in its 'hand'. There are various ways of keeping track of the relative position of these moving parts.