TOOLS, TECHNOLOGY, "STEM," ROBOTS and “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”

FROM STICKS AND STONES, TO SMART PROBLEM SOLVING AND AUTOMATION

(**** Note: document editing in progress ****)

(draft Lesson plan : Technical Troubleshooting Workshop 3-5th)

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the following document is to:

1. Call attention to and promote the RETURN TO A HEALTHY BASIC START in the "STEM / STEAM" quantitative education discourse, focusing on better abilities and practices for designing and building TOOLS. Tools is what help us identify and solve simple and complex problems, from the earliest ages and throughout our lives.

2. Promote the REDESIGN OF CURRENT CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION, particularly in elementary and secondary grade-levels, to properly emphasize the nature and role of tools, preparing us best for a richer, more relaxed, realistic-meaningful, common-sense, up-to-date, motivating, skillful environment with a GREATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY of effective education.

THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

Ever wonder why some people always seem to live better, safer and longer than others? Not just individually, but even as a group or as whole societies.

Yes, there can be many factors and circumstances that at times can favor some of us individually, but in the end, there are basic factors that can help us identify opportunities and take better advantage of situations, safer and more permanently. What we know as "abilities" and "skills" to perceive our world and take advantage of it, has been indeed what has kept us surviving and relativelly at the top among species in our planet.

Being aware (alert, educated) and prepared, (having the proper tools and skills) to take advantage of opportunities and confront the risks around seems to be one of the biggest reasons for our success.

WHAT DOES EDUCATION AND BEING EDUCATED MEAN?

As described in Wikipedia (October, 2018), Education is "the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits." We humans continuosly strive to learn, develop and take advantage of the knowledge, skills, values and habits that are best for us. All those ideas, imaginations, physical objects and practices overall are what we identify as our tools and our technologies. Being educated is therefore the quality of possessing and using those advantages (also known as leverage.) Leverage is what help us live better, longer, safer and happier lives.

In practice, however, it soon becomes clear that "educating" (preparing) people properly “for their future” involves typically difficult and costly activities. Particularly difficult areas of education are in what today is called "STE/AM (Science, Technology, Engineering/Art, and Mathematics areas." Difficulties tend to relate to poor or/and unclear relationships between what is typically promoted in typical classrooms, the meaning and depth of what we learn, practice and become skilled at, and what we would actually need and use productively in real life. A natural consequence of this disconnection would reflect on larger numbers of students and citizens failing to be motivated, benefited by and be successful, both personally, and as members of a community and a society.

WHAT ARE TOOLS AND WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

For most of us, the word "tools" reminds us of the useful objects and devices we keep in a "toolbox" at home or at work to help us figure out and take care of (“fix”) various practical, physical “problems”.

In a wider sense, though, the word "tool" refers to a more general concept. In Wikipedia (2017), a tool is described as "any item that can be used to achieve a goal.” (ref). The Oxford Dictionaries and the Cambridge On-line dictionary (ref) define a TOOL as: "A thing used to help perform a job" (ref), and "anything that helps you to do something you want to do"....

Stated in a simpler way, we can say that: a tool is something we use to help us do the things we need to do to stay alive and live better. We do this mostly by using and extending the capabilities of our own bodies to explore, think and change our environment in smarter, more effectively (cheaper, faster, safer, and/or more powerful) ways. Therefore, we can say that a hammer, as well as a spoon, a fork, a knife and a computer are all tools, and so are the clothes we wear, the homes we live in and the vehicles we use to go places, as they help us survive, protect our bodies from and enjoy our environment, so we can live safely and be happier.

From the beginning of history, we have selected, created and used all kinds of objects (and ways) in our environment as tools. Clearly, much of our success of humans on earth can be has attributed to our continuous use and improvement of tools, because they have enhanced the basic nature-given abilities and strengths of our bodies. Today we have tools to help us with almost every need and activity. They always help us design, produce, and utilize newer, more effective and satisfying goods. We have also learned to use the environment to better understand it and use it, itself.

Starting with simpler tools,

> we have improved to today's and tomorrow's complex and powerful tools.

Briefly and in our own words, how can we describe a tool?

After we become comfortable with the concept of tools: can we now try a corresponding description for the word TECHNOLOGY, The field of study of tools, or "the science of tools"?

The Internet-based on-line Business Dictionary (ref,12/2017) defines the word TECHNOLOGY as "the purposeful application of information to the design, production, and utilization of goods, services, and the organization of human activities". Or perhaps simply: technology is the things we know and do to imagine how to make and use our tools ....

Can we now use our own words to briefly and as simply as possible describe what Technology is?

TOOLS AND PROBLEMS?

In most activities in our lives, we refer to "PROBLEMS" as those situations in our environment in need of action and change for these situations to be "corrected" or"solved" in our favor. Problems are the main reason for creating and using tools, that is, to better figure out and act on the parts of the environment that might need helpful changes or "corrective" action (resolution).

The On-line Business Dictionary (ref) defines a problem is "A perceived gap between the existing state and a desired state, or a deviation from a norm, standard, or status quo." We deal with problems by working with the environment to imagine, devise and apply available resources, take corrective actions, fill gaps and "solve" undesired situations.

In other words, a problem is something we see not aligned with our expectations or desires, and in need of action and change to better serve our purposes. PROBLEM SOLVING is what we do to change the environment and solve (fix, resolve) our problems.

Going one step further we say that SMART PROBLEM SOLVING is the special, intelligent things we do to discover, understand and solve our problems in better, more thoughtful, effective, "intelligent" ways. Therefore, we solve problems intelligently (or smartly) to survive and live the best possible . We do this by exploring, thinking and changing things in more disciplined (easier, faster, safer), more informed, powerful ways.

Among the intelligent things we use and do to identify and solve problems smartly are the various mental and physical awareness, abilities and skills we already know and have associated in groups of knowledge we call Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" (or "STEM"). These talents, as well as the tools we use with them are a big part of what has helped us humans dominate so far, among other creatures in our planet.

Recently, educators have also come to include the discipline of "Art" among the basic STEM groups. The acronym has therefore been extended to "STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). The addition of the Arts is said to signal our recognition of the need to develop better as "whole, smart individuals" by becoming more "informed, creative and innovative problem solvers". It is perhaps more apparent that the value of ART, or artistic development is intended to promote the best use of our natural abilities, mostly INSTINCT and COMMON SENSE. These abilities can thus help us best take advantage of the beauty and power of nature, learning from the ages-old of inspiration of objects and forces within ourselves and our environment.

THE ADDITION OF NEW TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES TO ESTEND SUPPORT FOR HUMAN INSTINCT AND COMMON SENSE

At the present time, new and powerful tools are being created to replicate the effects by adding the power of instincts and common sense of humans through massive collection, analysis and application of information from the environment. This additional power is being labeled and promoted as “Artificial Intelligence” or AI. According to Amazon Web Services (AWS,) one of today’s major providers of commercial AI services, AI is “a technology with human-like problem-solving capabilities. AI in action appears to simulate human intelligence—it can recognize images, write poems, and make data-based predictions.” In other words it is intended to imitates, mimic, suplements and likely enhances the benefits of human intelligence.

We should now define briefly and in our own words state what "a problem", "problem solving", "smart problem solving" mean, as well as to explore specifically what each of the "STEM / STEAM disciplines" is, also how new tools, like Artificial Intelligence relate to, benefit from and complement each other.

The following simplified descriptions of and relationships among the STEAM subjects are introduced to help remind us of the unique value and appropiate role of tools and technology, from the origins of humanity to the present day, including artifacts we now call "smart tools", "automation" (tools that can make decisions), and "cyborgs" (tools that can complement live organ functions).

SIMPLIFIED DESCRIPTIONS OF STEAM SUBJECTS:

SCIENCE: Are the smart approaches and practices to make things best, functionally correct, economic, agile, RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY.

TECHNOLOGY: The science of TOOLS.

ENGINEERING: The science of creating and applying BEST TOOLS for our purposes.

ARTS: The appreciation and use of form-and-function patterns in nature utilizing our INSTINCT, INSPIRATION and COMMON SENSES.

MATHEMATICS: The science of using effective SYMBOLS (representations), ABSTRACTION (imaginations, ideas) and their MANIPULATION (interaction, operations with symbols) for best ACCURACY (exactness,) PRECISION (reliable trust,) SAFETY (minimization of harmful, unsafe risks,) SPEED (best timing,) and ECONOMY (lowest costs.)

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG STEAM SUBJECTS

From the practice and habits of the academic disciplines of Sciences, Technologies, various Engineering areas, the Arts (particularly the “industrial arts) and Mathematics, we can yherefpre state that”:

a) The "smart", disciplined approaches concepts and practices of SCIENCE provide reliable and efficient support to the knowledge developed in other STEAM disciplines.

b) TECHNOLOGY is how we make possible the design, creation and use of the diverse range of TOOLS that support the SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, ARTS and mathematics.

c) ENGINEERING are the practices that support the smart creation and effective use of TOOLS and TECHNOLOGIES.

d) ART as a complement to ENGINEERING, promotes the development of our natural INSTINCTS and COMMON SENSE for us to perceive and inspire us to deal with patterns of balance, change, and problem resolution in nature. Our appreciation of nature and its harmony is extremely helpful since we are witnesses and users of what has been developed and perfected by nature through millions (billions...) of years of evolution.

e) Through the use of symbols, abstraction and reliable procedures for investigation, analysis, design and manufacturing, MATHEMATICS, and other common languages have allowed each and every human discipline to flourish by recording, imagining and communicating quantities around us. In particular, Mathematics support the confident representation and manipulation of quantities in and about objects and their changes with ACCURACY (exactness), PRECISION (trustworthiness), TIMELINESS (best timing), SAFETY (avoiding risks) and ECONOMY (lowest, best justified costs). The efficient and precise language and procedures of MATHEMATICS support the "smart thinking" in the definition and resolution of important and difficult scientific, economic and social problems.

We now focus on the advantages of extending the powers of our senses, brain, muscles and bones through the design, creation and utilization of tools, and on how the STEAM disciplines and tools are helpful for that purpose.

HOW OUR BODIES SENSE (FEEL), PROCESS INFORMATION (THINK) AND ACT (DO) ON IT

We feel, think and act in our environment using different parts of our bodies. We collect information from the environment using our senses (INPUT) to then communicate, process, interpret, define ideas, patterns, make decisions in the nerve-muscles (“involuntary reflexes”) and brain (PROCESSING-STORAGE) to finally, and based on corresponding information and processes, activate muscles, other tissue and bones in our bodies, as well as our available external tools to change the environment (OUTPUT,) as decided.

Our bodies feeling and acting in our environment
Figure 1.1 below presents an overview of the basic elements of human activity, described in a scheme called a systems model (IPSO: INPUT, PROCESSING/STORAGE, OUTPUT):

1- First, the real world is perceived by one or more of our five natural senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The neural-biochemical-electrical information produced by the senses is then carried by cell fibers called nerves to some nerves for immediate reaction ("limbic", reflex), or/and to the brain for further identification, organization, arrangement, possible storage and corresponding rational action (in response to possible PATTERNS that " make sense") to change the environment.

Figure 1.2 next presents three images of tissue that constitutes the visual sense in humans – The first image presents a cross section of the eye. Sensing starts when light from the environment is captured, reaching and passing through the pupil. cornea, and lens, to finally strike the light-sensitive retina in the back of each of the eye balls. The expanded view of the retina shown next displays a detail of its nerve cell arrays. These arrays contain two different types of tissue called rods and cones. Rods and cones absorb different frequency-color radiation energy from the light received and convert it into electrical signals (?), using a photosensitive protein called Opsin. These chemical signals are then transmitted electrically to the brain as visual information through the optical nerves. Functionally, our eyes can be compared to present-day color video cameras, capturing information from the environment and communicating it electronically to a "video-processing system" in the brain.

A closer view of the retina's rods and cones tissue images in Figure 1.2 makes more visible the distinction among them: The rods are basically fast, color-blind detectors of shape light intensity, focused mostly on the fast sensing of size and position of objects. The cones are slower, but each able to detect selectively one of three different color frequencies in the received light: red, green, or blue. As the distinct intensity of signals from each of the types of cones is transmitted and processed in the brain, a unique color is determined as the combination (mix) of these three (primary) colors.

The existence of two eyes and a dual path of the optical nerves from each of them to bring their own visual perspective from their retina to the back of the brain, is shown in the last image in Figure 1.2. Therefore, the optical nerves bringing signals from the eyes to the brain are analogous (i.e. similar) to “data cables”, bringing visual (video) information from two color video cameras (the eyes), configuring a three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic (?) array able to sense depth, just like the three- dimensional processing in today’s video systems.

Currently, the design and construction of most electronic imaging devices that handle visual color are built with consideration to these primary colors sensed by the eyes (Red-Green-Blue, or RGB). A “subtractive” equivalent (Cyan-Yellow-Magenta, or CYM) is used for devices that mix ink to absorb, rather than generate selected color light. Further description of the RGB primary colors and mixing, as well as CYM coloring for printers is available through the "Encoding color in digital images" links included in Figure 1.7 ahead.

Fig. 1.2 The visual sense in humans – Eyes to brain

The auditory (hearing) system (Figure 1.3) feels/senses the sounds from the environment received as physical vibrations of molecules in the air, processing them through the outer and inner ear, drum, anvil, hammer, cochlea, etc., to create electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain through auditory nerves. Here again, in the second image, two separate auditory paths are shown creating a stereoscopic array able to sense depth in the audio processing areas (auditory cortex) of the brain.

Fig. 1.3 The auditory sense in humans

Similarly to the visual and auditory systems, the olfactory/smell and taste/flavor senses (Figure 1.4) rely also on various kinds of nerve cells and tissue to communicate smell and flavor sensation information to the brain. There seems to be limited spatial separation of information for olfactory information (two nostrils), and none (only one palate) for taste/flavor information.

Fig. 1.4 The olfactory and taste sense in humans

Finally, the perception of the environment through physical feel and touch contact involves a diversity of organs and complex processes that extend through different parts of the body, notably the skin and muscles. The feel and touch systems actually consist of two different but related structures, one for input of information, feeling and exploring physical objects, and the other for output, touch and movement reactions exerting pressure and modifying the environment, with the assistance of muscles and bones. Figures 1.5.a and 1.5.b show images of feel and touch (through skeletal muscle activation) related organs in the body . These include nerve routes to and from the spinal cord medulla (dorsal horn), and the brain, both for involuntary, fast-response reflective(reflex) reaction (?) functions, as well as for the slower, more rational, intentional identification, analysis and reactions ocurring in the brain.

Fig. 1.5.a The sense of feel and touch: a complex 2-way system

Fig. 1.5.b The neural paths for feeling-in (sensing)-in and touching-out action (moving)

Making sense: The brain at work, and the use of symbols
As described above, the information collected by the vision, auditory, smell, taste, and touch senses is brought to the nervous systems, where highly complex, almost magical processes take place. Somehow, the spinal cord nerves respond to sensations that require immediate response, or the brain acts to activate its structure and chemistry to identify, classify, analyze, synthesize, connect, reconnect, organize and reorganize incoming and previously-stored information in highly complex schemas (?). The individuals will then use these schemas to somehow generate conclusions, predictions (?) and as necessary, defining meaningful reactions to deal with a situation or opportunity in the environment. Either unconscious, immediate reflexes or as a result of mediated, rational analysis and intelligent (?) decision-making.

Although much research has been dedicated to the understanding of brain structure and functions, much more still needs to be discovered, as it seems to be an extremely complex assemblage of organs and processes with systems dedicated to collecting, organizing, storing, reorganizing, retrieving and communicating of information, which constantly function and evolve (transforms) throughout our lifetimes and our evolution through the ages.

One important concept involved in brain functioning is that of representations ? . Representations are alternative expressions of knowledge (or awareness), normally involving the identification and use of surrogate, more effective or efficient objects found around us and actions with them. Representations can include realistic (e.g. replicas, toys), real or imagined physical objects or shapes, such as pictures, sounds and suggestive motions, semi-realistic objects such as recreations, figurines, cartoons, stick-figures or icons (?) and all the way to abstract and/or encrypted (?) symbols (?), or combinations of those whose meanings are basically visually and/or physically disconnected and maybe understood only through the use of corresponding mental activations, interpretation and translation protocols (?). Translation protocols or procedures are rules typically developed specifically for unique symbol identification purposes. Examples of protocols are the meanings, rules of construction and translation of common conversational human words, languages, mathematical systems and present-day data security procedures, intended to safeguard understandable, secure communications of information among different individuals.

The images included in Figure 1.5 are those of ancient representations found in archeological sites around the world. These images show counting dots and scratches, realistic images of animals, icons and symbolic narrative text. The images in Figure 1.6 are of symbols introduced for early electronic communications (wireless Morse code), tactile symbols for blind persons, (Braille), and hand-finger gestures for deaf or mute persons (Hand signs in Sign Language). Figure 8 displays a simulation panel for coding numbers for binary digital computing.

Fig. 1.5 Ancient representations with symbols, images, and icons

Fig. 1.6 Encoding text for: early electric communications, the blind and the deaf-mute persons

Fig. 1.7 Encoding numbers for today's binary electronic digital computers

The role of knowledge and STEM subjects in creating and using better tools

We will now refer to various tools, with reference to the way they extend our natural abilities: Starting with simpler sticks and stones for gaining mechanical advantages in the beginning of civilization, to the highly sophisticated virtual tools and environments of today that allow us to perceive, visualize, analyze and synthesize sophisticated, critical situations and solve our “simpler” and most complex problems.

At the root of our needs and abilities to see, hear, touch, smell, taste, think and act to remain safe, healthy and happy is where the value of the STEAM disiplines reveal themselves through their impact through the accuracy, precision, speed and economy to solve problems properly. Solving problems properly typically involves dealing with adequate, rational, balanced solutions involving one or more disciplines.

HOW SIMPLE, COMPLEX TOOLS AND ROBOTS WORK

Naturally, and through time, the forms of the tools and the way we create and use them have developed from the raw, primitive and simple forms, physical sticks and stones of the nomadic and cave dwelling times, to the more elaborate, complex, cybernetic, robotic, information and computer-assisted (real-physical or abstract-virtual) complex automation (i.e. independently powered and self-controlled tools) we see today.

Through time, the simplest forms of tools consist of very basic, simple objects and/or be asociated with basic abstract ideas (i.e. symbols, “information.”) Among the simplest physical, mechanical concrete “artifacts,” there are what are called "simple machines." Things like:

Combinations of simple machines working together can configure more complicated tools referred to as "compound machines" or simply: machines. Wheels, levers, and pulleys, for example, are all used as parts of a compound transportation mechanism known as a bicycle. In machines such as a bicycle, the overall physical, or mechanical "advantage" for transportation is the result of combining the mechanical advantages of the simple machines of which it is composed.

The identification of simple machines has been helpful in the methodical identification and construction of new, more powerful machines. Thus, there is an important concern about how simple machines work and how they are compounded to make more complex, powerful machines.

FURTHER CLASSIFICATION OF TOOLS AND MACHINES

However, a more successful strategy was identified by Franz Reuleaux, who collected and studied over 800 common mechanical (hard material) machines. He realized that a lever, pulley, and wheel and axle are in essence the same device: a body rotating about a hinge. Similarly, an inclined plane, wedge, and screw are a block sliding on a flat surface.[31]

This realization shows that it is the joints, or the connections that provide movement, that are the primary elements of a machine. Starting with four types of joints, the revolute joint, sliding joint, cam joint and gear joint, and related connections for transportation of movement, such as cables and belts, it is possible to understand a machine as an assembly of solid parts that connect these joints.[23]

A ROBOT is a "smart", intelligent tool we use For that purpose, we design and make robots (ref), that include features that imitate living organisms, INCLUDING SYSTEMS OF INFORMATION and “DECISION-MAKING” authonomy, some of that being inspired by, and the result of billions of years of evolution. Among these features of robots are the ability to sense (feel) the environment through (input) devices called "sensors", generating and managing information collected and assembled through information oriented component-devices. These devices, commonly called "processors", collect, store and evaluate information (thinking and deciding) to select possible courses of action effected through "actuators", controlled energy devices that can act (output) and change the environment for a purpose. In a sense, robots and their elements act as and become extensions to our own senses, brain, muscles, bones and bodies, to help us transform our environment more effectively, faster, safer, better.

Can we now describe again, briefly and concisely, what "a robot" is?

USE OF TOOLS, FROM THE BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION:

Through our time in history, we humans, as well as other living creatures have survived and thrived by exploring and dealing with situations and problems in the environment. We have seen opportunities and threats and figured out best ways to defend and take advantage of circumstances. We humans have done this quite successfully in our planet with ground, water, air, sun, plants and other, small and large, and often powerful and dangerous creatures. We have done this repeatedly by figuring out how to best use not only our own hands and bodies, but getting help from other parts of the environment itself.

Can you think of 10 ways in which some things in the environment have been helpful to us in transforming and/or using other parts of it?

For example:

1) Starting with the natural parts of our body and our mind that have helped us, so far we have survived and become the top predator on earth. Can we think of how our bodies help us?

2) We provide ourselves with food and nutrients by taking things from the environment, preparing them to make them more available and digestible through the use of various tools. Can you think of some of these tools? Hint: We normally have these in our farmlands, food factories, kitchens, utensils and tables....

3) We can move our physical bodies and other things around us by using not only our legs, feet, hands and muscles, but also by taking advantage of other objects and forces in the environment ("props") to do it easier, faster and safer. - How - what kinds of tools - we use to move things around on land, water/sea, air and even far away, in outer-space?

4) We also use tools from the environment to protect ourselves from the harsh elements of it, such as sun, wind, cold, rain, germs, dangerous predators, etc. - rather than depend just on our own eyes, skin, hair, sweat and body fat ....... What tools we make and use to do this?

5) Which tools we have today to help us produce the many nice, affordable, long lasting cars, food, clothes, televisions, refrigerators, homes, etc. more and more of us are able to enjoy - rather than simply using our own bodies, or assist each other personally?

Generally we can then say that technology is what we create and do with some parts of our environment to transform and take advantage of other parts of it, to best satisfy our diverse needs.

A view of the diversity of human needs was offered by Abraham Maslow (1943) as a pyramid of priorities in a BASIC-to-HIGH priority scheme ("Hierarchy of Human Needs")

What is Science and "Scientific" knowledge? and how do these help and are helped by tools?

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/philosophy

Specifically, how does science help civilization survive and grow?

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/whathassciencedone_01

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HOW DO AUTOMATION and ROBOTS WORK?

Through history, we humans have figured out ways to deal with our environment by designing, building, and using ever more useful, capable tools. We create and use all kinds of tools to help us do this: parts of our own bodies, simple natural objects we can find in the environment, and all the way to most elaborate contraptions we can build: these days various "automated", "smart", or "robotic" tools complement and enrich our existence with special abilities to perceive the environment, interpret and execute our intentions and supply the energies required to do what we need and want in the most effective, expeditious, safest ways we can imagine.

What are "tools", and what are "automated", "smart" and "robotics" tools?

Robots and automata incorporate special devices that drive their behavior and apply energies most effectively, in ways that improve, amplify and expand the limits of our own natural physical abilities. These tools can help us do the things we need to do beyond what we can do ourselves with our own bodies. Naturally, in the beginning it all began with using our own bodies, simpler objects to help ourselves, but eventually, to imagine, create and use the more elaborate ones. Indeed, the evolution of tools relies on the application of whatever tools and uses we have imagined previously. Today, our tools can still include such simple objects as sticks and stones, pencil and paper, simpler metal cutting and welding equipment, but we have also made available complex, powerful and efficient industrial design and construction tools we call Computer Automated Design (CAD) and Computer Automated Manufacturing (CAM).

Today, our tools can help us dispense the limited energies of our bodies more effectively, as well as to complement them by incorporating additional and different energies provided by other materials and phenomena in nature: combustible or renewable fuels, electrical or magnetic flows of electricity supplied by accesory supply lines. Energies for our tools can also be supplied from within the tools themselves, using the molecular, chemical or atomic reactions generated by isolated sources, such as chemical reactions in electrical batteries, direct sun radiation, or the energy released by the state-transitions in the structure of atoms inside free-standing "fuel cells", or "nuclear unstable" materials.

How are "automated", "smart" and "robotics" tools better than the older "manual" tools?

The “more intelligent” tools are powered and controlled more flexibly and effectively through better physical intervention of our bodies and to fulfill our intentions, they are designed and constructed so as to best respond to our direct touch, in contact, or through “remote touch,” using wired or wirelessly (no hard-wires connected) “remote controls,” at a distance, through electromagnetic-field induction fields, perhaps even physically disconnected, relying on their own autonomous “on-board” devices and sources of energy. Independent (autonomous) and self-controlled behaviors supported through the execution of pre-loaded sequences of logical decision-making commands and sequences (called programs) can define controls, including information, generated by ready-available (on-board) sources (sensors and processors.) Furthermore, more often now, controls can be defined based on information resulting from the collection and analysis of large, massive, intense autonomous data gatherings from what is known today as “Artificial Intelligence” (AI).

When communicating commands for instant action of a tool, or "live control" from a remote distance, it is said that we are executing "positive remote controls". When our tools independently sense the environment by themselves, to make assessments, determine and execute corresponding sequences of actions based on its situation on their own, we call them autonomous. When assessments and actions involve independent, on-board sensing, decision-making and acting that can be interpreted as some kind of "intelligence," as well as when they host themselves some self-contained sources of energy, to drive and implement selected behaviors at each step, the tools are known as "automated", "cybernetic" or "robotic."

How do "automated", "smart" and "robotics" tools learn how to behave, and how do they get their energies and power to do things?

Successful design and operation of automated tools and robots require the best use of today's applicable knowledge and practices. Today we group this kind of knowledge in coordinated topics and subjects such as:

1. mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.

2. material sciences,

3. mechanics,

4. electricity and magnetism,

5. hydraulics, computing and information technologies,

6. ergonomics and cognitive sciences.

7. etc.

Other examples of more focused subjects about the nature and behaviours of our surroundings are such as: Material sciences, mechanics and ergonomics, that help us design and build better shaped, effective, capable, human-friendly, reliable and durable physical objects and assemblies. Hydraulics, together with electricity and magnetism refer to the form and function of physical sensors and actuators. Hydraulic (liquid or gas fluid substance-driven) and electromagnetic (electric field and induction-driven) levers, arms, wheels, pumps, valves and motors can provide strong and fine support for physical, mechanical positioning and movement in machines, by tightly controlling and distributing pressure and movement throughout coordinated parts and mechanisms.

At the present time, electricity, magnetism (optical and magnetic transducers) and pressurized fluids (liquids/hydraulics or air/pneumatics) provide various convenient choices to supply strong energy and information for remote operation, either to wire/physically-connected or independent (autonomous) devices in tools and machines. Tools and machines can also be supplied with the energy released by energy-releasing fuels, compressed fluids, and diverse mechanical energy storage contraptions. Tools and machines can also be made more "talented" and capable for actions suggested by forms and sequences of specially designed "smart" objects ("things that make us smart"), such as coded artifacts (e.g. music-box punched tapes) or comprehensive sequences of electrical pulse representations, coded as symbols and signals (http://www.animath.net/frbinary.html). These symbols and signals are provided to the tool/machine/robot, held and accessed by them for deferred interpretation and action at appropriate times, likely unsupervised, under predefined conditions. These sequences are commonly referred to as "control programs" in Information technology. To "touch and feel" the environment under which they operate, automated tools and machines use input devices (called sensors). To interpret the input and assess the situation at hand, as well as to determine possible choice of behavior or actions necessary, the machines could use special decoding mechanisms, or "on-board" computers (information processors) mimicking the brain of living organisms). To execute and perform physical actions machines and robots use appropriate output devices that include physical, electro-mechanical actuators, as well as electro-mechanical combinations called servomechanisms (or "servos").

What are the things we need to know in order to make our tools the best we can?

Overall, automata and robots can be imagined, designed and constructed as units called functional systems. The science of design and construction of functional systems is called systems engineering- (see BASIC SYSTEMS ENGINEERING DIAGRAM below).

The science dedicated to providing people and machines with desired physical, cognitive and decision/control abilities and capacities for working, surviving and adapting to their environment is called cognitive science. In the science of automation, machines and robots are designed and built to receive, hold information, execute our criteria supplied in instructions representing intelligence to evaluate the result of executing them over independently sensed/acquired information, in what are called autonomous controls. Automata and robots receive, hold and execute given commands, in logical order, as indicated by the "programs" supplied to them, and guided by their immediate conditions, as sensed (sensor information INPUT) and evaluated by their own devices (on-board processors). Automata and robots should produce effective (desired effects), accurate (exact measure), precise (reliable, trustworthy), and timely behaviors. The mechanical or other energy required by automata and robots to operate can be supplied (energy INPUT) by either external (e.g. cables, tubes or free sunlight) or internal sources of energy (on-board combustion engines, batteries, energy cells) , which can be fed continuously with timely (periodically, or fast- live), accurate and reliable environmental information from sensors. Automata would then be capable of accessing and processing the available information (INFORMATION PROCESSING) make operational decisions and apply energy to activate its physical actuators (energy OUTPUT) to modify the environment, and as necessary, support external communication abilities (information OUTPUT), just like real biological systems (see FALCON AS A BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM image below). Automated tools should be able to evaluate and appropriately readapt their ongoing behavior and actions on their own.

Next we will see how various existing technologies help support the creation of better, smarter tools, robotic machines, and automata.

Function analysis (Situation, problem, system and subsystem analysis). Tool and machine solutions:

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a Tool is "a device or implement, . . . . . used to carry out a particular function". Likewise, a Machine is "an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task". It seems clear, however that in general, more elaborate artifacts and machines are all objects we can consider tools.

In order to design and create the most effective and efficient tools aiming to carry out particular functions or performing particular tasks, addressing questions or satisfying needs, a good awareness and understanding is required of the problems and consequences of as many alternative approaches and solutions as possible. To do this, a rational approach, called "the scientific method" has been developed in science. A description of the steps and a link to and interactive activity illustrating the sequential nature of the method are shown below.

Click this link: The steps of the scientific method

The steps of the scientific method are logical, rational steps and activities that support the definition of reliable behaviors and "smart problem solving" ("How to Solve it", George Polya, 1945). Following "smart problem solving" procedures will result in that problems are better understood, and therefore, understanding, imagining, designing and constructing more effective solutions and appropriate tools will be more effective: safer, simpler, more economic, faster.

Through history, tools developed through generations from simpler mechanical objects supporting the direct application of our manual force, body dexterity or craftsmanship, and into more complex and effective devices, machines, and engines to help us convert energy into mechanical forces or energy to use them in more powerful forms, and up to the ones we can see today in our sophisticated industrial, commercial, financial, construction, mining, agricultural, and commercial infrastructures. Some of the more elaborate tools and complex devices include those that support themselves the design and implementation of the next generation of complex and powerful new tools we see adding every day (e.g. analysis and research computers, "CAD-CAM, and newer, smarter, more powerful machine tools").

As mentioned previously, when designing and building tools and robots, it is helpful to conceptualize them as systems or part of systems, perhaps consisting of aggregates of distinct, more specialized subsystems, all modeled in the INPUT-PROCESSING-OUTPUT model form, which is parallel to the PERCEIVING-IMAGINING-TRANSFORMING or UNDERSTANDING-PREDICTING-TRANSFORMING cycle of human interaction with the real-world environment, as the image shown below.

For electrical and information technology tools, the basic INPUT: elements are commonly referred to as information sensing (sensors), PROCESS/STORAGE: information processing/analysis, storage/memory (Computers and controllers) and OUTPUT: actuator ("servo" or transmission) devices.

Electronic systems deal with (receive, transform, deliver) information by encoding (representing it) in convenient Analog (imitating objects) or Digital (numerical encoded) forms.

Input - It includes the supply of materials and/or energy to a machine or robot to enable it to operate. This includes electricity, fuels and information signals that are needed to sense/feel, move, determine environmental conditions, and define and act with corresponding control commands telling it what to do. Control commands and environmental measurements are typically encoded and communicated as electrical signals and symbols obtained through its sensors and transducers (i.e. “converters” into electricity), and coded into analog or digital forms . Transducers and sensors typically consist of some mechanical, electrical, magnetic, chemical, or optical contraptions that sense and change flowing electricity as a result of the form and quantity of a physical substance of interest in the environment. Transducer devices convert the physical magnitude sensed into an electrical magnitude or code that communicates such magnitude as a description or measurement of the environment, to the machine.

The input also would include information sequences stating our intentions for the tool, in the form of instructions (control commands) or statements of physical conditions to rule its behavior. When the instructions for operation are provided from a distance, we call the machine "remote controlled". If the instructions are provided previously and loaded in the machine for execution in an independent, autonomous basis at appropriate times, we call them "autonomous machines".

Processing/analysis and storage of information - elements that allow for the staging (buffering) and retention (storage) of information (data), both from sensors, as of control command lists (programs). This component includes also the interpretation and execution of control commands, based on rules and protocols established by its processing in programs.

Output- Includes the resulting activation of physical devices (actuators) intended to provide energy, objects and actions that modify the physical environment as determined for the machine and, as needed, supply streams of data, to inform the operators of the machine about conditions or other information of interest.

Although through history the components of human-made (artificial) systems have remained quite simple and relied mostly on mechanical, physical components, at the present, we are creating more elaborate "intelligent") tools with more complex capabilities for Input, Processing/storage and Output of information and physical actions. All this due mostly to most effective forms of media, such as electrical and/or electromagnetic components with a high ability and convenience to carry and manage energy and information. Through these media, energy and information can be generated, converted, coded, transported and applied in extremely fast and efficient forms. ANALOG (imitative, as an analogy) and DIGITAL (numbers/digits symbolized). Information signals and processing are typically hosted in electrical and magnetic media. How is this done?

Electrical and electromagnetic quantities of energy are encoded (represented by symbols) to convey numeric, visual, auditory and tactile (physical movement) information. Numbers are helpful to support quantitative assessment (MEASUREMENTS) of the environment (physical size, sounds, image, pressure, etc.) and other patterns in the operating environment, COMMANDS for ANALYTICAL or COMPUTATIONAL ACTIONS, or specific CONTROL or OUTPUT ACTIONS (actuator device, subsystem or system activation) in automata and robots.

System engineering and design

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to engineering systems is inherently complex since behavior of and interaction among system components is not always immediately defined or understood. Defining and characterizing such systems and subsystems and the interactions among them is one of the goals of systems engineering. In doing so, the gap that exists between informal requirements from users, operators, marketing organizations, and technical specifications for the design , construction and application of appropriate tools should be successfully bridged.
"Systems engineering is a methodical, disciplined approach for the design, realization, technical management, operations, and retirement of a system. A system is a construct or collection of different elements that together produce results not obtainable by the elements alone. .."Systems engineering seeks a safe and balanced design in the face of opposing interests and multiple, sometimes conflicting constraints. " NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, 2007, p.3.

Prototyping
A “prototype” is a model used to pattern something for exploration, usually at a convenient size and/or economic scale. The process of prototyping is aimed to the discovery of conditions and options related to complex problems, and it involves the following "prototyping steps":

1. Identification of basic requirements: Determine basic requirements including the input and output information desired. Many circumstantial details can typically be initially ignored.

2. Development of an Initial Prototype: Initial prototypes are developed to focus mainly on user needs. End-users examine the prototype and provide feedback on additions or changes.

3. Revision and Enhancement of the Prototype: Using the feedback both the specifications and the prototype can be improved. Negotiation about what is within the scope of the product may be necessary. If changes are introduced then a repeat of steps #2 and #3 may be needed.

Prototyping – rapid
Rapid prototyping involves the accelerated, efficient development of designs through multiple iterations involving prototypes in a basic, three-step process:

1. Prototype
   Convert the users’ description of the solution into mock-ups, factoring in user experience standards and best practices.

2. Review
   Share the prototype with users and evaluate whether it meets their needs and expectations.

3. Refine
   Based on feedback, identify areas that need to be refined or further defined and clarified.

OTHER SYSTEM ENGINEERING-RELATED CONCEPTS (from NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, 2007)

INPUT - ENERGY AND INFORMATION DELIVERED TO THE TOOL FROM THE ENVIRONMENT TO ENABLE IT TO PERFORM CAPABLE MACHINE OPERATIONS

1. ENERGY, ENERGY SUPPLIES FOR THE TOOL PROVIDED BY EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SOURCES AND STORAGE OF SUBSTANCE FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY IN SUPPORT OF ITS MORE ENERGY DEMANDING OPERATIONS

2. INFORMATION: GENERAL, LONG-AND-SHORT-TERM HANDLING AND COMMUNICATION OF SIGNALS, COMMANDS AND THE PROGRAMS REQUIRED BY THE PROCESSING IN AUTOMATED MACHINE OPERATIONS

PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION, MATERIAL SHAPES AND FUNCTIONALITIES GIVEN BY DESIGN FOLLOWING THE MOST EFFECTIVE DESIGN AND OPERATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THE BEST USE OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECTS SUCH AS PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOLOGY AND OTHER RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

OUTPUT - WHAT IS DELIVERED FROM THE TOOL OR MACHINE TO THE ENVIRONMENT AS A RESULT OF OPERATIONS

1. ENERGY, CONSISTING OF PHYSICAL MOVEMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES

2. INFORMATION: SIGNALS AND DATA PROVIDED TO EXTERNAL RECIPIENTS

(1) Physical configuration - Assemblies, subassemblies and individual parts: Strong, efficiently purposeful, powerful and durable (Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical, electronics, and Hydraulics Engineering......)

Materials Strength and endurance- Mechanical, chemical and biological engineering.

Power - Electrical, electromagnetic and electrochemical power engineering, Hydraulics of compressible and non-compressible fluids

(2) Accurate, effective, precise, reliable, trustworthy and accurate (exact measure) behavior : (Electronics, Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Computer Engineering)

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DIFFERENT KINDS OF TOOLS

CLASSIFICATION OF TOOLS BY FUNCTION (FUNCTIONAL) - One way of identifying the types of tools we use is by looking at their function, or "the thing(s) they do for us". The functional descriptions below were obtained and adapted from a popular Internet source: ref, "Tools/Functions" section):

1. Shaping: Breaking -cutting, separating, piercing, mashing - (cutting or mashing) and also then, putting back together(binding or joining): The first kind refers to substance-separating tools such as knives, forks, spoons, teeth, fingernails, chisels and shovels, which rely on shaped objects (blunt and sharp wedge, cupped forms and implements) that produce a breaking, shearing or cutting effect along an area, narrow contact edge or surface. Sharpening is the process of shaping, reshaping and restoring eventual deformation wear from the body or a cutting edge or surface. For the other kind of shaping, which are the Binding/bonding or aggregating/clumping joining tools, there are those that help us join substance together, temporarily or permanently, to include: adhesives and glues, welding, soldering irons, sewing devices, screws, bolts&nuts, straps, nails and rivets, containers, staples/staplers and presses. Grabbers/Fastening drivers: fixed and adjustable: - Pliers, wrenches, jaws, vises, clamps and workbench grips, open and close grip-sockets, etc.

2. Tools to provide cover, insulate and protect items. Natural and man-made shelter, housing and facilities to insure safe, quiet and/or undisturbed existence. Covering, clothing and weather insulation, as well as weather forecasting tools provide protection against elements and undesired/unsuspected conditions or changes in the environment.

3. Tools to move and/or change the physical position or distribution of other items. These are materials and natural or provoked forces can be used as levers to give a mechanical advantage for facilitation of movement. For example, concentrated-force displacing tools: the hammer moves a nail or drives a stake, or a shovel separates, removes and resettles dirt from the ground. These operate by applying physical compression to a surface. In the case of the screwdriver, the twisting force is rotational and called torque. Also grabbing and twisting nuts and bolts with pliers, a glove, a wrench, etc. Wheels, gears, slides, belts, chains, slides, motors and levers.

Writing implements dispense a material or fluid onto a surface via compression and/or adhesion (sticking to it) from a smudging bar, ink container or cartridge. All these tools move items using some kind of mechanical force. Trucks, cannons, rockets, trains and airplanes can move larger and smaller items. Telephones, computers and other electromagnetic communication and electric power transmission lines and equipment move and carry electromagnetic substance and signals containing information and/or energy. Particle accelerators move very small, atomic-size items. Moving or forcing physical changes through energy release and chemical changes Heat/pressure changes, ignition and explosion, such as fire, cooking, blowtorches, dynamite and nuclear bombs. Chemical reactants for substance dissolution, transformation, flavorings, coloring dyes.

4. Seeing, guiding, feeling and measuring tools include the ruler, set square, straightedge, mechanical, optical and electromagnetic sensors, X-ray machines, theodolite or transit, seeing glasses, scopes and microscopes, as well as all related visual information and data manipulation tools and presentation devices, such as electronic computer and graphics software, navigation equipment input signals (at sensors) and physical fuels and output signals or forces (servos), control hardware and software, computer-guided tools and machines.

5. Thinking & communication assistance tools, such as analog and digital manipulation of objects, images and symbols, events and ideas/patterns, computing and communications equipment to transport these ideas, display and analysis, information presentation simulators, emulators, etc. At the present, various powerful tools of this type designated as “cybernetic,” “automata,” “robots,” and “Artificial intelligence (AI)” tools are routinely being imagined, designed and constructed to implement human intentions, supplement and/or replace human thinking, physical efforts, and to fulfill specially complex tasks. https://www.ibm.com/topics/artificial-intelligence.

CLASSIFICATION OF TOOLS BY THEIR OWN NATURE/FORM (MORPHOLOGIC) - Another way to classify tools is by the degree of evolution of their physical makeup and capabilities, as listed in the following sequence of complexity:

1. Level 0: When we use only our own body as a tool, with no help from any other objects or actions from the environment (e.g. directly using our own hands, arms, feet, eyes, ears, smell, teeth, etc.).

2. Level I: We use help from natural existing, unmodified, raw objects (such as raw rocks and sticks, water and wind from nature)

3. Level II: We use raw natural objects (Level I), modified only with basic structural mechanical changes (such as sharpened rocks and sticks, metal objects, contained water, adapted three branches, limbs, trunks, bows and arrows, and fueled fire)

4. Level III: We use modified level II tools enhanced with additional power (energized) features (such as steam or other combustion pressure, wind or supplied electricity, i.e. "power tools")

5. Level IV: We use Level III tools improved with additional decision-making ("smart", "intelligent") features, typically assisted today by effective and efficient mechanical design, electrical and electromagnetic information management components (to include “on-board” controllers, programmable CAD (Computer Assisted Design)/CAM (Computer Assisted Manufacturing) machines, robotics and “Artificially Intelligent” tools.

In our daily lives, and at different times and degrees and for different reasons, we need and successfully use tools belonging to each of the levels described above. The following activities should help us think of their role in these different situations.

level [BEGIN TOOL EVOLUTION SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION ACTIVITY HERE]
Classifying tools - printable - evolution-picking
Classifying tools - printable - evolution-drilling

HOW DO TOOLS WORK?

Because tools are objects and substances we use to help us affect our environment, then better tools are those that can give us better leverage (or augmentation) for understanding, figuring changes, and effecting actions. We therefore use tools to assist our senses (INPUT: Percepting reality), brain (PROCESSING/STORAGE: Understanding and imagination of situations) and necessary physical actions of our body, particularly on our muscles (OUTPUT: Action) so we become more capable at feeling (sensing: Perceiving), imagining (thinking: Figuring), and transforming/changing (Acting to transform, modify) the environment. Therefore, the effective purpose of tools is to provide specific (focused, intentional) leverage (amplification, enlargement, or magnification) and empowerment to our capabilities, by complementing or reducing the limitations of our human given physical abilities: senses, minds and bodies.

Tools are therefore designed, built and used to fit our needs and complement our capabilities for dealing with our environment. When we need to shape, break, cut, pierce, pound, mash, move, guide, feel, measure, understand, think, decide, communicate and/or protect us, we then find and create objects and substances that can help us do the necessary things in cheaper, faster, safer, better (more effective and efficient) ways.

When we make best use our knowledge and available resources to create new, better tools and uses for our world (TECHNOLOGY), we say that we are ENGINEERING (ref) our environment. To accomplish this with confidence, we use SCIENCE and its "scientific methodologies" (ref), which are well conceived, disciplined and reliable practices we can rely on. For this, we also rely on the design and use of physical and abstract/mental objects, symbols and procedures such as formal spoken and written LANGUAGES to represent, record and communicate our thinking, including standard and special languages that add helpful exactness and trustworthiness, such as it is MATHEMATICS (ref). Standard words and expressions in common languages and mathematics help us remember and communicate to others our understandings and also support engineering through better accuracy (exactness in quantities) and precision (repeatable, predictable and trustworthy results), making things safer, cheaper, faster, better. These disciplines and practices help us insure that we understand and transform our environment the best ways possible.

[BEGIN TOOL CLASSIFICATION ACTIVITY HERE]

EXERCISE: Use the chart (printable) below to identify and classify the FUNCTION and LEVEL of each of the following tools, used through human history (NOTE: most tools can be used in more than one function, as described ahead):

1. A rock

2. A stick

3. A knife

4. A spoon

5. Our fingers

6. Our teeth

7. Our feet

8. Our eyes

9. A hammer (or club)

10. Spears, bows and arrows

11. A cave, hut (or a home)

12. Gun and cannon bullets, grenades and pellets

13. Cooking pots and pans

14. Fire

15. Windmills

16. Nails and screws

17. Pneumatic drill

18. Salt (human consumption grade)

19. Refrigerator

20. Power screwdriver

21. Bicycles, cars, boats, trucks and airplanes

22. Telegraphs and Telephones

23. Communication satellites

24. Mine and road, earth moving and construction equipment

25. Computers, communication satellites, the Internet, virtual tools, and "function-specific robots". See the general description of robots in the "What are Robots" document.

As described next, some tools can be used for multiple different purposes or combined with other tools to produce new or improved effects for a specific purpose.

Tool substitution and combination

As described previously, often by design or by nature, tools may share a purpose, or be able to substitute or combine functional abilities of other tools, either as a makeshift solution, or for desired practical efficiency. Simple examples of this is when we use use our hands or a stick to dig the ground, rather than a shovel or other appropriate instrument, or when we use a rock and a stick in combination to dig on the ground, applying the cutting effect of the stick, with the pounding force of the rock.

Present-day earth moving and construction machines, as well as in modern Computer Automated Manufacturing (CAM) machines, which can combine many different materials, sources of energy and effects to produce goods and tools that can support the design, construction and usage of other useful, high-quality and low cost physical goods and services, with reduced or minimal human assistance.

Multi-use tools

A "Multi-use” tool is a single, same physical tool that can perform, incidentally or by design the functions of various different tools, as appropriate. For example a rock, unchanged can be used to shape other objects by pounding with blunt force, or be used for building shelter and for personal defense, or even to assist thinking in reasoning and in arithmetic, as simple visual simulation or to be item-counted as a unit or a group of units in an abacus ("pebble/bead counter") .

The case of rocks, hammers, or any hard object being used to drive nails, chisel, or to break larger solid pieces, as well as for other uses such as to store heat or as dead-weight to balance loads, for example, would constitute a primitive multi-use Level I or II tool. An electric drill-screwdriver and accessories is also an example of an tool designed for multiple uses with "added power", making holes or forcing screws more effectively into other objects.

Bundled-up tools

Bundled-up tools are sets of different tools conveniently gathered as a functional "unit". Mixed bathroom shampoo and conditioner products are bundled-up products for more efficient, simpler hair care. A "Swiss Army Knife" would also be an example of a purposely designed bundled-up Level III tool gathering tools of different kinds, in different functions.

Combination tools

A "Combination tool” is one that incorporates several tools that are coupled to work together as a more effective or efficient device for a specific function. Possible examples of these would be a screwdriver being driven with an ad-hoc addition of wrench or pliers as a lever-handle, so as to exert more force (torque leverage) against the screw being driven. Similarly, a hammer and a chisel, being used together to create an overpowered chisel to break apart harder or massive objects.

Combining present-day pneumatic (air pressure) or electromagnetic pistons with, say, a steel chisel, cutting tool or with dispensable insertion nails produces powerful tools called “jackhammer” or "power sawing" or a "nailing" tool. An alarm-clock is an example a combination of a measuring tool (the clock) and a feeling-hearing tool (the audible alarm). This makes the alarm-clock a combined tool with a function in a new category.

Electrical and electromagnetic tools

During the previous two centuries, and particularly more in recent years, much of the industrial and socioeconomic progress has been promoted by a great development of tools that go beyond simple physical objects, to take unprecedented advantage of the properties of electricity and magnetism. Our mastery in producing and handling electricity (history of electricity) has allowed the creation of newer and better tools and instruments using electromagnetism . We now build and use tools that use electrical forces to increase their mechanical abilities and power (see electricity-to-motion and motion-to-electricity animations). We also use electromagnetic effects to make our tools more talented, "intelligent", efficient, accurate and speedier, including those we refer to as automation and robots (DOCUMENT). These tools empower us to transform our environment much more efficiently and powerfully.

The discovery and development of electricity and magnetism technologies has allowed us to create and manage resources very effectively, and to carry and use large small amounts of energy and information at extremely fast speeds and to long distances quite conveniently. With this, we have been able to revolutionize many areas of our civilization.

Electricity and magnetism can physically capture, transform and transport small and large amounts of heat, light, sound, objects and information for human communication of all kinds, anywhere, anytime. This is how we can transform and continue to transform our, living spaces, workplaces, locally and around the world. Today we are able to explore outer space as much as into our own bodies.

Following below are some of the basic ideas and physical principles regarding the nature, creation and utilization of electrical energy, or electricity to help us transform the environment:.

1.- Electricity originates from the imbalance in the numbers and relative position of microscopic, energy charged charged atomic particles (electrons and protons) which exist in the substance of all common materials and energies we deal with in our environment.

An abundance of these particles and the fact that they are physically attracted to or repelled from each other all together can result in massive amounts of fast-moving energy. Two of these "electric" particles (protons and electrons) are labeled either "positive" or "negative" (in what is called their "polarity"). Positive and negative particles are attracted to the other kind, and repelled from their own kind. Although both electrical particles can move towards or away from each other, the electrons are lighter and more able to move, therefore to affect other particles at a distance through the influence of electric fields and magnetic fields. Electric and Magnetic fields therefore can add up to stronger forces to move other particles from a distance.

In the environment, some materials can provide better environments for electrons to move and they are called electric conductors. Materials that can hold and sustain the existence of magnetic fields are called "magnetic" or "magnets", and those that facilitate the reaction of electrons to magnetic fields (magnetic induction) are called "ferro-magnetic".

2.- Most of the electrical energy produced (and consumed) today relies on the fairly simple concept of relative movement between magnets and electrical conducting wires or materials (e.g. copper, silver, gold) in close proximity (see: ref). This concept has allowed us to take advantage of things that move in nature (mechanical forces) to produce electricity, such as water, wind or steam or other pressure/force-producing vapors generated through combustion of fuels or heating of fluids by contained nuclear reactions. The generation and use of electromagnetic forces has also allowed us to learn how to create and transport energy to and from remote places, so we can power the tools that help us transform the environment, ever stronger and faster.

3.- More recently however, technologies that rely on chemical, molecular and atomic reactions have been developed to produce and store electrical energy as well as to capture the power of sunlight (photovoltaic) and wind forces. These technologies have continued to become more economically effective and capable of producing large amounts of energy at competitive costs, making them more acceptable in practical and commercial applications. Similar improvements in the technologies involved in the consumption of electrical energy are also reducing the consequent pollution of the environment and the exhaustion of our limited supplies of fuels, when used to produce electrical energy by burning them under previous technological options.

4.- A new approach based on the ability of electrochemical reactions on widely available, natural substances (used as fuels) to charge or discharge electrical energy between physically adjoining materials (LED's, Lasers, and (fuel cells) also seem to be making significant headway into practical applications.

Today, electricity is used to capture, convert, transform, transport and apply energy from the environment, in amounts and geographic locations as needed, to satisfy human needs in local and distant places and times (using special transmission and storage facilities and devices). For example, large amounts of energy from water mass flow of rivers in the mountains and jungles in far away places is being picked up by large arrays of spinning wires and magnets, transported through thick and long copper wires, brought over to be used in distant cities, factories and homes. This energy is then conveniently and efficiently converted into heat, light, sound, and a variety of other energy forms, which include spinning motors, information communications and many other processes that ultimately satisfy the diverse needs of people.

(Physical) Tools of common use

The following are common, traditional tools typically included in our workshops, toolboxes, home and workplaces:

1. Shaping, breaking, cutting, piercing, pounding, mashing - Hammer, knife, chisel, shovel, trowel, grinder, drill and bits. In factories we also find Computer Automated Machines and Manufacturing (CAM). Joining, strapping, fastening, fusing, and Welding- Binders: Hammer, adhesives and glues, torch and soldering irons, needles and threads, screwdrivers, screws and nails. nuts and bolts, rivets, staples, paper hole punchers, glue guns, vises, straps, containers, clips and hooks. Grabbers: fixed and adjustable - Pliers, open and close mouth and socket wrenches, vises, clamps and workbench grips. In factories we also find more complex Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Automated Manufacturing (CAM) Machine tools.

2. Transporting, moving and protecting - Human powered and Automobile vehicles, Carts, dolly, moving belts, and containers to protect and move large and small matters, and items. Telephones, computers and other electromagnetic communication and electric power transmission lines and equipment to transport, shield, hold and manipulate small and large amounts of electromagnetic energy and information.

2. Energy release and chemical changes - Heat release, temperature raising and ignition, such as fire, explosives, blowtorches and cooking. Substance dissolution, transformation, flavorings, coloring dyes.

3. Guiding, feeling and measuring -Ruler, measuring tape, straightedge, level, scope,microscope, optical, auditory (Radar and Sonar) and electromagnetic sensors and machines.

4. Thinking & communication assistance - Pencil and paper, computers televisions, DVD's, presentation and printing devices, Internet and telephones. other audio and video equipment.

EDUCATION: Choosing or building, using the right tool for each purpose

As described previously, in our daily lives today, we always look for the best way of doing things, that is, using the least amount of resources and energy (cheapest, most economical), quickest (fast), and in the safest way possible. Doing this normally requires the best balance of these three considerations. For example, we always want cheaper, but not so cheap that makes things too slow, unreliable and/or unsafe; conversely, we do not want things so absolutely safe, fast, or enduring that it makes them prohibitively expensive, slow, impractical or impossible to create and use….

So we commonly find out that it is of most importance that we learn to properly identify, most accurately and precisely the real-life situations, requirements and conditions of the challenges we are facing, so we can then select or design and build, and use the most appropriate, reasonably justified and accessible tools to solve our problems or challenges. Within our everyday life activities and in our education, it seems important to focus on developing proper knowledge and abilities to understand real situations, identify problems and produce intelligent solutions that are effective and trustworthy.

Through time, and as also mentioned previously, our civilization, has developed useful knowledge for disciplined, trustworthy problem definition and resolution procedures we call scientific methodologies. Today, we routinely trust and rely on scientific methodologies and various simpler, more practical forms of: Smart Problem Solving to help us make our thinking and decision-making more accurate and reliable. Furthermore, we have developed knowledge in groups of related topics we refer to for learning as "subjects".

In particular, we identify two areas of knowledge (subjects): technology (the science of tools) and engineering (the science of effective design and use of tools), mainly because they seem important to the overall socioeconomic well-being of peoples. One particular area of engineering focuses on the identification of assemblies of objects and activities in the environment that work together to make up more complex, coordinated devices, processes and organizations (referred to as systems). This subject is called Systems Engineering (the science of functional, coordinated structures and operations).

Systems engineering, together with other closely related disciplines we know as industrial engineering (the science of effective and efficient creation of products) and economics (the science of effective and efficient use of resources) are all supported by a variety of other more basic scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, biology, etc. (branches of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy, physical and biological objects, forces and actions in nature), as well as mathematics (use of symbols to support accurate thinking and acting), finance (the science or study of the management of funds, i.e. money) and optimization (definition and selection of best possible actions). These disciplines are among the many created to help us accomplish our goals and provide for our needs in the cheapest, fastest, safest (optimal) ways. In the end, we want to apply the "right", best tools towards the smartest creation, selection and use of the environment, to accomplish our various goals.

IDENTIFYING AND SOLVING PROBLEMS SMARTLY, DESIGNING, MAKING AND USING TOOLS

As mentioned before, and evidenced through history (e.g. ref), our mastery with problems and tools has determined our ability to survive and thrive, by creating more, richer, safer and enjoyable environments and consequently more peaceful, secure and enjoyable living conditions.

Today, we constantly focus and grow on these abilities through lifelong education, improving living and our working practices (ref). We organize and maintain ideas, methods and knowledge organized in topics as trades, academic subjects and practices, we group them under special names, and share them by documenting and teaching them to each other and to our children. We organize and perform these activities in what we call education. As mentioned previously, in time we have come to identify these groups of knowledge and topics as science, geography, language, history, biology, arts, mathematics, etc. and try to teach them coherently and efficiently focusing on learners individually or in groups, gathered as "cohorts" in classes, schools, and practicing or professional organizations. Today we do this through physical assemblies, remote -Internet based- "on line" assemblies or "virtual classrooms", aiming to take advantage of communication technologies to reduce transportation costs and/or achieve economies of scale ("cheaper by the dozen").

At the present time, there has been a growing effort to expand the reach and availabilities for students, so as to increase the economies of scale (lower cost with larger groups) in education. This is being explored by using the Internet to connect populations and serving them as larger audiences of groups of remote assemblies in "courses", including today's "on-line schools" and "massive", "on-line", "open" education courses multimedia forums called "MOOCs".

Recently also, growing socioeconomic concerns appear to be the motivation additional interest in promoting education related to quantitative (or "hard science") subjects. This interest seems hopeful to better educate people to support wealth-creating industrial activities. This knowledge is typically identified in traditional curricula and bundled in a "knowledge group" acronym labeled "STEM” for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ( ref).

Unfortunately, and to the detriment of our good intentions and efforts, the nature of the STEM subjects themselves seem to often be confused with isolated concepts, such as "hands-on Science" (?), scientific methodologies (ref), creativity, innovation, or procedures such as problem solving (ref) or perhaps some kind of design skills. There also seems to be a tendency to disconnect these important topics from each other or the corresponding topics in the traditional institutional and often abstract curricula, typically including various abstract knowledge and/or skills.

In practice however, and as stated previously, these skills should ultimately reflect our ability to:

a) define,

b) construct, and

c) use

the best tools to help us identify potential needs, select and apply them most reliable, effective and efficient, precise and accurate actions to achieve our goals within our situations. Thus giving us the best economy, expediency, safety and comfort.

Now let’s begin to observe and analyze the options of tools, substitutions and combinations of them we know, starting with the most primitive, considering their nature and functions, our needs, and into the best possible, wiser, most intelligent choices for their use.

EXERCISE: Use the previously introduced form/chart (ref) to identify the FUNCTION and LEVEL of each of objects and tools that have been used through human history:

1. List 5 different ways in which we make good use of: a) Rocks and b) tree branches as tools to obtain food

2. List 5 different ways in which we make good use of: a) Rocks and b) tree branches as tools to obtain shelter

3. Discuss five known and five possible tools at each level that can help us figure out the quantities resulting from combining or separating quantity of things or groups of things or substances (ADDING, SUBTRACTING, MULTIPLYING, OR DIVIDING) which we a) already have or b) predict or want to have in the future. Please focus on doing this in two ways: 1) approximately and 2) in as exact, consistent, expedient (quick) and economic ways as needed and possible

4. List 20 different ways in which we can use electricity and magnetism, in different forms to obtain good food, health, housing and to help us "have some fun" (leisure).

TOOLS AND USES THROUGH OUR LIVES

Beginning with the pre-natal and neo-natal existence within and with our mothers, at home and perhaps at medical facilities, a variety of tools would have almost for sure touched our lives. At home during our early days, we are typically exposed to various tools that help us remain safe, clean and well fed. Crib blankets, diapers, toys and feeding artifacts, for example, would be among the first tools we get to see and use. Then we move to basic life training and independence of movement and feeding. Tools everywhere. Use the accessible (printable) form as a guide to answer the following questions:

1. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 5 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our babies to (babies: birth to 1 year old) ? baby bottle, diapers, pacifier, rattle, spoon, crib, crib-mobiles,, ...

2. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 5 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our toddlers to (1-3 years old) ? baby bottle, diapers, bib, crib, rattle, spoon, bowl, mobiles, stuffed toy animals, ...

3. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 5 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our preschoolers to (3-5 years old) ? bib, crib, spoon, fork, bowl, plate, dolls and stuffed toy animals, toy music instruments, model toy vehicles, baby-carrier ...

4. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 10 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our Kindergarten school children to (some 5-7 years old) ? spoon, fork, knives, bowl, plate, drinking-straw, toy music instruments, model-toy vehicles, dolls and stuffed toy animals, ride-in-vehicles (wagon-cart, tricycle, bicycle, hoping-horse), ...

5. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 10 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our elementary school children to (some 7-12 years old) ? simpler real music, audio, video and communication instruments, tricycles, bicycles, skateboards, simpler, safe workshop tools (e.g. screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, vise, clippers, rulers, calipers scales and balances, etc.), ...

6. Can we identify the tool function and level of some 10 common objects, toys and artifacts we expose our middle and high school students to (some 12-18 years old) ? more elaborate real music, audio, video and communication instruments, safe kitchen-home appliances, powered and remote controlled vehicles, more elaborate workshop tools (e.g. powered screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, vise, clippers, composite, automated, "smart" tools, etc.), ...

Already and increasingly more as we move ahead, new and challenging questions will keep arising about new and greater needs and wants, individualy and collectively, would be identified and satisfied within the increasingly complex, interconnected and highly technological environments humanity keeps developing. Who’s and how would these needs and satisfactions be defined: by whom and in who’s favor? The producers (creators and providers) or the consumers (users or “spectators”)

Through history, experience and in general, it seems like individuals and societies that best identify human needs, develop, create and use tools best to satisfy their needs, have tended to dominate our shared environments. So which roles should we choose to become skilled at and a greater participant of, as peoples and societies: which roles as producers or/and which roles as consumers?

"Reinventing High School" Christian Science Monitor article (2017): http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2017/0521/Reinventing-high-school