BEST IELTS General Reading Test 467

Table of Contents

BEST IELTS General Reading Test 467

IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 467 – PASSAGE – 3

IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 467

READING PASSAGE – 3

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN BIO-ROBOTICS

What is robotics? Robotics is a field of science and engineering dedicated to the development of robots. Robots are self-contained artificial machines that are able to sense their environment and purposefully act within or upon that environment. As a scientific discipline, robotics is at the crossroads between mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science. As an industrial sector, robotics is hard to delineate as it can be applied in almost all industries, from automotive and aerospace manufacturing via arms production to the pharmaceutical industry. Advances in robotics also provide new possibilities for the prevention and response to biological incidents.

Drones can, for instance, can be used to quickly deliver medicines and blood supplies to remote locations. Some companies already offer this service in the USA, Switzerland and some countries in Africa. Robots can also be used to handle chemical, biological or radiological material in an emergency situation. Modern law enforcement agencies usually already have such systems.

IELTS General Reading Test

Most existing studies in the field of robotics make a distinction between industrial robots and interactive and service robots. An industrial robot is an ‘automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator’ that can be programmed to execute tasks in a controlled environment. It has no decision-making intelligence or autonomy as it only executes scripted actions. A service or interactive robot is any robot that is intended to assist humans in various tasks.

Service or interactive robots come in all shapes and sizes-from small robotic insects to large self-driving cars and have a wide range of military and commercial applications. When they need to evolve in dynamic conditions, they usually require some level of autonomy in their functioning. Both types of robot can be usefully applied in the field of biotechnology. Industrial robots can be programmed to execute laboratory experiments in an automated fashion, while service robots can be used to transport within or between laboratories or to disseminate biological substances in predefined areas.

IELTS General Reading Test

Advances in robotics have already had a palpable impact on the field of biotechnology, beginning with how experiments are conducted in the laboratories of universities, research centres and biotechnology companies. An increasing number of tasks that would previously have required the physical work of a researcher (e.g. transferring miniscule volumes of DNA or separating proteins on a gel) are handed over to robots.

The benefits of robotization of laboratory work are manifold. First, robots can make the laboratory increasingly automated, which in turn improves the efficiency and reproducibility of experiments. Second, it improves productivity as robots can potentially run experiments for 24 hours a day, every day of the week, without the intervention of a human worker. Third, robotization offers researchers the possibility to decouple from the laboratory.

IELTS General Reading Test

A researcher can now conduct an experiment remotely via a cloud laboratory-a robotic laboratory that can be controlled over the Internet. Cloud laboratories are a small revolution in the field of biotechnology as they open up the opportunity to conduct advanced laboratory experiments to an increasing number of actors. According to Emerald Therapeutics, a US company that provides this type of service, its robots can perform over 60 different task (with a nearly equal number of tasks currently under development).

The only requirement is that the scientist sends samples to the company and orders online the types of task she or he would like to conduct. Finally, robotization of laboratory work is also generating opportunities to exploit advanced AI in the biological sphere. Robotic Agency (DARPA), laboratories generate massive amounts of data (e.g. through automated screening of pathogen genomic data) that can then be analysed by AI systems. In April 2018 the Defense Advanced Research Projects an agency of the US Department of Defense, awarded a contract to two US companies, Transcriptic and Ginkgo Bioworks, to conduct a project that aims to improve the engineering of biological systems through the analysis of data produced by robotic laboratories.

IELTS General Reading Test

Advances in robotics are also important for biosecurity. Robotic systems in general can support the detection, surveillance, prevention and response to pathogen attacks. They thereby enhance the global ability to detect and treat diseases, whether caused by a naturally occurring pathogen or an accidental release or as the result of a malevolent act. In the detection and monitoring of biological incidents, one emerging technology holds great promises: ‘laboratory on a chip’ (LOC) technology. LOC devices integrate laboratory functions in a single computer chip.

LOCS are able to handle fluid volumes less than picolitres (10-12 litres) and conduct automatically a wide range of tasks including detecting and monitoring pathogens at a smaller scale. In addition to saving humans the effort of conducting the complex manipulation required, LOC technology can speed up the detection of biological incidents by enabling medical diagnostics at the point of care.

By removing the need to send test samples for laboratory analysis, LOC technology permits medical doctors to detect pathogens in a patient in a matter of minutes rather than days. LOC technology promises to be particularly useful when diagnostics need to be conducted in a remote or resource-poor location or in a situation that requires rapid treatment (e.g. where exposure to biological warfare agents is suspected).

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 28-33

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the above text for each answer.

28. Robots are also used to handle hazardous …………………… in a predicament.

29. Robotization offers …………………… the plausibility to extricate themselves from the laboratory.

30. …………………… laboratory is a robotic laboratory that can be actuated over the Internet.

31. An industrial robot has no decision-making intelligence or autonomy as it only …………………… contrived actions.

32. …………………… technology is efficacious where exposure to biological warfare agents is dubitable.

33. Robotic systems buttress the prevention, exposition, surveillance and riposte to pathogens that present …………………… risks.

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 34-36

Classify the following statements as referring to the type of robot as listed below.

A. Industrial robot

B. Service robot

Write the correct letter A or B in the boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

34. It runs in an automated fashion and executes laboratory experiments.

35. It requires certain level of autonomy to function.

36. It assists humans in various tasks and comes in various shapes and sizes.

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 37-40

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS/ORANUMBER from the above text for each answer.

‘Lab-on-a-chip’ is an 37……………………… allowing operations which normally require a laboratory for synthesis and analysis of chemicals on a miniaturized scale, within a portable or handheld device. There are many benefits to operating on this 38……………………… like analysis of samples can take place in situ, exactly where the samples are generated, rather than being transported around to a large 39……………………… The handling of 40………………………. dynamics on a very small scale means that it is easier to control the movement and interaction of samples, making reactions more efficient and reducing chemical waste.

IELTS General Reading Test

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