Rhetorical Strategies in Robotics Lab Reports

The future of robotics is promising and through researching the results of experiments given from lab reports on the subject matter, students, and engineers alike, have the ability to understand the future clearly. The following three lab reports all gave a comprehensive overview of the capabilities of these new robots, and how they can contribute to society. (Current Urology Reports, 2017) gives an overview of a specific modern usage of robotics in surgery in a lab setting. (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021) has the objective of creating a self learning machine algorithm that can serve as a suitable replacement for human intuition, in the commercial field. The author of (Lab Chip, 2021) explains the process of using ultrasound waves to control micro robots for medical purposes. The all around better lab report of the three is the one that was easiest to understand and agree with. (Current Urology Reports, 2017) is superior in aspects of assertive tone, strong vocabulary, and outstanding use of visual aids to (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021) and (Lab Chip, 2021) because of its success in providing easy to understand results and a more descriptive analysis of their research, as well as the slight failure of the inferior labs in providing an in-depth enough overview of their experiments.

Introduction Section Comparison

The effect that tone has on a given audience’s interpretation of the author’s attitude in a text is very significant. Through the use of tone, authors have the ability to make their ideas seem more urgent, create an emotional reaction, as well as persuade the reader to agree with their point of view. The success of (Current Urology Reports, 2017), in the introduction section, is the author’s use of an assertive tone. Throughout his introduction, the author explains the purpose of this lab report, giving an overview of a specific modern usage of robotics in surgery in a lab setting. The first strength in the use of an assertive tone was in his context and historical background in the introduction. For example, “The rapid adoption and dissemination of this technology have largely been as a result of the perceived benefits of improved ergonomics, dex- terity, safety, and ease of surgery” (Current Urology Reports, 2017, p. 1) Specific phrases such as  “rapid adoption” and “dissemination of this technology” create an assertive tone that leaves the audience intrigued enough to read more of this lab report. This direct quote does a magnificent job of allowing an audience to understand the prevalence that robotics is having on surgery. The brilliance of this introduction cannot be understated as the author successfully captivated his audience, and explained his purpose in an easy to understand manner through the use of an assertive tone. In the end, this assertive approach to tone works in this author’s favor. 

           In (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021), the author also provides a summary of the purpose of his experiments. However, his explanation is not particularly as captivating as (Current Urology Reports, 2017). His purpose is to create a self learning robotic system algorithm for commercial use, however, his formal style of tone does not do justice to the importance of this experiment. Furthermore, in having a rather dull tone and non-specific style of writing, the author fails to explain the important impact that his findings will have on certain areas of commercial products. For example “The procedure allows one to find nine suitable recipes meeting the customer-defined criteria within 15 working days, outperforming human intuition” (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021, p. 1). This introduction does not provide the reader with enough substance to truly care about what he will write about. Because this line is crucial to communicating the importance of his results, having an unspecific, or dull tone, severely hurt the execution of his writing. His lack of passionate writing fails to draw readers into the rest of his report, hence, rendering the results of his experiments overlooked. Although the author of (Lab Chip, 2021) succeeds in establishing an assertive tone in his introduction, it is not captivating enough to honor the importance of his research. For instance “Richard Feynman in 1959 is still inspiring us today to make micro-scale robotic swimmers,… that have the ability to reach targeted locations within a fluidic environment in a robust way” (Lab Chip, 2021, p. 4095). In this quote, the author makes a point about his research being inspired, which creates an assertive tone; however, this introduction is not nearly as captivating as it could have been had he used a more intriguing praise. Therefore the dominance of (Current Urology Reports, 2017) stems from the author’s use of an assertive tone that is far more captivating and diligent to the importance of his work than the studies of (Lab Chip, 2021) and (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021).

Experimental Comparative Analysis

Appropriate word choice is a fundamental aspect of writing that enables readers to understand exactly what an author is trying to communicate to them. The rhetorical strategy of vocabulary can either greatly strengthen or weaken a piece of writing. The author of (Current Urology Reports, 2017), provides a very detailed analysis of the importance of properly educating trainees to operate mechanical arms in surgery. This author’s use of intelligent vocabulary only serves to strengthen his arguments. For example, “It not only exposes the trainee to the steps of the operative procedure… but also necessitates the development of skills unique to the assistant” (Current Urology Reports, 2017, p. 2). In this quote, the author’s use of the word necessitate perfectly conveys to the reader the absolute importance of developing the necessary skills to operate mechanical arms. Through the use of this word, the author effectively communicated the dangers of reckless operation of robotics in surgery. In (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021) the author’s use of vocabulary is strong; however, it does not surpass the performance of the previously mentioned author. For instance, “With the recent advances in laboratory automation,… a large amount of highly reproducible data can be available to train machine learning models” (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021, p. 5). In this quote when the author states can be, he has crippled his opportunity to be completely clear to his audience. He should have thought deeper into his choice of words in this example. If he had chosen a stronger vocabulary, the audience would be more inclined to agree with him. The (Lab Chip, 2021) author’s word choices are well done. He explains his testing of the micro robots in an informative way that is easy to understand. To quote the lab, “To test the swimming behavior of the two-bubble swimmers, we enclose them in a microfluidic channel” (Lab Chip, 2021, p. 4095). Here the author’s use of words is simple which is a good thing considering that this topic of discussion is very complex. Therefore an author’s use of vocabulary can greatly affect that outcome of their writing and why the author of (Current Urology Reports, 2017) used this to his advantage over the other labs.

Explanation of Results Analysis

Although writing is a very effective form of communication, in some cases where there is a specific process or physical component present, a diagram or visual aids, serves a unique purpose. The author’s use of visual aids in (Current Urology Reports, 2017) is a very wise use of graphical data as shown below.

This graph is an excellent representation of the process a medical professional must go through in order to operate robotics in surgery. The reason the author included this graph was to show once again how important the process of safety when using machinery in surgical procedures is. Hence, the importance of visual aids can not be understated when trying to communicate an important message.

Conclusion

The importance of these rhetorical strategies is large because this is what authors use to bring their messages across. If students are able to understand how to use these strategies in their own writing, argument, and ideas will only become clearer. Analyzing the organization, the author of (Lab Chip, 2021), does an excellent job of explaining the purpose of his experiments however, fails to present the information clearly enough because of restrictions in vocabulary and tone. Although it is stated that the purpose of these micro robots is to help heal certain parts of the body and that the main problem with these micro robots is that they are very hard to control, he fails to provide any visual aids to assist the reader’s understanding of how these micro robots look and how they used. The author of (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021) also had an intriguing use of vocabulary and tone but was not as successful as the author in (Current Urology Reports, 2017). In conclusion, the lab report that is superior in terms of assertive tone, strong vocabulary, and outstanding use of visual aids to (Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021) and (Lab Chip, 2021) is (Current Urology Reports, 2017).

References

Luo, & Wu, M. (2021). Biologically inspired micro-robotic swimmers remotely controlled by ultrasound waves. Lab on a Chip, 21(21), 495–413. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1lc00575h

Cao, Russo, D., Felton, K., Salley, D., Sharma, A., Keenan, G., Mauer, W., Gao, H., Cronin, L., & Lapkin, A. A. (2021). Optimization of Formulations Using Robotic Experiments Driven by Machine Learning DoE. Cell Reports Physical Science, 2(1), 100295–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100295

Sridhar, Briggs, T. P., Kelly, J. D., & Nathan, S. (2017). Training in Robotic Surgery—an Overview. Current Urology Reports, 18(8), 58–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-017-0710-y