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ROBOTICS

WHAT IS ROBOTICS?
Robotics is
the
branch
of mechanical engineering,
electrical engineering and computer science that deals with
the design, construction, operation, and application of robots
, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory
feedback, and information processing.

HISTORY OF ROBOTICS
320 BC - Greek philosopher Aristotle made this famous
quote:
If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the
work that befits it... then there would be no need either of
apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.

1495 - Around 1495 Leonardo da Vinci sketched plans for a


humanoid robot.

1700 - 1900 - Between 1700 and 1900 a number of life-sized


automatons were created including a famous mechanical
duck made by Jacques de Vaucanson that could crane its
neck, flap its wings and even swallow food.

1913 - Henry Ford installs the worlds first moving conveyor


belt-based assembly line in his car factory. A Model T can be
assembled in 93 minutes.

1920 - Karel Capek coins the word robot to describe


machines that resemble humans in his play called Rossums
Universal Robots. The play was about a society that became
enslaved by the robots that once served them. This idea is
now a common theme in popular culture, ie Frankenstein,
Terminator, The Matrix etc.

1932 - The first true robot toy was produced in Japan. The
Lilliput was a wind-up toy which walked. It was made from
tinplate and stood just 15cm tall.

1937 - Alan Turing releases his paper On Computable


Numbers which begins the computer revolution.
1941 -Legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov writes
the short story Liar! in which he describes the Three Laws of
Robotics. His stories were recompiled into the volume I,
Robot in 1950 later reproduced as a movie starring Will
Smith.
Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics

1950 - Alan Turing proposes a test to determine if a machine


truly has the power to think for itself. To pass the test a
machine must be indistinguishable from a human during
conversation. It has become known as the Turing Test.
1954 - George Devol and Joe Engleberger design the first
programmable robot arm. This later became the first
industrial robot, completing dangerous and repetitive tasks
on an assembly line at General Motors (1962).
1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial
orbiting satellite. This marks the beginning of the space race.
1964 - The IBM 360 becomes the first computer to be massproduced.
1968 - Stanley Kubrick makes Arthur C. Clark's, 2001: A
Space Odyssey into a movie. It features HAL, an onboard
computer that develops a mind of its own.

1969 - The U.S. successfully use the latest in computing, robotic


and space technology to land Neil Armstrong on the moon.
1977 - The first Star Wars movie is released. George Lucass
movie inspires a new generation of researchers through his
image of a human future shared with robots such as the now
famous R2-D2 and C-3PO.
1986 - he first LEGO based educational products are put on the
market and Honda launches a project to build a walking
humanoid robot.
1994 - Carnegie Universities eight-legged walking robot, Dante
ll, successfully descends into Mt Spur to collect volcanic gas
samples.
1997 - On May 11, a computer built by IBM known as Deep Blue
beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.The first Robocup
tournament is held in Japan. The goal of Robocup is to have a
fully automated team of robots beat the worlds best soccer team
by the year 2050.

1998 - LEGO launches its first Robotics Inventions System.


1999 - Sony releases the first version of AIBO, a robotic dog with
the ability to learn, entertain and communicate with its owner.
More advanced versions have followed.
2000 - Honda debuts ASIMO, the next generation in its series of
humanoid robots.
2004 - Epsom release the smallest known robot, standing 7cm
high and weighing just 10 grams. The robot helicopter is
intended to be used as a flying camera during natural disasters.
2005 - Researchers at Cornell University build the first selfreplicating robot. Each robot is made up of a small tower of
computerized cubes which link together through the use of
magnets.
2008 - After being first introduced in 2002, the popular Roomba
robotic vacuum cleaner has sold over 2.5 million units, proving
that there is a strong demand for this type of domestic robotic
technology.

THREE LAW OF ROBOTICS


1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings,
except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

COMPONENTS
POWER SOURCE

Pneumatic ( compressed gas )


Solar Power
Hydaulics
Flywheel energy storage
Organic garbage
Faeces

ACTUATION actuators are like the muscles of a robot.

Electric motors
Linear actuators
Series elastic actuators
Air muscles
Muscle wire
Electroactive polymers
Elastic nanotubes

COMPONENTS
SENSING - Sensors allow robots to receive information
about a certain measurement of the environment, or internal
components.
Touch
Vision
Other common forms of sensing in robotics
use lidar, radar and sonar.

COMPONENTS
Manipulation - Robots need to manipulate objects; pick up,
modify, destroy, or otherwise have an effect. Thus the
"hands" of a robot are often referred to as end effectors.
Mechanical grippers
Vacuum grippers
General purpose effectors

Locomotion

Rolling robots
Two-wheeled balancing robots
One-wheeled balancing robots
Spherical orb robots
Six-wheeled robots
Tracked robots
Walking applied to robots

COMPONENTS

ZMP Technique
Hopping
Dynamic balancing (controlled falling)
Passive dynamics
Other methods of locomotion

Flying
Snaking
Skating
Climbing
Swimming (Piscine)
Sailing

COMPONENTS
Environmental interaction and navigation
Though a significant percentage of robots in commission today are
either human controlled, or operate in a static environment, there is
an increasing interest in robots that can operate autonomously in a
dynamic environment. These robots require some combination
of navigation hardware and software in order to traverse their
environment. In particular unforeseen events (e.g. people and other
obstacles that are not stationary) can cause problems or collisions.
Some highly advanced robots such as ASIMO, and Mein robot have
particularly good robot navigation hardware and software

COMPONENTS
The state of the art in sensory intelligence for robots will have to
progress through several orders of magnitude if we want the robots
working in our homes to go beyond vacuum-cleaning the floors. If
robots are to work effectively in homes and other non-industrial
environments, the way they are instructed to perform their jobs, and
especially how they will be told to stop will be of critical importance.
The people who interact with them may have little or no training in
robotics, and so any interface will need to be extremely intuitive.
Science fiction authors also typically assume that robots will
eventually be capable of communicating with humans
through speech, gestures, and facial expressions, rather than
a command-line interface. Although speech would be the most
natural way for the human to communicate, it is unnatural for the
robot. It will probably be a long time before robots interact as
naturally as the fictional C-3PO.

COMPONENTS

Speech recognition
Robotic voice
Gestures
Facial expression
Artificial emotions
Personality
Social Intelligence

CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTS
In general, robots are classified based on their capabilities. Some standard
classifications of robots include their domain of operation, degree of autonomy,
and the goal they are designed to fulfill.
Domain of Operation - Robots can be designed and built for any environment
imaginable. One popular way of classifying robots is by what environments
they're designed to operate in. Some typical examples include:
Stationary - These robots are fixed in one place and cannot move. This
category includes robotic arms, computerized machine tools, and most other
Industrial Robots . Industrial Robots are robots used in mass production e.g.
welding robots, CNC plate cutters or CNC drills. The large majority of these
robots are stationary and tethered to a computer.
Ground - These robots are designed to operate on the surface of the earth
or other planet, and are usually sub categorized by their drive train:
Wheels
Tracks
Legs

CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTS
Underwater - Also known as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, these are
designed to operate underwater, possibly at great depth.
Aerial - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are various kinds of robotic flying
machines, including planes and helicopters.
Microgravity - Robots that have been designed to operate in low-gravity
environments, such as earth orbit.
other specific Hazardous Environments
Degree of Autonomy
Autonomy is the quality of being self-controlled. One measure of autonomy
is the amount of human control that is required for the robot's operation. An
autonomous robot can operate properly without intervention indefinitely and
can deal with unexpected problems gracefully. Tele-operated robots
constantly require humans to send the robot control signals. These are only
the endpoints; there is a continuum of possibilities between them. A robot
can also be classified by how self-contained it is. Power, logic circuitry, and
other things may be located either on the main chassis or connected via a
cable tether or wireless link from another location.

MODERN USE OF ROBOTS


Though robots have certain limitations in the way they are made, humans are able to
utilize them perfectly based on the desired applications. Robotics have come a long way
and new findings or developments never end. Here are some applications where robots
play important roles.
What robots can do?
Robotics is highly advanced technology that strives to develop robots for various
applications. Let us have a look at robots already invented and being used in the
industry.

Industrial robots: Industrial robots are electronically controlled, both


programmable and reprogrammable to carry out certain tasks with high precision
and accuracy. Robots have been extensively used in highly advanced
manufacturing facilities or high volume assembly lines for a long time. They are
efficient and produce high yields or output. The most common use of robots is in
the automobile industry where they are used for various applications like
welding, painting, etc. The robots can carry out tasks which are very difficult or
hazardous for human beings. Because robots use a perfect copy of exact
strategy for troubleshooting purposes, issues and solutions can easily be
resolved and implemented. With proper maintenance procedures and
schedules, machine wear-out or breakdowns can easily be predicted, resolved
and controlled. Over-all, manufacturing plants run by industrial robots can run
smoothly without much trouble and with less interactions of humans.

Aerospace robots: Another application of robots is in aerospace for outer


space exploration. Aerospace robots or unmanned robotic spacecraft play a
key role in outer space probe. Scientists can explore in outer space without
putting themselves in great danger considering the risks involved if they go
to outer space themselves. With controlled robots, the same results can be
achieved safely. The risk to lose a human life in outer space has been
greatly avoided.
Healtcare delivery: A highly possible advancement in healthcare is using
robots in robotic surgery. Due to technological advancement, this is possible
even if the patient is located in remote areas. This possibility defies distance.
With the proper tools and set-up in place, proper healthcare could be
delivered to the patient even in remote areas without the corresponding risks
involved.
Robots resembling human beings and robotic pets: At home, human-like
robots and robotic pets have always been considered friends and
companions. They can play a musical instrument, sing, dance, etc. only to
please us humans for our own comfort.
Military robots: Possibly the worst part of robotic application is in military
use, as it may curtail human life instead of upholding it. You can conquer or
be conquered with a robot.
With man always in conquest of power, we hope that robots will not be used
justify an end result for their own favor. Our only hope is that man, along with
the advancement in technology, always promotes for the well being of
mankind.

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