INTRODUCTION
Robotics is a branch of technology that deals
with the design, construction, operation, application of robots as well as
computer systems for their control, sensory feedback and information
processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the
place of humans in dangerous environment and manufacturing processes or
resemble humans in appearance, behavior and cognition .Many of today’s robots
are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio -inspired robotics.
The concept of
creating machines that can operate autonomously back to classical times but
research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow
substantially until the 20th century .Throughout history, robotics
has been often seen to mimic human behavior and often manage tasks in a similar
fashion. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as technological advances
continue, research, design and building new robots serve various practical
purposes, whether domestically, commercially or militarily. Many robots do jobs
that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, mines and exploring shipwrecks.
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”.
495
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 world’s first moving
conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory. A Model T can be
assembled in 93 minute
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.
Asimov’s
Three Laws of Robotics:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey any orders given to it by
human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as
long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
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 Eagleburger 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
mass-produced.
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
Lucas‘s movie inspires a new generation of researchers through his im1998
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 self-replicating 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-age
of a human future shared with robots such as the now famous R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Robotic
aspects
There
are many types of robots; they are used in many different environments and for
many different uses, although being very diverse in application and form they
all share three basic similarities when it comes to their construction:
Robots
all have some kind of mechanical construction, a frame, form or shape designed
to achieve a particular task. For example, a robot designed to travel across
heavy dirt or mud, might use caterpillar tracks. The mechanical aspect is
mostly the creator's solution to completing the assigned task and dealing with
the physics of the environment around it. Form follows function.
Robots
have electrical components which power and control the machinery. For example,
the robot with caterpillar tracks would need some kind of power to move the
tracker treads. That power comes in the form of electricity, which will have to
travel through a wire and originate from a battery, a basic electrical circuit.
Even petrol powered machines that get their power mainly from petrol still
require an electric current to start the combustion process which is why most
petrol powered machines like cars, have batteries.
The electrical aspect of robots is used for
movement (through motors), sensing (where electrical signals are used to
measure things like heat, sound, position, and energy status) and operation
(robots need some level of electrical energy supplied to their motors and
sensors in order to activate and perform basic operations).
All
robots contain some level of computer programming code. A program is how a
robot decides when or how to do something. In the caterpillar track example, a
robot that needs to move across a muddy road may have the correct mechanical
construction and receive the correct amount of power from its battery, but
would not go anywhere without a program telling it to move. Programs are the
core essence of a robot, it could have excellent mechanical and electrical
construction, but if its program is poorly constructed its performance will be
very poor (or it may not perform at all). There are three different types of
robotic programs: remote control, artificial intelligence and hybrid. A robot
with remote control programming has a preexisting set of commands that it will
only perform if and when it receives a signal from a control source, typically
a human being with a remote control. It is perhaps more appropriate to view
devices controlled primarily by human commands as falling in the discipline of
automation rather than robotics. Robots that use artificial intelligence
interact with their environment on their own without a control source, and can
determine reactions to objects and problems they encounter using their
preexisting programming. Hybrid is a form of programming that incorporates both
AI and RC functions.
Applications
of robotics
As
more and more robots are designed for specific tasks this method of
classification becomes more relevant. For example, many robots are designed for
assembly work, which may not be readily adaptable for other applications. They
are termed as "assembly robots". For seam welding, some suppliers
provide complete welding systems with the robot i.e. the welding equipment
along with other material handling facilities like turntables etc. as an
integrated unit. Such an integrated robotic system is called a "welding
robot" even though its discrete manipulator unit could be adapted to a
variety of tasks. Some robots are specifically designed for heavy load manipulation,
and are labeled as "heavy duty robots".
Human Robot
Interaction
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, or Data of Star Trek, Next Generation.
Conclusion
The
mechanical structure of a robot must be controlled to perform tasks. The
control of a robot involves three distinct phases – perception, processing, and
action (robotic paradigms). Sensors give information about the environment or
the robot itself (e.g. the position of its joints or its end effecter). This
information is then processed to be stored or transmitted and to calculate the
appropriate signals to the actuators (motors) which move the mechanical.
The
processing phase can range in complexity. At a reactive level, it may translate
raw sensor information directly into actuator commands. Sensor fusion may first
be used to estimate parameters of interest (e.g. the position of the robot's
gripper) from noisy sensor data. An immediate task (such as moving the gripper
in a certain direction) is inferred from these estimates. Techniques from
control theory convert the task into commands that drive the actuators.
At
longer time scales or with more sophisticated tasks, the robot may need to
build and reason with a "cognitive" model. Cognitive models try to
represent the robot, the world, and how they interact. Pattern recognition and
computer vision can be used to track objects. Mapping techniques can be used to
build maps of the world. Finally, motion planning and other artificial
intelligence techniques may be used to figure out how to act. For example, a
planner may figure out how to achieve a task without hitting obstacles, falling
over, etc.
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