What is Robotics, Introduction, History Jntuh notes ars system

Introduction to ROBOTICS

Introduction and control programs for robots

Let’s face it, robots are cool. They’re also going to run the world some day, and hopefully, at that time they will take pity on their poor soft fleshy creators (a.k.a. robotics developers) and help us build a space utopia filled with plenty.

Robot Defined:

· Word robot was coined by a Czech novelist Karel Capek in a 1920 play titled Rassum’s Universal Robots (RUR)

· Robot in Czech is a word for worker or servant.

Definition of robot: (What are Robots)

Any machine made by by one our members:

Robot Institute of America - A robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks: Robot Institute of America, 1979

1. Robotics is a branch of engineering and science that includes electronics engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science and so on. 
2. This branch deals with the design, construction, use to control robots, sensory feedback and information processing. 
3. Robots are designed to be used for any purpose but these are using in sensitive environments like bomb detection, deactivation of various bombs etc.
4. Robots can take any form but many of them have given the human appearance. The robots which have taken the form of human appearance may likely to have the walk like humans, speech, cognition and most importantly all the things a human can do. Most of the robots of today are inspired by nature and are known as bio-inspired robots.

Robotics is that branch of engineering that deals with conception, design, operation, and manufacturing of robots. There was an author named Issac Asimov, he said that he was the first person to give robotics name in a short story composed in 1940’s. In that story, Issac suggested three principles about how to guide these types of robotic machines. Later on, these three principleswere given the name of Issac’s three laws of Robotics. These three laws state that:

·         Robots will never harm human beings.

·         Robots will follow instructions given by humans with breaking law one.

·         Robots will protect themselves without breaking other rules.

Laws of Robotics

Asimov proposed three “Laws of Robotics ” and later added the “zeroth law ”

•        Law 0: A robot may not injure humanity or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm
•        Law 1: A robot may not injure a human being or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law
•       Law 2: A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law
•        Law 3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law

History of Robotics: I

The first industrial robot: UNIMATE

1954: The first programmable robot is designed by George Devol, who coins the term Universal Automation. He later shortens this to Unimation, which becomes the name of the first robot company (1962).

History of Robotics: II

1978: The Puma (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) robot is developed by Unimation with a General Motors design support

PUMA 560 Manipulator (img)

History of Robotics: III

1980s: The robot industry enters a phase of rapid growth. Many institutions introduce programs and courses in robotics. Robotics courses are spread across mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science departments.

Adept’s SCARA robots

Cognex In-Sight Robot 

Barrett Technology Manipulator 

History of Robotics: IV

1995-present: Emerging applications in small robotics and mobile robots drive a second growth of start-up companies and research

2003: NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers will launch toward Mars in search of answers about the history of water on Mars (img)

Knowledge base for Robotics

Typical knowledgebase for the design and operation of robotics systems

·           Dynamic system modeling and analysis

·           Feedback control

·           Sensors and signal conditioning

·           Actuators (muscles) and power electronics

·           Hardware/computer interfacing

·           Computer programming Knowledgebase for Robotics

Disciplines: mathematics, physics, biology, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science.

The challenge of the Programmable Robot: Perception vs Reality, and the fragile of control

The fundamental challenge of all robotics is this: It is impossible to ever know the true state of the environment. Robot control software can only guess the state of the real world based on measurements returned by its sensors. It can only attempt to change the state of the real world through the generation of control signals.

Robot control software can only guess the state of the real world based on measurements returned by its sensors.

Thus, one of the first steps in control design is to come up with an abstraction of the real world, known as a model, with which to interpret our sensor readings and make decisions. As long as the real world behaves according to the assumptions of the model, we can make good guesses and exert control. As soon as the real world deviates from these assumptions, however, we will no longer be able to make good guesses, and control will be lost. Often, once control is lost, it can never be regained. (Unless some benevolent outside force restores it.)

This is one of the key reasons that robotics programming is so difficult. We often see videos of the latest research robot in the lab, performing fantastic feats of dexterity, navigation, or teamwork, and we are tempted to ask, “Why isn’t this used in the real world?” Well, next time you see such a video, take a look at how highly-controlled the lab environment is. In most cases, these robots are only able to perform these impressive tasks as long as the environmental conditions remain within the narrow confines of its internal model. Thus, one key to the advancement of robotics is the development of more complex, flexible, and robust models—and said advancement is subject to the limits of the available computational resources.

Characteristics of robots:

• Appearance: Robots have a physical body. They are held by the structure of their body and are moved by their mechanical parts. Without appearance, robots will be just a software program.
• Brain: Another name of brain in robots is On-board control unit. Using this robot receive information and sends commands as output. With this control unit robot knows what to do else it’ll be just a remote-controlled machine.
• Sensors: The use of these sensors in robots is to gather info from the outside world and send it to Brain. Basically, these sensors have circuits in them that produces the voltage in them.
• Actuators: The robots move and the parts with the help of these robots move is called Actuators. Some examples of actuators are motors, pumps, and compressor etc. The brain tells these actuators when and how to respond or move
•  Program: Robots only works or responds to the instructions which are provided to them in the form of a program. These programs only tell the brain when to perform which operation like when to move, produce sounds etc. These programs only tell the robot how to use sensors data to make decisions.
• Behaviour: Robots behavior is decided by the program which has been built for it. Once the robot starts making the movement, one can easily tell which kind of program is being installed inside the robot.