Robotics
Introduction
Robotics is a new field of modern technology that crosses traditional engineering boundaries.
Understanding the complexity of robots and their applications require knowledge of electrical
engineering, computer sciences and mathematics. New disciplines of engineering, such as
manufacturing engineering, applications engineering, and knowledge engineering, are beginning
to emerge to deal with the complexity of the field of robotics and the larger area of factory
automation. Within a few years it is possible that robotics engineering will stand on its own as a
distinct engineering discipline.
The customer’s need to specify or adapt an equipment to meet his manufacturing requirements,
combined with the need for short delivery dates and good manufacturing and good reliability, are
increasing. Therefore automated machines are required which can do this work more faster and
more accurately. This is where the field of robotics comes into play. Robots not only decrease
the workload of human beings, but they also work very fast to meet the demands of the
consumers.
It is expected that flexible automation and the robotics technology in particular, will play an
important part in the revolutionary process of automizing the industry.
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HISTORY
The concept of robots has been with us since Third
Century B.C and earlier. People had ideas as early as
back then to make mechanical automatons. Through
history, Famous people such as Leornado Da Vinci, Al
Jazeer, Nikola Tesla etc. have made designs and
sketches to make mechanical automated devices such as
mechanical knights, mechanical ducks and peacocks,
Steam propelled birds which can fly etc.
The term robot was first introduced into our
vocabulary by Czech playwright Karel Capek in his
1920 play Rossum’s Universal Robots, the word
robota being Czech word for subordinate labour
. French inventor, Jacques de Vaucanson is credited with creating the worlds first true robot in
1738, but early pioneers also include Japanese craftsman Tanaka and inventor Nikola Telsa.
Elmer and Elsie, the first electronic autonomous robots were created by William Walter in
Bristol, England in 1948 and 1949. Fully autonomous robots only appeared in the second half of
the 20th century. The Uni-mate, was the first truly modern, digitally operated, programmable,
and teachable robot. It was invented in 1954 by George Devol, who later went on to co-found the
world's first robot company called Unimation. Since then the term has been applied to a great
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variety of mechanical devices, such as tele operators, underwater vehicles, autonomous land
rovers, etc. Virtually anything that operates with some degree of autonomy, usually under
computer control, has at some point been called a robot.
ROBOT Definitions
A question of perpetual interest is define a robot. The origin of the word ‘robot’ as already
mentioned is in the Czech word ‘robota’ meaning either a slave or mechanical item that would
help its master. A robot therefore carries out the tasks done by a human being. A robot may do
assembly work where some sort of intelligence or decision-making capability as expected from a
man is needed. A robot sometimes does heavy work and automatically performs the same task
repetitively like a machine.
A robot can be reprogrammed to change the sequence of tasks while a fixed machine set to
perform certain tasks in sequence cannot be programmed. A fixed automated machine cannot
take any decision if any change is required in the environment. An automated machine does not
have sensory feedback to reprogram the predetermined path. An automated machine has neither
a “knowledge base” nor intelligence. At best, an automated machine can be made to adopt to
slight changes in a known environment.
However, the definition that has been accepted as reasonable in the present state-of-the-art is
given by the Robotics Industries Association (formerly the Robotics Institute of America). A
robot has been defined as
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“A reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material,parts, tools or
specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of
tasks”.
Uses And Applications of Robotics
Initially robots were intended to replace human workers. This was especially true in the
automotive industry which was suffering from industrial relations problems at the time. It was
thought that robots would be universal machines, capable of rapid reprogramming for a wide
variety of tasks.
In practice the early robots were hard to reprogram and could not compete with humans in tasks
where the location of the work pieces was not precisely known. So the first applications for these
new machines was paint spraying and
welding. Here the robot could be
programmed by a human operator leading it
through the required sequence of movements.
Progress was made in assembly tasks with
development of the Scara robot. This was developed in japan, for mounting components on
printed circuit boards for the electronics industry.
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Around this time the ideology of robotics changed: no
longer were robots to replace human workers, but were
advertised as being able to do jobs humans could not,
such as working in the hazardous environments of the
mining, offshore oil and nuclear industries or in fire
fighting. Robots can work in places inaccessible to
humans, in outer space, on the sea bed or inside contorted pipe work. Robots can work on a scale
humans find difficult, for instance in very large scale assembly or handling tasks. Alternatively,
robots can manipulate objects at almost microscopic scales.
Robotics is an evolving technology that strives to develop robots for various applications. Let's
take a look at the robots already invented and used in various fields.
1) Industrial robots: Industrial robots are
electronically controlled, both programmable and
reprogrammable to do certain undertakings with high
accuracy and exactness. Robots have been broadly
utilized as a part of profoundly developed assembling
offices or high volume mechanical production systems
for quite a while. They are productive and create
significant returns or yield. The most widely recognized utilization of robots is in the vehicles
business where they are utilized for different applications like welding, painting, and so forth.
The robots can complete undertakings which are extremely troublesome or unsafe for
individuals.
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2) Aerospace robots: An alternate application of
robots is in aviation for space investigation.
Aviation robots or unmanned mechanical shuttle
assume a key part in outerspace test. Researchers
can investigate in space without placing themselves
in great threat considering the dangers included on
the off chance that they go to space themselves.
With controlled robots, the same results could be attained securely. The danger to lose a human
life in space has been greatly avoided.
3) Healthcare delivery: A profoundly conceivable progression in medicinal services is utilizing
robots in robotic surgery. Because of innovative headway, this is conceivable regardless of the
fact that the patient is placed in remote zones. This probability defies distance. With the best
possible instruments and set-up, fitting health awareness could be conveyed to the patient even in
remote territories without the relating dangers included.
4) Humanoid Robots and robotic pets: At home,
humanoid robots and mechanical pets have always
been considered companions and associates. They
can play a mus ical instrument, sing, move, and so
on just to satisfy us people for our own particular
solace.
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5) Military robots: Conceivably the most exceedingly
awful piece of mechanical application is in military
utilization, as it may diminish human life as opposed to
main taining it. You can overcome or be vanquished
with a robot.
Advantages of Robotics
Robots have been produced by augmented present day research, and are, no doubt utilized as a
part of various commercial ventures for attaining points of interest which would not be
conceivable with the people. A percentage of the focal points for utilizing robots are said
underneath:-
Operating In Unsafe Surroundings
There are various commercial ventures where the surroundings are perilous for the occupation of
human work because of the presence of dangerous situations. Robots might be utilized
successfully as a part of such situations where treatment of radioactive materials is included, for
example, clinics or nuclear establishments, where immediate contact to individuals could be
risky for their wellbeing.
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Improvement In Quality
Robots perform operations with unrivaled precision, guarantee consistency of production
because of which dismissals are minimized, and diminish accidents. Estimations and
developments of devices being used are more precise. In this manner, the nature of the item
fabricated is enhanced greatly compared with the execution by humans.
Increase In Production
Robots can work ceaselessly without stop, not at all like human work for which breaks and
recessions are key. Therefore, creation is expanded by the usage of robots in modern
applications, and subsequently profits of the production unit are expanded.
Duty During Adverse Hours
The vast majority of the production units are obliged to ffunction twenty-four hours, amid day or
night, on vacations, without any break to guarantee increased production which is proportionate
with the capacity of the machine. In this way, human workers who don't feel exceptionally great
working such odd hours could be utilized likewise. Whereas, robots might be valuably used at
whatever time they are needed.
Safety And Health Of Workers
Since robots are fit for working in unsafe situations, more hazardous operations are constantly
taken care of by robots. In this way the security and health of specialists is guaranteed, along
these lines diminishing expenses on wellbeing and medications. Robots are presently occupied
with raising and moving overwhelmingly heavy objects, and performing other perilous errands.
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Disadvantages of Robotics
Some of the major disadvantages of robotics are as follows
Training
Employees need to receive proper training to handle and use robots, this requires time and is a
major expense as professionals should be hired to provide such training and is time consuming
Expenses
The initial investment required to mechanize a business that did not use robotics previously is
significant, the usual reason is the fast moving and ever evolving robotics industry and invention
of new equipment
Mantainance
The mantainance is also one of the major disadvantages as highly sophisticated robotic
machinery is not mantainted easily it requires periodical checks from technicians and engineers
and repairing as well as replacing faulty parts is not cheap
Safety
Although using robots and machines is safer and faster for a number of tasks as they can perform
better than humans eliminating the chance of error but even one fault or error can cause harm to
the users operating them or working around them and can even result in loss of life
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Unemployment
One of the major reasons of unemployment is the use of robotics, replacing the labour in labour
with robots of course leaves no use of the previously working humans hence causes
unemployment
Future of Robotics
Robotics in everyday use will be a common sight to see in the 21st century. The auto business is
loaded with robots that finish assignments regularly excessively troublesome for people to fulfill.
A lot of mechanical production systems and
assembling organizations are manned by robots
rather than individuals. Video production and
filming are done by robotics in many televis ion
stations. Many robots have taken up the tasks of
filming inside a studio instead of a person in their [Link] medical industry has also been
revolutionized by Robotics as it is a common sight to see robots performing surgeries nowadays .
Amputees can now experience the power of robotics with new mechanical limbs that can
respond to sensations and pressure as normal human limbs can. Many factors of the society have
benefited with the technological advances which
have been forward by the field of Robotics. In
the future People hope to have personal robot
servants and robots to help them in their day to
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day lives. What the future holds for robotics, is still uncertain as we are only in the beginning
stages of the golden era, but we hope that the field of robotics will be used for peaceful purposes
such as exploration, either of our planet or extraterrestial planets, and not for warfare and the
destruction of humanity.
Conclusion
The robotics field is quite promising but to make a really intelligent robot takes supreme effort.
The ultimate goal of robotics is a super human system that embodies all the skills (such as
intelligence, touch and sensitivity) of humans without of any their limitations (such as strength,
ageing).
Today we find most robots working for people in industries, factories, warehouses, and
laboratories. Robots are useful in many ways. For instance, it boosts economy because
businesses need to be efficient to keep up with the industry competition. Therefore, having
robots helps business owners to be competitive, because robots can do jobs better and faster than
humans can, e.g. robot can built, assemble a car. Yet robots cannot perform every job; today
robots roles include assisting research and industry. Finally, as the technology improves, there
will be new ways to use robots which will bring new hopes and new potentials
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References
Robot Dynamics and Control by Mark W. Spong and M. Vidyasagar
Robotics Technology and Flexible Automation by S R DEB
Handbook of Robotics - Springer (Malestrom)
Rapid Learning in Robotics - Jorg Walter
Introductory Robotics – [Link]
[Link]
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