ROBOTICS
Robotics is a prominent component of manufacturing automation which will affect human labour at all levels, from unskilled workers to professional engineers and mangers of production. It is possible; perhaps likely, that robotics will become a field, like today’s computer technology, which is pervasive throughout our society.
Robotics technology is controlled by means of programming, and the ability to program a robot is dependent on its level of technology. Successful implementation of robotics in useful applications is obviously a function of the technology and programming. Today, robots are highly automated mechanical manipulators controlled by computers.
An industrial robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move materials, parts , tools, or special devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.
Today the human analogy of an industrial robot is very limited. Robots do not look like humans, and they do not behave like humans. Instead, they are one-armed machines which almost operate from a fixed location on the factory floor. Future robots are likely to have a greater number of attributes similar to the attributes of humans. They are likely to have grater sensors capabilities, more intelligence, a higher level of manual dexterity(skill in using one’s hands), and a limited degree of mobility(movable). There is no denying that the technology of robotics is moving in a direction to provide these machines with more and more capabilities like those of humans.
Science fiction has no doubt contributed to the development of robotics, by planting ideas in the minds of young people who might embark on careers in robotics, and by creating awareness among the public about this technology.
Automation and robotics are two closely related technologies. In an industrial context, we can define automation as a technology that is concerned with the use of mechanical, electronic, and computer-based systems in the operation and control of production. Examples of this technology include transfer lines, mechanized assembly machines, feedback control systems (applied to industrial processes), numerically controlled machine tools, and robots. Accordingly, robotics is a form of industrial automation.
There are three broad classes of industrial automation: fixed automation, programmable automation, and flexible automation. Fixed automation is used when the volume of production is very high and it is therefore appropriate to design specialized equipment to process the product very efficiently and at high production rates. Programmable automation is used when the volume of production is relatively low and there are a variety of products to be made. In this case, the production equipment is designed to be adaptable to variations in product configuration.
Of the three types of automation, robotics coincides most closely with programmable automation. An industrial robot is a general-purpose, programmable machine which possesses certain anthropomorphic, or humanlike, characteristics. The most typical humanlike characteristic of present-day robots is their movable arms. The robot can be programmed to move its arm through a sequence of motions in order to perform some useful task.
ASIMOV LAWS OF ROBOTICS
There are three laws of Robotics by Asimov and they are:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or , through inaction, allow a human to be harmed.
2. A robot must obeys orders given by humans except when that conflicts with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence unless that conflicts with the First or Second Laws.
Robotics is an applied engineering science that has been referred to as a combination of machine tool technology and computer science.
ROBOT ANATOMY:-
Robot anatomy is concerned with the physical construction of the body, arm, and wrist of the machine. Most robots used in plants today are mounted on a base which is fastened to the floor. The body is attached to the base and the arm assembly is attached to the body. At the end of the arm is the wrist. The wrist consists of a number of components that allow it to be oriented in a variety of positions. Relative movements between the various components of the body, arm, and wrist are provided by a series of joints.
Attached to the robot’s wrist is a hand. The technical name for the hand is “end effector”. The end effector is not considered as part of the robot’s anatomy. The arm and body joints of the manipulator are used to position the end effector, and the wrist joints of the manipulator are used to orient the end effector.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF ROBOT
The following conditions may be used as guidelines for using robots:
(a) Hazardous(risky) or uncomfortable working conditions
In situations where there are potential dangerous or health hazards (like heat, radiation, toxicity, etc.). robots may be used. Some of the examples are hot forging, die casting, spray painting and so on.
(b) Difficult handling
If the work piece or tool involved in the operation is awl ward in shape or of heavy type it is possible for the robot to do this type of work more easily.
(c) Repetitive task
If the work cycle consists of a sequence of elements which do not vary from cycle to cycle it is possible that the robot can be programmed to do the job. It reduces workers’ boredom of monotonous work.
(d) Continuous working
If machine is working for more hour or days or month then it is require that making it automatic.
SELECTION OF A ROBOT
A Robot nay be distinguished from other types of automation by the fact that it can be programmed and reprogrammed to suit the varying demands of production as and when they occur. Clearly no single robot will be useful for all of the applications. Today Industrial robots are available in a wide range of capabilities and price ranges and are being used in a variety of manufacturing operations. The following factors be considered in determining whether or not a robot is the right choice on a particular job.
· Complexity of the operation – Avoid extremes of complexity.
· Degree of disorder – Disorder is deadly.
· Production rate – Robots are generally no faster than people.
· Production volume – For very short range use people. For very long runs, use fixed automation.
· Justification. If it does not make rupees, it does not make sense.
· Long term potential – If I only need one I am better off with none.
· Acceptance – If people don’t want make it.
Before using and selection a robot is necessary to examine how the company needs/characteristics like market conditions, production methods, organizational climate react with the basic robot characteristics like flexibility, consistency, speed and environmental differences etc.
Finally, in the selection of robot the user has to be concerned about cost, number and types of axes of motion, power drive, logic memory, programming, maintenance, environment, physical size and weight, cycle rate. In addition robot system characteristics should also be considered.
BASIC ELEMENTS OF ROBOTS
The elements which are common to all robots can be considered as the basic elements and are as follows:
a) Manipulator: It is the most obvious part of the robot and mainly consists of a base, an arm and wrist. Within the manipulator are the mechanical parts like joints, transmission lines, internal sensors which execute the robot movements in any number of degrees of freedom. The movement of the manipulator can be described in relation to its coordinate system which may be cylindrical, spherical, Cartesian or anthropomorphic. Depending on the controller, movement can be servo or non-servo controlled and can be point-to-point motion or continuous path motion.
b) Controller: It is the brain of a robot and is based on a computer or a system of computers. Its major functions are to store, to sequence and to position the data in memory, to initiate and stop motions of manipulator as per instructions given to interact with the environment. The controller will have two components, namely, the hardware and the software.
c) End effectors
d) Sensors
e) Energy source: Movement of manipulator arm requires energy and this is supplied by energy source. Depending on load range and type of application, it may be electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic. For small and medium sized robots electrical source is generally employed. For bigger size robots where load is also large, hydraulic source is used. Where accuracy requirement is less, pneumatic energy source is preferable.
ROBOTS AND ITS CLASSIFICATION
A robot is defined as a mechanical system which has flexible motion functions analogous to the motion functions of living organism. It combines such motion functions with intelligent functions, and which acts in response to the human will. In this context intelligent functions mean the ability to perform at least one of the following:
· Judgement
· Recognition
· Adaptation
· Learning
Robots may be classified in many ways. Some of them are as follows:
A) Based on level of sophistication
B) Based on manipulative function
C) Based on manipulator geometry
D) Based on motion characteristics
E) Based on type of control
F) On the basis of technology involved
G) According to method of input of information and teaching Robots are classified as under:
· Manual Manipulator
· Fixed sequence Robot
· Variable sequence Robot
· Playback robot
· Numerically controlled (NC) Robot
· Intelligent Robot
ROBOT PHYSICAL CONFIGURATIONS
Industrial robots come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are capable of various manipulators and they possess different motion systems. Commercially available industrial robots have one of the following configurations:
(a) Polar co-ordinate configuration: This configuration also goes by the name of spherical coordinate. The workspace within which it can move its arm is a partial sphere. The robot body has base and pivot that can be used to raise or lower a telescoping arm. It has two rotary axes combined with a linear axis. The base axis is a rotary axis with a second rotary axis providing vertical motion. The linear axis makes the radius of the sphere. The working envelop is the area between a large sphere defined by the maximum extension of the linear axis and a small sphere defined by its minimum extension.
(b) Cylindrical Coordinate configuration: Here the robot body is a vertical that swivels about a vertical axis. The arm consists of several orthogonal slides which allow the arm to be moved up or down and in and out with respect to the body. The base axis is a rotary axis. It is commonly used in material handling system. The working envelop of the robot is a cylindrical section.
(c) Cartesian Co-ordinate configuration: A robot which is considered around this configuration consists of three orthogonal slides. The three slides are parallel to the x, y and z axes of the Cartesian coordinate system. By appropriate movements of these slides, the robot is capable of moving its arm to any point within its three – dimensional rectangular shaped work space. The base axis of a Cartesian system is often extended to enlarge the working volume or to move the robot from one position to another. Its geometry usually has rigid structural path that mechanically transfers loads to the robot base, providing stiffness and load carrying capacity. Its motion are linear and they are usually of a lower velocity than rotary motions.
(d) Jointed arm configuration: It is similar of three rigid members connected by two rotary joints and mounted on a rotary base. It is similar to human arm in appearance. Straight members are connected by joints which are analogous to the human shoulder, elbow and wrist. Robot arm can be rotated to provide the robot with the capacity to work within a quasi-spherical space. It has low resolution which depends on arm length. It can move at high speeds.
BASIC ROBOT MOTIONS
Whatever the configuration, the purpose of the robots is to perform a useful task. To do the task, the robot arm must be capable of moving the end effector through a sequence of motions and positions.
There are six basic motions or degrees of freedom which provide with the capability to move the end effector through the required sequence of motions. All industrial robots are not equipped with such type of six degrees motions. Out of these six motions, three motions are provided to arm and body and rest are wrist motions.
(a) Arm and body motions
Arm and body motions include three motions, such as vertical, radial and rotational.
(i) Vertical traverse: This motion include up and down movements of the arm about a pivot in which the entire arm id pivoted about a horizontal axis or moving the arm along the vertical axis.
(ii) Radial traverse: This motion includes in and out movements of the arm.
(iii)Rotational traverse: With the help of this motion, the robots are capable of rotating about a vertical axis or the right-left swivel of the arm.
It determines the complexity of the aggregate movements, capable of arm movements which defines the robot’s reach or work envelop.
(b) Wrist Motions
A typical wrist will have swivel (roll), pitch (bend), and yaw see fig.
- Wrist swivel: It is rotation of the wrist in a plane perpendicular to the end of the arm.
- Wrist bend:
- Wrist Yaw: Yaw is a rotation in a horizontal plane through the arm or right-left swivel of wrist. The main significance of wrist movements is the ability to orientate the gripper or any other form of arm tooling. An additional axis of motion is also possible, by putting the robot on a track or slide.
ROBOT END EFFECTORS
In this terminology of robotics, an end effector can be defined as a device which is attached to the robot’s wrist to perform a specific task. The task might be work part handling, spot welding, spray painting, or any of a great variety of other functions. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination and ingenuity of the applications engineers who design robot systems. (Economic considerations might also impose a few limitations.) The end effector is the special-purpose tooling which enables the robot to perform a particular job. It is usually custom engineered for that job, either by the company that owns the robot or by the company that sold the robot. Most robot manufactures have engineering groups which design and fabricate end effectors or provide advice to their customers on end effectors design.
For purpose of organization, we will divide the various types of end effectors into two categories: grippers and tools. The following two sections discuss these two categories.
Grippers
Grippers are used to hold either workparts (in pick-and-place operations, machine loading, or assembly work) or tools. There are numerous alternative ways in which the gripper can be designed. The most appropriate design depends on the workpart or substance being handled. The following is a list of the most common grasping methods used in robot grippers:
F Mechanical grippers, where friction or the physical configuration of the gripper retains the object
F Suction cups (also called vacuum cups), used for flat objects
F Magnetized gripper devices, used for ferrous objects
F Hooks, used to lift parts off conveyors
F Scoops or ladles, used for fluids, powders, pellets, or granular substances
Tools as end effectors
There are limited number of applications in which a gripper is used to grasp a tool and use it during the work cycle. In most applications where the robot manipulates a tool during the cycle, the tool is fastened directly to the robot wrist and becomes the end effector. A few examples of tools used with robots are the following:
F Spot welding gun
F Arc welding tools (and wire – feed mechanisms)
F Spray painting gun
F Drilling spindle
F Routers, grinders, wire brushes
F Heating torches
MECHANICAL GRIPPERS
A mechanical gripper is an end effector that uses mechanical fingers actuated by a mechanism to grasp an object. The fingers, sometimes called jaws, are the appendages of the gripper that actually make contact with the object. The fingers are either attached to the mechanism or are an integral part of the mechanism. If the fingers are of the attachable type, then they can be detached and replaced. The use of replacable fingers allows for wear and interchangeability. Different sets of fingers for use with the same gripper mechanism can be designed to accommodate different part models. In most the applications, two fingers are sufficient to hold the work part or other object. Grippers with three or more fingers are less common.
The function of the gripper mechanism is to translate some form of power input into the grasping action of the fingers against the part. The power input is supplied from the robot and can be pneumatic, electric, mechanical or hydraulic. The mechanism must be able to open and close the fingers and to exert sufficient force against the part when closed to hold it securely.
There are two ways of constraining the part in the gripper. The first is by physical constriction of the part within the fingers. In this approach, the gripper fingers enclose the part to some extent, thereby constraining the motion of the part. This is usually accomplished by designing the contacting surfaces of the fingers to be in the approximate shape of the part geometry. The second way of holding the part is by friction between the fingers and the workpart. With this approach, the fingers must apply a force that is sufficient for friction to retain the part against gravity, acceleration, and any other force that might arise during the holding portion of the work cycle. The fingers, or the pads attached to the fingers which make contact with the part, are generally fabricated out of a material that is relatively soft. This tends to increase the coefficient of friction between the part and the contacting finger surface. It also serves to protect the part surface from scratching or other damage.
SENSORS IN ROBOTICS
A sensor is a transducer that is used to make a measurement of a physical variable of interest. Some of the common sensors and transducers include strain gauges (used to measure force and pressure), thermocouples (temperatures), speedometers(velocity), and pilot tubes (flow rates).
The sensors in robotics include a wide range of devices which can be divided into the following general categories:
F Tactile sensors
F Proximity and range sensors
F Miscellaneous sensors and sensor – based systems
F Machine vision systems
TACTILE SENSORS:
Tactile sensors are devices which contact between themselves and some toher solid objects. Tactile sensing devices can be divided into two classes:
(i) Touch sensors
(ii) Force sensors
F Touch Sensors
Touch sensors are used to indicate that contact has been made between two objects without this category are simple devices such as limit switches, microswitches, and the like. The simpler devices are frequently used in the design of interlock systems in robotics. For example, they can be used to indicate the presence or absence of parts in a fixture or at the pickup point along a conveyor. Another use for a touch sensing device would be as part of an inspection probe which is manipulated by the robot to measure dimensions on a workpart.
F Force sensors
1The capacity to measure forces permits the robot to perform a number of tasks. These include the capacity to grasp parts of different sizes in material handling, machine loading, and assembly work, applying the appropriate level of force for the given part. In assembly applications, force sensing could be used to determine if screws have become cross-threaded or if parts are jammed.
Force sensing in robotics can be accomplished in several ways. A commonly used technique is a “force-sensing wrist.”
PROXIMITY AND RANGE SENSORS
Proximity sensors are devices that indicate when one object is close to another object. The distances can be anywhere between several millimeters and several feet. Some of these sensors can also be used to measure the distance between the object and the sensor, and these devices are called range sensors. Proximity and range sensors would typically be located on the wrist or end effector since these are the moving parts of the robot. One practical use of a proximity sensor in robotics would be to defect the presence or absence of a workpart or other object. Another important applications is for sensing human beings in the robot workcell. Range sensors would be useful for determining the location of an object (e.g., The workpart ) in relation to the robot.
Optical proximity sensors can be designed using either visible or invisible light sources. Infrared – reflectance sensor using an incandescent light source is a common device that is commonly available. The active infrared sensor can be used to indicate not only whether or not a part is present, but also the position of the part.
MISCELLANEOUS SENSORS AND SENSOR-BASED SYSTEMS
The miscellaneous category covers the remaining types of sensors and transducers that might be used for interlocks and other purposes in robotic workcells. This category includes devices with the capability to sense variables such as temperature, pressure, fluid flow, and electrical properties.
Voice programming systems can be used in robotics for oral communication of instructions to the robot. Voice sensing relies on the techniques of speech recognition to analyze spoken words uttered by a human and compare those words with a set of stored word patterns. When the spoken word matches the stored word patterns, this indicates that the robot should perform some particular actions which correspond to the word or series of words.
USES OF SENSORS IN ROBOTICS
The major uses of sensors in industrial robotics and other automated manufacturing systems can be divided into four basic categories:
1. Safety monitoring
2. Interlocks in workcell control
3. Part inspection for quality control
4. Determining positions and related information about objects in the robot cell.
One of the important applications of sensor technology in automated manufacturing operations is safety or hazard monitoring which concerns the protection of human workers who work in the vicinity of the robot or other equipment.
The second major use of sensor technology in robotics is to implement interlocks in workcell control. Interlocks are used to coordinate the sequence of activities of the different pieces of equipment in the workcell. In the execution of the robot program, there are certain elements of the work cycle whose completion must be verified before proceeding with the next element in the cycle. Sensors, often very simple devices, are utilized to provide this kind of verification.
The third category is quality control. Sensors can be used to determine a variety of part quality characteristics. Traditionally, quality control has been performed using manual characteristics. Traditionally, Quality control has been performed using manual inspection techniques on a statistical sampling basis. The use of sensors permits the inspection operation to be performed automatically on a 100 percent basis, in which every part is inspected. The limitation on the use of automatic inspection is that the sensor system can only inspect for a limited range of part characteristics and defects. For example, a sensor probe designed to measure part length cannot deflects flaws in the part surface.
The fourth major use of sensors in robotics is to determine the positions and other information about various objects in the workcell (e.g., workparts, Fixtures, people, euipment, etc.). In addition to positional data about a particular object, other information required to properly execute the work cycle might include the object’s orintation, color, size, and other characteristics.
MACHINE VISION
Machine vision (other names include computer vision and artificial vision) is an important sensor technology with potential applications of machine vision are in inspection; however , it is anticipated that robotics that vision technology will play an increasingly significant role in the future of robotics.
Vision system designed to be utilized with robot or manufacturing systems must meet two important criteria which currently limit the influx of vision systems to the manufacturing community.
The use of machine vision systems for inspection is an exciting area which holds the promise of significant improvements in both the productivity of the inspection process and the quality of the resulting product. Other names given to these systems include microprocessor-based television and computer vision. The typical machine vision systems consists of a TV camera, a digital computer, and an interface between them that functions as a processor. The combination of system hardware and software digitizes the picture and analyzes the images by comparing with data stored in memory. The data are often in the form of a limited number of models of the objects which are to be inspected.
The technology of machine vision inspection is one in which advancement and refinements are continually being made. At the time of this writing, there are several limitations of machine vision which are imposed principally by current computer speed and storage technology. The first limitation is concerned with the problem of dividing the picture into picture elements.
Machine vision is concerned with the sensing of vision data and its interpretation by a computer. The typical vision systems consists of a camera and digitizing hardware, a digital computer, and hardware and software necessary to interface them. This interface hardware and software is often referred to as a preprocessor. The operation of the vision system consists of three functions:
F Sensing and digitizing image data
F Image processing and analysis
F Application
The digital image is called a frame of vision data, and is frequently captured by a hardware device called a frame grabber. These devices are capable of digitizing images at the rate of 30 frames per second. A single pixel is the projection of a small portion of the scene which reduces that portion to a single value. The value is a measure of the light intensity for that element of the scene. Each pixel intensity is concerned into a digital value.
The digitized image matrix for each frame is stored and themn subjected to image processing and analysis functions for data reduction and interpretation of the image. These steps are required in order to permit the real-time application of vision analysis required in robotic applications. Typically an image frame will be thresholded to produce a binary image, and then various feature measurements will further reduce the data representation of the image. This data reduction can change the representation of a frame from several hundred thousands bytes of raw image data to several hundreds bytes of feature value data. The resultant feature data can be analyzed in the available time for action by the robot system.
Various techniques to compute the feature values can be programmed into the computer to obtain to obtain feature descriptors of the image which are matched against previously computed values stored in the computer. These descriptors include shape and size characteristics that can be readily calculated from the threshold image matrix.
Vision systems can be classified in a number of ways. One obvious classification is whether the system deals with a two – dimensional or three dimensional model of the scene.
Three-dimensional vision systems may require special lighting techniques and more sophisticated image processing image processing algorithms to analyse the image. Some systems require two cameras in order to achieve a stereoscopic view of the scene, while other three-dimensional systems rely on the use of structured light and optical triangulation techniques with a single camera.
IMAGE PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS
For used of the stored image in industrial applications, the computer must be programmed to operate on the digitally stored image. This is a substaintial task considering the large amount of data must be analyzed. Consider an industrial vision system having a pixel density of 350 pixels per line and 280 lines ( a total of 98,000 picture elements ), and a 6-bit register for each picture element to represent various gray levels; this would require a total of 98000*6 = 588000 bits of data for each 1/30 s. This is a formidable amount of data to be processed in a short period of time and has led to mvarious techniques to reduce the magnitude of the image-processing problem. These techniques include:
F Image data reduction
F Segmentation
F Feature extraction
F Object recognition
IMAGE DATA REDUCTION
In image reduction, the objective is to reduce the volume of data. As a preliminary step in the data analysis, the following two schemes have found common usage for data reduction:
F Digital
F Windowing
The function of both schemes is to eliminate the bottleneck that can occur from the large volume of data in image processing.
Digital conversion reduces the number of gray levels used by the machine vision system. For example, an 8-bit register used for pixel would have 28=256 gray levels. Depending on the requirements of the application, digital conversion can be used to reduce the number of gray levels by using fewer bits to represent the pixel light intensity. Four bits would reduce the magnitude of the image-processing problem.
Application of ROBOTICS
Robots in our Every Day Life
Let's start with life, as we know it. Did you know that your life is affected virtually every day by robots?
If you ride in a car, an industrial robot helped build it. If you eat cookies, there are robot assembly lines to help make and pack them. The computer you use to send e-mails and use for research almost certainly owes its existence, in part, to industrial robots. Industrial robots are even used in the medical field, from pharmaceuticals to surgery.
From the manufacturing of pagers and cell phones to space exploration, robots are part of the every day fabric of life.
Modern uses of Robots:
1) For EXPLORATION
People are interested in places that are sometimes full of danger, like outer space, or the deep ocean. But when they can not go there themselves, they make robots that can go there. The robots are able to carry cameras and other instruments so that they can collect information and send it back to their human operators.
The "Odyssey IIb" submersible robot is shown suspended in a tank. Research scientists at MIT for ocean exploration developed it. The inset shows the "Sojourner" microrover robot being repaired at the Jet Propulsion Labs. Sojourner landed on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1998 (from National Geographic, July 1997).
2) For INDUSTRY
When doing a job, robots can do many things faster than humans. Robots do not need to be paid, eat, drink, or go to the bathroom like people. They can do repetative work that is absolutely boring to people and they will not stop, slow down, or fall to sleep like a human.
"Industrial robots spot weld automobile bodies on an assembly line" (from National Geographic, July 1997).
3) For MEDICINE
Sometimes when operating, doctors have to use a robot instead. A human would not be able to make a hole exactly one 100th of a inch wide and long. When making medicines, robots can do the job much faster and more accurately than a human can. Also, a robot can be more delicate than a human.
"ROBODOC", a modified industrial robot, drills a precise hole in the femur (thighbone) of this skeleton (from National Geographic, July 1997).
Some doctors and engineers are also developing prosthetic (bionic) limbs that use robotic mechanisms. Dr. David Gow, of the Prosthetics Research and Development Team at
Campbell Aird, Scottish hotel owner, fitted with the world's first bionic arm (images from The Irish Times web site).
4) For the MILITARY and POLICE
Police need certain types of robots for bomb-disposal and for bringing video cameras and microphones into dangerous areas, where a human policeman might get hurt or killed. The military also uses robots for (1) locating and destroying mines on land and in water, (2) entering enemy bases to gather information, and (3) spying on enemy troops.
"MERV"- police remote control bomb-disposal robot
"Cypher"- remote control helicopter for military surveillance (6 ft diameter, 50 mile range; (from National Geographic, July 1997).
5) For ENTERTAINMENT
At first, robots where just for entertainment, but as better technology became available, real robots were created. Many robots are still seen on T.V. (Star Trek - The Next Generation) and in the movies (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, Lost in Space, Blade Runner, Star Wars). These imaginary robots do alot of things that the real ones can not do. Some robots in movies are made to attack people, but in real life they cannot really hurt people at all because they are not in control of themselves. Robots also attack humans in video and computer games. So don't think all robots do is kill, because they can't.
"Commander Data" from Star Trek, an android robot with a "positronic brain."
"Gort" from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still."
6) For TOYS
The new robot technology is making interesting types of toys that children will like to play with. One new robotic toy is the "FURBY", which became available in stores for Christmas 1998 - and continues to be very popular. Another is the "LEGO MINDSTORMS" robot construction kit. These kits, which were developed by the LEGO company with M.I.T. scientists, let kids create and program their own robots. A third is "Aibo" - Sony Corporation's robotic dog. Sony is selling limited numbers of Aibo in the
ü Important of ROBOTS in Rolling Economy
High-quality products can lead to higher sales, which means the company that uses technology like robots is more likely to stay alive and vital, which is good for the economy. In addition to improving quality, robots improve productivity, another key element to economic health.
To think about how robots might affect future generations, consider what happened a few hundred years ago when the industrial revolution began. For instance, in 1794 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, and later the concept of interchangeable parts for mass production of manufactured products. His inventions spurred growth in the
In 1865 John Deere invented the cast steel plow blade, giving farmers a tool to greatly increase productivity. The light bulb came in 1880. The airplane appeared in 1906. Assembly lines, TVs, plastics, and many other inventions came in the decades to follow, further changing the face of the industrialized world.
In 1961, Joseph Engelberger sold the first industrial robot to General Motors Corporation, where it performed machine loading and unloading duties in an environment that was hot and dirty, and in fact dangerous to humans. That was 40 years ago...before personal computers and the Internet. A lot of technology evolved that helped make the industrial robot the affordable, successful machine it is today.
The figure above shows the comparison of the total new orders and shipments for nine months (January to September) of 200 and 2001. We will observe in the graph that the units were decreased in the market by about 20 –30%. The reason for this might be the infancy of the robots or the lake of some new research or new developed robot in which the industries are interested.
ü Robotics in
Till now we have discussed about the whole world in the field of robotics. But we should also know the development in the field of robotics made by our own country. Like other countries in
ü Some ROBOTS
Here I would like to present some brief information about the robots developed and under progress at MIT laboratories –
At Yobotics they create legs, whether they be artificial legs to help disabled people walk, or part of legged robots. We're currently putting most of our "leg-work" into the “RoboWalker”, a powered orthotic brace, which will augment or replace muscular functions of the lower extremities.
TO DOWN LOAD REPORT AND PPT
