A robot can be defined as a programmable, self-controlled device consisting of electronic, electrical, or mechanical units. More generally, it is a machine that functions in place of a living agent. Robots are especially desirable for certain work functions because, unlike humans, they never get tired; they can endure physical conditions that are uncomfortable or even dangerous; they can operate in airless conditions; they do not get bored by repetition; and they cannot be distracted from the task at hand.
The concept of robots is a very old one yet the actual word robot was invented in the 20th century from the Czechoslovakian word robota or robotnik meaning slave, servant, or forced labor. The term “robot” was first used in the 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by the Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. The word robot has been used since to refer to a machine that performs work to assist people or work that humans find difficult or undesirable.”Robots do not have to look or act like humans but they do need to be flexible so they can perform different tasks.
Early industrial robots handled radioactive material in atomic labs and were called master/slave manipulators. They were connected together with mechanical linkages and steel cables. Remote arm manipulators can now be moved by push buttons, switches or joysticks.
Current robots have advanced sensory systems that process information and appear to function as if they have brains. Their “brain” is actually a form of computerized artificial intelligence (AI). AI allows a robot to perceive conditions and decide upon a course of action based on those conditions.
A robot can include any of the following components:
Characteristics that make robots different from regular machinery are that robots usually function by themselves, are sensitive to their environment, adapt to variations in the environment or to errors in prior performance, are task oriented and often have the ability to try different methods to accomplish a task.
Common industrial robots are generally heavy rigid devices limited to manufacturing. They operate in precisely structured environments and perform single highly repetitive tasks under preprogrammed control.
Tele-operated robots are used in semi-structured environments such as undersea and nuclear facilities. They perform non-repetitive tasks and have limited real-time control.
The robots in the movies are portrayed as fantastic, intelligent, and sometime dangerous artificial life. But robots are really working for people and performing tasked for them and tasks that may be dangerous. And in the future robots will show up in schools, homes and even in parts of the body. As technology advances we are finding more ways to use robots and greater ways to use them.
In the early 1800’s mechanical puppets were first built in Europe, just for entertainment value. And these were called robots since there parts were driven by linkage and cams and controlled by rotating drum selectors. In 1801 Joseph Maria Jacquard made the next great change and invented the automatic draw loom. The draw loom would punch cards and was used to control the lifting of thread in fabric factories. This was the first to be able to store a program and control a machine. After that there were many small changes in robotics but we were slowly moving forward.
The first industrial robots were Unimates developed by George Devol and Joe Engelberger in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The first patents we by Devol but Engelberger formed Unimation which was the first market robots. So Engelberger has been called the “father of robotics”. For a while the economic viability of these robots proved disastrous and thing slowed down for robotics. But the industry recovered and by the mid-1980’s robotics was back on track.
George Devol Jr, in 1954 developed the multi-jointed artificial arm which lead to the modern robots. But mechanical engineer Victor Scheinman, developed the truly flexible arm know as the Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm (PUMA).
In 1950, Isaac Asimov came up with laws for robots which are as follows:
Mobile Robotics moved into its own in 1983 when Odetics introduced this six-legged vehicle which was capable of climbing over objects. This robot could lift over 5.6 times its own weight parked and 2.3 times it weight moving.
The inspiration for the design of a robot manipulator is the human arm, but with some differences. For example, a robot arm can extend by telescoping—that is, by sliding cylindrical sections one over another to lengthen the arm. Robot arms also can be constructed so that they bend like an elephant trunk. Grippers, or end effectors, are designed to mimic the function and structure of the 
human hand. Many robots are equipped with special purpose grippers to grasp particular devices such as a rack of test tubes or an arc-welder.
The joints of a robotic arm are usually driven by electric motors. In most robots, the gripper is moved from one position to another, changing its orientation. A computer calculates the joint angles needed to move the gripper to the desired position in a process known as inverse kinematics. Some multi-jointed arms are equipped with servo, or feedback, controllers that receive input from a computer. Each joint in the arm has a device to measure its angle and send that value to the controller. If the actual angle of the arm does not equal the computed angle for the desired position, the servo controller moves the joint until the arm’s angle matches the computed angle.
Controllers and associated computers also must process sensor information collected from cameras that locate objects to be grasped, or they must touch sensors on grippers that regulate the grasping force. Any robot designed to move in an unstructured or unknown environment will require multiple sensors and controls, such as ultrasonic or infrared sensors, to avoid obstacles. Robots, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) planetary rovers, require a multitude of sensors and powerful onboard computers to process the complex information that allows them mobility. This is particularly true for robots designed to work in close proximity with human beings, such as robots that assist persons with disabilities and robots that deliver meals in a hospital. Safety must be integral to the design of human service robots.
700,000 robots were in the industrial world in 1995 and over 500,000 we used in Japan. About 120,000 in Western Europe and 60,000 in the United States and many were doing tasks to dangerous or unpleasant for humans. Some of the hazardous jobs are handling material such a blood or urine samples, searching building for fugitives and deep water search. And even some jobs that are repetitive and these can be run 24 hours a day without getting tired. General Motors Corporation uses these robots for spot welding, painting, machine loading, parts transfer, and assembly. Assembly lines are the fastest growing because of higher precision and lower cost for labor.
Perhaps the most dramatic changes in future robots will arise from their increasing ability to reason. The field of artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from university laboratories to practical application in industry, and machines are being developed that can perform cognitive tasks, such as strategic planning and learning from experience. Increasingly, diagnosis of failures in aircraft or satellites, the management of a battlefield, or the control of a large factory will be performed by intelligent computers and robots.
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