Robotics Technology Design and Construction

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Robotics

Introduction:

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots and computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

Main Idea:

The concept and creation of machines that could operate autonomously dates back to classical times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially until the 20th century. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as we continue to research, design, and build new robots that serve various practical purposes, whether domestically, commercially, or militarily. Many robots do jobs that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, exploring shipwrecks, and mines.

The word robotics was derived from the word robot, which was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which premiered in 1921.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov, in his science fiction short story "Liar!", published in May 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction. Asimov was unaware that he was coining the term; since the science and technology of electrical devices is electronics, he assumed robotics already referred to the science and technology of robots. In some of Asimov's other works, he states that the first use of the word robotics was in his short story Runaround (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1942). However, the original publication of "Liar!" predates that of "Runaround" by five months, so the former is generally cited as the word's origin.

Components:
  • Power source
  • Actuation
  • Electric Motors
  • Linear actuators
  • Series elastic actuators
  • Air Muscles
  • Muscle wire
  • Electro active polymers
  • Piezo motors
  • Elastic nanotubes
  • Sensing
  • Touch
  • Vision
  • Other
  • Manipulation
  • Mechanical grippers
  • Vacuum grippers
  • General purpose effectors
  • Locomotion
  • Rolling robots
  • Two-wheeled balancing robots
  • One-wheeled balancing robots
  • Spherical orb robots
  • Six-wheeled robots
  • Tracked Robots
  • Walking applied to robots
  • ZMP Technique
  • Hopping
  • Dynamic Balancing(Controlled Falling)
  • Passive Dynamics

Other Methods of locomotion:
  • Flying
  • Snaking
  • Skating
  • Climbing
  • Swimming(like a Fish)

Advantages:
  • Human-robot interaction
  • Speech recognition
  • Robotic voice
  • Robotic voice
  • Facial expression
  • Artificial emotions
  • Personality

Control:

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 effector). This information is then processed 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.

Conclusion:

            Creation of machines that could operate autonomously dates back to classical times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially until the 20th century. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as we continue to research, design, and build new robots that serve various practical purposes, whether domestically, commercially, or militarily. Many robots do jobs that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, exploring shipwrecks, and mines.
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