A Fascination with Robots

Posted by admin on Aug 18th, 2010 | 0 comments

What are Robots?

In general, a robot is a programmable contraption, a machine that mimics the actions, thinking and even appearance of a human. And it is generally agreed that to qualify being called a robot, the contraption must do two things:

1) Get and process data from its surroundings,
2) Perform some labor-intensive task–such as move objects around at the very least.

The word robot is rooted in the Czech word robota. It connotes drudgery or slave-like labor. It found its first language exposure in the 1920 play was first used to describe fabricated workers in a fictional 1920s play by Rossum’s Universal Robots by Czech playwright Karel Capek.

In the play, a scientist invents robots for home use, helping families to perform routine tasks. But once the robots are deployed to fight wars, they turn against their human masters and rule the world. This sounds like a common theme in many fictional movies over the last decade.

The Movies

There have been fictional movies with robots in the storyline starting back since the early days of Hollywood. Over the last 40 years, there’s the highly destructive cyborg, half human and half robots made famous with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator series. But the most famous of these are R2D2 and C3PO in the Star Wars movie saga. It was also about this time when serious research and development into robotic technology have started. They wouldn’t gain much headway though until computers and software programs reached maturity in the last mid 90s.

Real Robots

Robots are not just for the movies or science fiction. They are getting real. Perhaps not as sophisticated as C3PO or the Terminator, but right now, in just about every manufacturing plant, laboratory or military installation around the world, robots are working. They are assembling and spray-painting cars at Toyota and BMW automotive factories. They are walking and exploring live and potentially active volcanoes, diffusing bombs in the Middle East, and assisting surgeons in hospitals.

Historical narratives and anecdotes have ancient poet Homer describe maidens and metallic helpers for the Greek god of forge, Hephaistos. Medieval Jewish legends have Golems made of clay that had robot-like traits. And in the15th century, Leonardo da Vinci had drawings and plans for a mechanical man.

But it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that real robots started appearing, first as research prototypes and getting more pervasive application in the industrial areas. The advent of cheap mass produced consumer goods have made robots, however, primitive, a mainstay in manufacturing plants.

The automobile industry is home to the robotic pioneers that have made possible the cars we have today. Then came developments in robots that allowed them specific functions like diffusing bombs or exploring dangerous war torn areas for mine fields, to mention some.

As technology makes more capable thinking computers, smarter chips, more miniaturized actuators and motors, robots are increasingly making their appearance in the lives of 21st century man. Scientists and engineers are working to improve the robots we have in our factories. There are already robotic appliances for the home using Artificial Intelligences called “fuzzy logic” features. The real challenge is to make them move and “think” with more human-like qualities but having the speed and precision of computers.

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Working with Robots

Posted by admin on Aug 13th, 2010 | 0 comments

The advances in computing and miniaturization technologies have made possible an increasing use of unmanned devices to do routine work once done by man. Most repetitive precision and rule-based work can now be automated using sophisticated robotics.

As electro-optical-mechanical contraptions, robots are perfect for jobs that are repetitive, require precise rule-based actions and in areas where potential harm exists. People need salaries, vacations, coffee breaks and a reasonably comfortable work environment. Robots don’t. People get bored doing routines and that could lead to fatigue that in turn could lead to errors and failures. Robots are immune from boredom.

In Manufacturing

Robots come in various forms and sophistication. Almost all of them are deployed in manufacturing. Car factories are highly automated with more human workers employed to supervise and manage the work, leaving robotic arms and AI-based computer machines to weld, paint, and assemble the different car parts together as well as move completed cars into the testing and distribution zones of the factory.

Another useful work for robots is in food plants that arrange, say, an assortment of chocolate cookies or candies in boxes. A computer system typical guides the robotic armatures with optical sensors over a moving conveyor belt, enabling the robot to pick and aggregate different objects into a container. Such contraptions, properly configured can produce the required daily volumes at predictable quality levels and cost structures to make the product more affordable.

Computer and electronic gadget makers use robots to solder together minute wires and parts onto the chip sets. “Pick and place” robotic armatures insert chips onto circuit boards found in all electronics gears from radios to cellphones.

In The Hospitals

Robots are increasingly common in pharmaceuticals and hospitals. The same “pick and place” robotics can be used to package medicines into boxes or bottles for market distribution. They are often found in sterile plants that are a requirement in handling pharmaceutical items.

There are robotic messengers on wheels used in some hospitals to carry medical and surgical supplies or equipment from one area to another on the same floor. Some medical robots enable remote surgery on patients using feedback sensors that allow surgeons to explore tissue sensed by the robot’s instruments. It may be along while for miniature robot sensors to travel through the blood stream by remote control as described in science fiction, but that is certainly not far-fetched

Robots at home

Robotic engineers and scientists are now predicting that our homes would soon have robots as household help to do more of the routine and menial chores at home. Some appliance companies have started working on prototypes vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers that have microchip-based “brains,” sonar sensors or optical “eyes” and solenoid and micro-motor armatures that can do most of the chores on their own.

They can go around the house to memorize their “assignments” and can pretty much clean the house or mow the lawn at pre-set hours of the day. Already in the market is a robotic lawn mower made by Friendly Robotics. It has bump sensors that define its obstacles and learns the area it will work on.

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