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Introduction To Robotics
Introduction To Robotics
Kumar
INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS
What is a robot?
Some history
The term “robot” has its origins in a Czech word “robotnik” meaning worker or serf. It was
first introduced by the playwright Karel Capek in a 1920 play. The robot theme was popularized
by Isaac Asimov in science fiction in the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s, and subsequently by
Hollywood movies.
Mechanization and automation can be traced back to the industrial revolution. The first example
of complete mechanization dates back to the develoment of Jacquard looms (named after the silk
weaver Joseph Maria Jacquard) used in the silk industry in France and Italy in the early 19th
century. These looms could be mechanically reprogrammed to produce different patterns.
However, these looms were simply machines. There is no notion of “intelligence” that is built into
these looms. Further, the process of programming could be very tedious, particularly for complex
patterns, and had to be done manually.
The next 100-150 years saw many innovative engineering solutions to pressing problems in
industry. A rotary crane equipped with a motorized gripper to remove hot ingots from a furnace
was developed by Babbit in 1892. Pollard invented a mechanical arm for spray painting in 1938.
The first teleoperator, or telecheric, a device that allows an operator to perform a task at a
distance, isolated from the environment that the task is performed in, was developed by Goertz1.
It was designed to manipulate radioactive materials. The operator was separated from the
radioactive task by a concrete wall with viewing ports. Two handles on the “master” side allowed
the operator to manipulate a pair of tongs on the “slave” side. Both tongs and handles were
1Goertz,R. C., “Manipulators used for handling radioactive materials,” Human Factors in Technology, Chapter 27,
Ed. E. M. Bennet, McGraw-Hill, 1963.
Anatomy of a robot
The basic components of a robot system are:
• the mechanical linkage
• actuators2 and transmissions
• sensors
• controllers
• user interface
2The book [CRA 92] calls actuators that are capable of providing continuous controlled motion drives (see page 46).
Actuators
The actuators are typically linear or rotary actuators. Also they may be electric, pneumatic or
hydraulic. Typically, electric actuators or motors are better suited to high speed, low load
applications while hydraulic actuators do better at low speed and high load applications. Pneumatic
actuators are like hydraulic actuators except that they are generally not used for high payload. The
main reason they are used in industry is because shop air is readily available. However, the
maximum pressure is generally 100 psi. In contrast, hydraulic actuators may run as high as 3000
psi.
Transmissions
Transmissions are elements between the actuators and the joints of the mechanical linkage.
They are generally used for three reasons.
1. Often the actuator output is not directly suitable for driving the robot linkage. The high speed
DC motor (running at say 3000 rpm) may not be suitable for running a robot at lower speeds.
However, with appropriate gearing or transmission, the speed may be reduced to 30 rpm (1/2
rotation per second) which is reasonably fast. In addition, the rated torque at 3000 rpm is
amplified by a factor of 100 (assuming a highly efficient gearbox).
Controller
The controller provides the intelligence that is necessary to control the manipulator system. It
looks at the sensory information and computes the control commands that must be sent to the
actuators to carry out the specified task. It generally includes:
• memory to store the control program and the state of the robot system obtained from the
sensors
• a computational unit (CPU) that computes the control commands
• the appropriate hardware to interface with the external world (sensors and actuators)
• the hardware for a user interface
3It may not be necessary to instrument all the joints with sensors. For example, in Figure 1, the position of the
linear actuator can be used to infer the joint angle of the elbow joint.
4Sugar, T., et al., Control of an electro-pneumatic actuator, Tech. Report, University of Pennsylvania, 1994.
TABLE 1. Stock of industrial robots by year-end in selected countries, 1989-1992 [DK 91]
The sale of industrial robots worldwide has dramatically increased in recent years5. After
peaking at 80,000 in 1990, sales fell to 56,000 in 1993. In 1995, sales moved up by 26% to
75,000 and sales are expected to continue to grow at an average rate of 15% through the 1990’s.
Japan remains the largest buyer of industrial robots at 36,500 in 1995, almost half the total sales.
America, Britain, France, Germany and Italy bought 23,000 robots between them. Asian
Percentage of
Manufacturer Japanese
production
Matsushita Electric Industry (MEI) 16.5
Fuji Machine Manufacturing 8.3
Fanuc 5.4
Yasakawa Electric Manufacturing 5.3
Kawasaki Heavy Industries 3.4
Other applications
The need for industrial robots (for manufacturing automation) appears to be primarily driven by
the shortage of labor and the cost of labor. While only Japan has embraced robotics in a big way, it
would appear that it is only a matter of time before other industrialized nations follow suit.
However, there are applications in hostile environments in which it is necessary to use robots (for
example, in space, nuclear plants) or it is too dangerous to use humans (for example, military
operations). There are others where the physical task demands skills that humans simply do not
have (for example, surgery). Some of these are briefly described here.
1. Space robotics
Space exploration needs human intelligence but does not need the physical presence of human
bodies. In principle, human operators on earth can control partially autonomous vehicles and
manipulators on the Moon, or on distant planets.
2. Hazardous environments
DOE uses robotics technology for automating the manufacture of explosive components and
for dismantling radioactive or toxic weaponry. The U.S. Navy is trying to use robotics technology
for detecting and defusing mines in shallow water. A remotely controlled underwater submersible
was used when the Titanic was salvaged several years ago.
3. Virtual reality
Virtual reality systems (simulators) can be used for training and educating people. An important
component of these systems is the haptic interface, that allows the user/operator to feel the virtual
10Honda’s Suzuka line is 2600 feet long compared to Detroit’s average of 7600 feet.
11Nissan and Honda can produce from 4-8 models of cars on the same production line without retooling.
[CRA 92] Asfahl, C. R. Robots and Manufacturing Automation. J. Wiley and Sons, 1992.
[DK 91] D. Kahaner, Robots and use in Japanese industry, U.S. Office of Naval Research
Asia report, 1991 (ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/japan/kahaner.reports/robots).
[KCN 89] Klafter, R. D., Chmielewski, T. A., and Negin, M. Robotic Engineering: An
Integrated Approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.