University of Gondar

Institute of Technology Atse Fasil Campus

Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECEg5234-Introduction to
Robotics
Chapter one

INTRODUCTION
 Introduction & brief history.
 Types and classification of robots.
 Science of robotics.
 Technology of robotics
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law

INTRODUCTION
 Origin of the word robot in 1923 — Translation of Czech play R. U. R. (Rossum’s Universal Robot,
1921) by Karel Capek (Capek, 1975).

 From Czech word ‘robota’ meaning slave labour! Designed to replace human beings, and depicted as
very efficient and lacking emotion – Even now this description is prevalent!

 Asimov (Asimov, 1970) in Roundabout coins robotics in his three laws of robotics —
Robots are portrayed as harmless and in control of humans!
First Law
 A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law
 A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
Third Law
 A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or
Second Law
Cont.….

 First industrial robot patent in 1954 by George C. Devol (US Patent No. 2,988,237) for
Universal Automation or Unimation.
 The Unimate was the first industrial robot ever built.
 It was a hydraulic manipulator arm that could perform repetitive tasks.
 It was used by car makers to automate metalworking and welding processes.

 First robot by Unimation, Inc. (Founded by J. Engelberger and George C. Devol)

called Unimate –
 Used by General Motors at Trenton, New Jersey automobile plant for die-cast handling and spot
welding
 https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4071 ( see on this site)
DEFINITION

 No clear definition of a “robot”!

 The Robot Institute of America (1969) defines robot as “....
a re-programmable, multi-functional manipulator designed to move materials,
parts, tools or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks”.
 Currently the term “robots” are used more broadly as an “intelligent agent,
physical or virtual, capable of doing a task autonomously or with guidance”.
Cont.……

 Robot – An electro-mechanical machine with sensors, electronics and guided by

computers.
 Key concept is re-programmable and the extent of programming — Distinguishes
a robot from CNC machine tools.
 CNC are industrial programed Machin but be reprogramed again are difficult
and less accuracy than robot
Figure 1: Some modern robots
Space Shuttle Arm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadarm

PUMA 560 Robot MARS Rover http://www.dlr.de/en/

http://vlabs.iitkgp.ernet.in/MRLab/experiment1.html

Robotic Surgery

System – Can be

remotely operated

via Internet

Industrial Robots from Fanuc Robotics, Japan da Vinci Surgical Robot (Patient Cart)

http://www.fanucindia.com/ http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/

A popular kit

for making

robots

http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/history/ http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx
Figure 2: Some more modern robots
Cont.…..

 Advances in robotics has closely followed the explosive development of computers and
electronics.

 First computer, ENIAC, was developed at University of Pennsylvania in 1946 and the first
transistor device was built by Shockley and Pearson in Bell Labs in late 1940’s2.

 Another key ingredient, concept of feedback control — First textbook on feedback control is by
Prof. Norbert Wiener of MIT in 1948.

 Feedback allows execution of a programmed (desired)motion by a robot (and a large number of

devices) with the required accuracy.
Cont.….

 Initial robot usage was primarily in industrial application such as part/material handling, welding
, painting and few in handling of hazardous material.

 Most initial robots operated in teach-playback mode, and replaced ‘repetitive’ and ‘back-
breaking’ tasks.

 Growth and usage of robots slowed significantly in late 1980’s and early 1990’s due to “lack of
intelligence” and “ability to adapt” to changing environment –
 Robots were essentially blind, deaf and dumb!

 Last 15 years or so, sophisticated sensors and programming allow robots to act much more
intelligently, autonomously and react to changes in environments faster.
Introduction

Present-day robots:

 Used in cluttered workspaces in homes and factories,

 Interact safely with humans in close proximity,
 Operate autonomously in hazardous environments,
 Used in entertainment and in improving quality of life and etc.….
Robot application

 Robot Manipulators:  Micro/Nano manipulation

Assembly Sample Handling
Automation Automated Analysis
 Field robots:  Urban challenge:
Military applications Fire Fighting
Space exploration Search and Rescue
Entertainment robots:
 Service robots:
Cleaning robots  Medical applications, assisting disabled
Medical robots individuals
Biotechnology:
 Underwater, space, and remote locations.
 Pick and place operations
Spot and Arc Welding
Surface Coating and Painting
Assembly works
Machine loading and unloading
 SAMPLING OF ROBOT APPLICATION

 Industrial robots:
Fanuc ArcMate 120iB/10L welding robot and material handling robots
Many other examples in this website.

 Hazardous environment:
 Radioactive environment and use of robots for clean-up in Three mile island, Chernobyl and recently in Fukushima,
Japan, using PackBot robots, for measurement of radiation and taking pictures.

 Deep sea: Discovery of Titanic by submersible Alvin and underwater robots Argo, 1985, Jason Junior, 1986.
Space: Shuttle Remote Manipulator System is used to deploy and retrieve satellite and other equipment.

 Electronic assembly and pharmaceutical manufacturing in clean rooms: Human presence introduces dirt and is
hazardous to the product! (See example of electronics assembly using robots)
Cont.…..

 Autonomous mobile robots/vehicles:

Mars Exploration Rover Mission, and DARPA Grand Challenge (2008).
 Robotic surgery using da Vinci robot. Micro and nano robots at Carnegie Mellon &
KTH, Sweden.

 Other miscellaneous robots:

Robocup Soccer 2010, and dancing Sony robots, robotic fish, NASA Robonaut humanoid
space robot .
Japanese humanoid robot capable of feeling pain (shown through facial expressions)
IMPORTANT DATES IN HISTORY OF ROBOTS

 1770 – Mechanism-driven life-like machines that can draw, play instruments, and clocks
made in Germany and Switzerland.

 1830 – Cam programmable lathe invented.

 1921 – Premier of Karel Capek’s play R.U.R.

 1942 – Asimov coins the word ‘robotics’ and gives his threelaws of robotics.

 1946 – ENIAC, the first electronic computer, developed at the University of Pennsylvania.

 1947 – First electric powered tele-operated robot at MIT.

Cont.……

 1948 – Book on feedback control, Cybernetics, written by Prof. Norbert Weiner of MIT.
 1948 – Transistor invented at Bell Laboratories.
 1952 – IBM’s first commercial computer, IBM 701.
 1954 – First programmable robot patented and designed by Devol. 1955 – Paper by J.
 Denavit and R. S. Hartenberg (1955) provides a convention to describe links and joints in a manipulator.
 1959 – Unimation Inc. founded by Engelberger; CNC lathe demonstrated at MIT.
 1961 – General Motors buys and installs the first Unimate at a plant in New Jersey to tend a die casting machine.
 1968 – Shakey, first mobile robot with vision capability, made at SRI. 2004 – Spirit and Opportunity explore
Mars surface and detect evidence of past existence of water.
 2007 – Humanoid robot Aiko capable of “feeling” pain.
 2009 – Micro-robots and emerging field of nano-robots marrying biology with engineering.
 Cont.….
 1970 – The Stanford Arm designed with electrical actuators and controlled by a computer.
 1973 – Cincinnati Milacron’s (T3) electrically actuated, mini-computer controlled industrial robot.
 1976 – Viking II lands on Mars and an arm scoops Martiansoil for analysis.
 1978 – Unimation Inc. develops the PUMA robot — even now seen in University labs!
 1981 – Robot Manipulators by R. Paul, one of the first textbooks on robotics.
 1982 – First educational robots by Microbot and Rhino.
 1983 – Adept Technology, maker of SCARA robot, started.
 1995 – Intuitive Surgical formed to design and market surgical robots.
 1997 – Sojourner robot sends back pictures of Mars; the Honda P3 humanoid robot, started in 1986,
unveiled.
 2000 – Honda demonstrates Asimo humanoid robot capable of walking.
 2001 – Sony releases second generation Aibo robot dog.
 main components of robots

 5 Important Components of Robots

1. Manipulator:
 Just like the human arm, the robot consists of
what is called a manipulator having several joints and links
 2. Endeffector
 The base of the manipulator is fixed to base support and at its other free end, the Endeffector is attached.
 The Endeffector is expected to perform tasks normally performed by the palm and finger arrangements of the
human arm
 3. The Locomotion Device:
 In the case of Human Beings the power for the movement of the arm, the palm and fingers is
provided by muscles.
 For the robot the power for the movement (locomotion) is provided by the motors.
 Cont.…..

 The motors used for providing locomotion in robots are of three types depending on the source of
energy: Electric, Hydraulic or Pneumatic.
 4. The Controller:
 The digital computer (both the hardware and the software) acts as a controller to the robot.
 The controller functions in a manner analogous to the human brain.
 5. The Sensors
 Without the data supplied by the sense organs, the brain would be incapable of intelligence.
 In other words the controller (the computer) of the robot cannot do any meaningful task, if the
robot is not with a component analogous to the sense organs of the human body.
 Robot characteristics:

 A robot has these essential characteristics:

• Sensing: First of all your robot would have to be able to sense its surroundings.
light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing and sonar
sensors (ears), and taste sensors (tongue) will give your robot awareness of its environment.
• Movement :A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling on wheels,
walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move
• Energy: A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered, electrically powered,
battery powered.
The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.
• Intelligence: A robot needs some kind of "smarts."
This is where programming enters the pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts
TYPES AND CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTS

 Various ways of classifying a robot

 Fixed or mobile.

 Serial or parallel.

 According to degree of freedom (DOF).

 Rigid or flexible.

 Control — Point-to-point, autonomy and “intelligence”. Most older industrial robots — Fixed
base and consisting of links connected by actuated joints.

 Many modern robots can move on factory floors, uneven terrains or even walk, swim and fly
 Cont.…..

Serial robot — A fixed base, links and joints connected sequentially and ending in a end-
effector

Parallel robot — More than one loop, no natural end-effector

DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM (DOF)

 Degree of freedom (DOF) determines capability of a robot and number of actuated joints
 6 (DOF) required for arbitrary task in 3D.
 Painting and welding can be done by 5 DOF robot.
 Electronics assembly usually done by 4 DOF SCARA robot.
 For extra flexibility/working volume, 5 or 6 DOF robot mounted on 2 or 3 DOF gantry or
wheeled mobile robot.
 Redundant robot with more than 6 DOF for avoiding obstacles, more flexibility etc.
 Arrangement of first three joints (in fixed serial robots) are classified as:
 Cartesian, spherical and cylindrical — Motion described by Cartesian, spherical or
cylindrical coordinates.
RIGID VS. FLEXIBLE

Most industrial robots are built heavy and rigid for required
accuracy.
Minimising weight for space applications — Links and joints
are flexible!
CONTROL AND MODE OF OPERATION

 Most older industrial robots were teach and playback

 Robot is taken (manually) through the tasks and positions recorded.
 During actual operation, the robot plays back the taught sequence.
 Very time consuming to teach and robot cannot react to any changes in the environment.
 Computer controlled — Inputs are given from a computer often after being tried out in an
off-line programming system.
 Sensor driven — Sensors are used to avoid obstacles and take decisions.
 Intelligent — Robot can ‘learn’ about the environment using artificial intelligence (AI) and
perform efficiently.
THE SCIENCE OF ROBOTS

 New robots with improved capabilities made every day.

 Technology changes but the underlying science/principles change more slowly.
 Basic ingredients — Kinematics, dynamics, control, sensing and programming.
 Kinematics — Motion of a object in three dimensional space without worrying about the
cause.
 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) — 3 translations and 3 rotations of a rigid
 6 actuators at joints to achieve 6 DOF — Direct and inverse kinematics problem
 Linear and angular velocities of rigid bodies and
 Loss/gain of DOF in velocities and ability to apply/resist external force/moment
 Serial and parallel manipulator kinematics.
THE TECHNOLOGY OF ROBOTS

 Robot is a sophisticated and expensive equipment!

 Its efficiency depends on internal stored program and physical
components
 Components making up a robot undergoes constant improvement and
advancement and hard to keep up!
 Main components: mechanical components, actuators, transmission
devices, sensors, electronics and computers.
 Mechanical components —
 Links and joints Links should be strong and lightweight — Usually die-cast
sections.
 Joints are friction and backlash free to the extent possible.
 Actuators are electric, pneumatic or hydraulic.
 Transmission device needed/required to transfer motion
Cont.….

 Sensors enable a robot to posses “touch and feel”, sense motion and force, and to “see” and
“learn
 Sensors are required for feedback control — Internal sensors.
 External sensors — Touch and force, distance measuring and cameras to “see”.
 Specialised sensors for welding, painting, assembly and other industrial operations.
 Computers and software — More expensive than hardware! One or more processors to
control motion of actuators.
 One or more processors to control motion of actuators.
 Processor for signal processing and sensing.
 Processor for user interface, data logging, communication and other activities
 Off-line programming system with user friendly GUI to train operator, verify motion and
reduce downtime of a robot.
Assignment

 Computer
 android phone
 Printer
 Copy machine
 Scanner
 Airplane
are robot or not ? Justify your answer in either way you maybe wright.