Robots – Types & Applications

History of Robotics

History:

This segment is deliberated to offer you with a summary of the history of robotics. As you may have presumed, the robotics history is entangled with the history of science, technology and the fundamental principles of progress. Technology employed in electronics, computers, even pneumatics & hydraulics can all be measured as a fraction of the robotics history. Robotics at present symbolizes one of the mankind’s supreme achievements and is the only best endeavor of mankind to create an artificial, electronic being.

Though robots are regarded as a 20^th century discovery, their origins lie in the far history. From the initial time, public have shaped myths regarding automatic beings built-in their individual likeness with extraordinary human powers. The prehistoric age around 270BC Greeks & Egyptians manufactured mechanical machines to execute easy tasks. In modern times, automatic toys amuse and ever more complex machinery was invented. The thought of a realistic motorized humanoid monster named as “Frankenstein” in the year 1818 surveys what occurs when a man-made giant is gifted life by a knowledgeable scientist (Dr. Frankenstein). As the advancement in the computer technology progressed at a great pace, scientists became more fascinated in construction of intellectual machines that can ultimately have some logic to work themselves. At present, robots of all types occupy our globe and are brought into play for diverse applications in

Space discovery, the armed forces, medication industry, exploration, police work and of course movies.

Though the division of Robotics is new, the making of Robots initiated in the year 1250 when the first man-made automated human (Robot) was developed. In the phase from 1250 to 1950 the Robots were created for entertaining rather than for applications.

Here are a number of highlights in the history of robotics in the 20th century:

• In the year 1921, the Czech dramatist “Karel Capek” coins the world by using the word robot in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R). This word robot is derived from a Czech word which means “compulsory labor.”
• “Runaround” was composed by Asimov about robots in the year 1942, it held the “Three rules for robots”
  • Robots are not harmful to the humans, or through working, permit a human to come and damage.
  • A robot must follow the commands given by human beings apart from where such instructions would conflict with the First Law of Robotics.
  • A robot must defend its own survival providing such safety does not clash with the First and the Second Law of Robotics.
• In the year 1956, George Devol and Joseph Engelberger established the first robot company.
• In the year 1959, computer assisted manufacturing was verified at MIT.
• UNIMATE- The first industrialized robot was online in a General Motors automobile plant, in the year 1961.
• 1963 was a revolutionary year, first computer controlled robotic arm was designed and it was named as Rancho Arm. The invention was basically for the handicapped peoples.

The inventions in the field of Robotics were never ending and gave human beings a sudden surprising gift as & when launched. After Rancho’s Arm various other inventions too were done, but all of the above was the first among all.

Different Branches Occupied in the Develop ment of Robotics:

Robotics in contrast to other branches is a reasonably new domain of engineering. It is a multi-disciplinary domain. The different branches occupied in the development of Robotics are:-

1. Mechanical Engineering: Deals with the machinery & structure of the Robots.
2. Electrical Engineering: Deals with the controlling & intelligence (sensing) of Robots.
3. Computer Engineering: Deals with the movement development and observation of Robots.

Classification of Robots:

Robots are categorized depending upon the circuits of the Robots and the variety of application it can perform. The robots are classified into three types:

• Simple level Robots- These are automatic machines which do not contain complex circuit. They are developed just to extend human potential. For Example- Washing Machine.
• Middle level Robots– These robots are programmed but can never be reprogrammed. These robots contain sensor based circuit & can perform multiple tasks. For Example- Fully Automatic Washing Machine.
• Complex level Robots- These robots are programmed and can be reprogrammed as well. They contain complex model based circuit. For Example- Laptop or Computer.

Types of Robotics:

Robotics is an area of interest to human beings for more than one hundred years. On the other hand, our perception over robots is influenced by the media and international film industry (Hollywood). You may ask- what robotics is all about? In my views, a robot’s distinctiveness transforms depending on the atmosphere it works in. Some of these are as follows:-

1. Outer Space – Robotic arms that are under the control of a human being are employed to unload the docking cove of outer-space shuttles to launch satellites or to build a space station.
2. The Intelligent Home – Robotic systems can nowadays scrutinize home safety, ecological circumstances and energy consumption. Door & windows can be unlocked mechanically and electrical device such as lights and A/C can be pre-programmed to turn on. This helps residents to enjoy appliances irrespective of their mobility.
3. Exploration – Robots can enter the environments that are injurious to human beings. An illustration is observing the atmosphere within a volcano or investigating our deep marine life. NASA has utilized robotic probe for environmental study, ever since the early 60’s.
4. Military Robots – Flying robot drones are brought into play for close watch in present time’s modern armed force. In the future robotic airplane and automobiles could be employed to transmit petroleum, bullets, bombs, etc or clear minefields.
5. Farms – Programmed robots are used by harvesters to cut and collect crops. Robotic milk farms are existing permitting workers to nourish and milk their cattle distantly.
6. The Car Industry – Robotic arms are used, these arms are able to execute numerous tasks in the car manufacturing & assembling procedure. They carry out jobs such as sorting, cutting, welding, lifting, painting and bending. Similar functions but on a minor scale are now being intended for the food industry to execute tasks like- the trimming, cutting and processing of different types of meats like- chicken, beef, fish, lamb, etc.
7. Hospitals – The development of a robotic suit is under construction that will allow nurses to raise patients without injuring their backbones. Scientists in Japan have crafted a power facilitated suit which will provide nurses the additional power that they need to lift patients.
8. Disaster Areas – Observation robots built-in with superior sensing and imaging gears. This robot can work in dangerous environments like urban site spoiled by earthquakes by inspecting floors, walls, and roofs for structural reality.
9. Entertainment – Interactive robots that shows behaviors and education capability. One such robot is owned by SONY which moves around freely, responds to all your commands, carries your luggage and even responds to your oral instructions.

This is not the end of Robotic world; there is many more application of Robotics.

Applications:

Currently, robots perform a number of different jobs in numerous fields and the amount of tasks delegated to robots is rising progressively. The best way to split robots into types is a partition by their application.

1. Industrial robots – These robots bring into play in an industrialized manufacturing atmosphere. Typically these are articulated arms particularly created for applications like- material handling, painting, welding and others. If we evaluate merely by application then this sort of robots can also consist of some automatically guided automobiles and other robots.

2. Domestic or household robots – Robots which are used at home. This sort of robots consists of numerous different gears for example- robotic pool cleaners, robotic sweepers, robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic sewer cleaners and other robots that can perform different household tasks. Also, a number of scrutiny and tele-presence robots can also be considered as domestic robots if brought into play in that sort of environment.

3. Medical robots – Robots employed in medicine and medicinal institutes. First & foremost surgical treatment robots. Also, a number of robotic directed automobiles and perhaps lifting supporters.

4. Service robots – Robots that cannot be classed into any other types by practice. These could be various data collecting robots, robots prepared to exhibit technologies, robots employed for research, etc.

5. Military robots – Robots brought into play in military & armed forces. This sort of robots consist of bomb discarding robots, various shipping robots, exploration drones. Often robots at the start produced for military and armed forces purposes can be employed in law enforcement, exploration and salvage and other associated fields.

6. Entertainment robots – These types of robots are employed for entertainment. This is an extremely wide-ranging category. It begins with model robots such as robosapien or the running photo frames and concludes with real heavy weights like articulated robot arms employed as movement simulators.

7. Space robots – I would like to distinct out robots employed in space as a split apart type. This type of robots would consist of the robots employed on Canadarm that was brought into play in space Shuttles, the International Space Station, together with Mars explorers and other robots employed in space exploration & other activities.

8. Hobby and competition robots – Robots that is created by students. Sumo-bots, Line followers, robots prepared merely for learning, fun and robots prepared for contests.

Now, as you can observe that there are a number of examples that fit well into one or more of these types. For illustration, there can be a deep ocean discovery robot that can collect a number of precious information that can be employed for military or armed forces purpose.

Robotics is a broad field and everyday there is a pioneering invention in the field. Robots were invented by the humans just for fun but by now they are used for assisting humans in various sectors. Human beings are better suitable for multifaceted, imaginative, adaptive jobs, and robots are good for dreary, recurring tasks, permitting human beings to do the harder thinking jobs, whereas a robot is employed for substituting humans for various recurring tasks or entertainment to make living more expedient.

 Now you have got an idea about the types of robot and its applications if you have any queries on this topic or on the electrical and electronic projects leave the comments below.