Lecture
ONE
Introduction
1.1 Background
The word robot came from Czech language ‘robota’ means labour and was first introduced by
Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920.
The term "robotics" was coined by Isaac Asimov in his 1941 science fiction short-story
“Liar”. The word ‘robot’ can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the
later are usually referred to as bots. There is no single definition of robot, but there is a
general agreement among experts that a typical robot tend to have several or possibly all of
the following characteristics: an electric machine which has some ability to interact with
physical objects and to be given electronic programming to do a specific task or to do a whole
range of tasks or actions, ability to sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit
intelligent behavior, especially behavior which mimics biological species. The International
Organization for Standardization (IOS) defines robot as “an automatically controlled,
reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may
be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications”. This
definition is used by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the European Robotics
Research Network (EURON), and many national standards committees. The Robotics
Institute of America (RIA) uses a broader definition as “re-programmable multi-functional
manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable
programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks”. The RIA categories robots
into four classes:
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devices that manipulate objects with manual control,
automated devices that manipulate objects with predetermined cycles,
programmable and servo-controlled robots with continuous point-to-point trajectories,
robots that acquire information from the environment and move intelligently
Robotics is the engineering science and technology of robots, and their design, manufacture,
application, and structural disposition. Stories of artificial helpers and companions and
attempts to create them have a long history, but fully autonomous machines only appeared in
the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was
installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today,
commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or more
accurately and reliably than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty,
dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing,
assembly, and packing; transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory
research, safety, and mass production of consumer and industrial goods.
1.2 Brief History of Robotics
Robotics in antiquity
Around 400 BC, Archytas of Tarentum is reputed to have built a mechanical pigeon, possibly
powered by steam, capable of flying. Not only representing one of the earliest works in the
field of robotics, the wooden pigeon was also an early study of flight. Philosophers (notably
Aristotle in 322 BC) have also dreamed of automatons and tools capable of working
independently of people as an idea of bringing about equality.
Robotics in the middle ages
In 827, Caliph al-Mamun had a silver and golden tree in his palace in Baghdad, which had the
features of an automatic machine. There were metal birds that sang automatically on the
swinging branches of this tree built by inventors and engineers at the time. The Abbasid
Caliph Al-Muqtadir also had a golden tree in his palace in Baghdad in 915, with birds on it
flapping their wings and singing. In the 9th century, the Banu Musa brothers invented an
automatic flute player which appears to have been the first programmable machine, and which
they described in their Book of Ingenious Devices.
Al-Jazari is credited with creating the earliest forms of a programmable humanoid robot in
1206. Al-Jazari's automaton was originally a boat with four automatic musicians that floated
on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties, shown in Figure 1.1. His mechanism
had a programmable drum machine with pegs (cams) that bump into little levers that operated
the percussion. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum
patterns if the pegs were moved around. According to Charles B. Fowler, the automata were
a robot band which performed more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical
selection.
Figure 1.1: Al-Jazari automatic musicians (Source Wikiepedia)
Robotics between 1400 and 1900
Between 1500 and 1800, many automatons were built including ones capable of acting,
drawing, flying, and playing music. Some of the most famous works of the period were
created by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1737, including an automaton flute player, tambourine
player, and his most famous work, the Digesting Duck. Vaucanson's duck was capable of
imitating a real duck by flapping its wings (over 400 parts were in each of the wings alone),
eat grain, digest it, and defecate; the duck was powered by weights.
Figure 1.2: Vaucanson’s mechanical duck
Richard Arkwright built a water powered weaving machine and factory around it in 1781,
starting the Industrial Revolution. By 1800, cloth production was completely automated. With
the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the idea of automata began to be applied to industry,
as cost and time saving devices. Improvements in the weaving industry had led to large
amounts of automation, and the idea of programmable machines became popular with Charles
Babbage's Analytical Engine.
Robotics between 1901 and 1970
The world's first robot, a humanoid named Televox operated through the telephone system,
was constructed in the United States in 1927. In 1928, Makoto Nishimura produced Japan's
first robot, Gakutensoku.
After 1950, computers (and robotics), began to rapidly increase in both complexity and
numbers as the technology needed to make the devices became easier to produce. Unimate,
the first industrial robot ever created began work on the General Motors assembly line in
1961. Unimate was made by the company Unimaton. Unimate is remembered as the first
industrial robot. In 1962 John McCarthy founded the Stanford Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory at Stanford University. Marvin Minsky created the Tentacle Arm in 1968. The
arm was computer controlled and its 12 joints were powered by hydraulics. Mechanical
Engineering student Victor Scheinman created the Stanford Arm in 1969. The Stanford Arm
is recognized as the first electronic computer controlled robotic arm (Unimate's instructions
were stored on a magnetic drum). The first mobile robot capable of reasoning about its
surroundings, Shakey was built in 1970 by the Stanford Research Institute. Shakey combined
multiple sensor inputs, including TV cameras, laser rangefinders, and bump sensors to
navigate.
Robotics between 1971 to 2000
German based company KUKA built the world's first industrial robot with six
electromechanically driven axes, known as FAMULUS. In 1974, David Silver designed the
Silver Arm. The Silver Arm was capable of fine movements replicating human hands.
Feedback was provided by touch and pressure sensors and analyzed by a computer. The
SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm) was created in 1978 as an efficient, 4axis robotic arm. Best used for picking up parts and placing them in another location, the
SCARA was introduced to assembly lines in 1981. The Stanford Cart successfully crossed a
room full of chairs in 1979.
Developing the anthropomorphic intelligent robot WABOT (WAseda roBOT) started aiming
to develop a personal robot, which resembled a person as much as possible. Four laboratories
in the School of Science & Engineering of Waseda University joined together on the
WABOT project in 1970. In 1984 Wabot-2 was revealed capable of playing the organ.
Wabot-2 had 10 fingers and two feet. Wabot-2 was able to read a score of music and
accompany a person.
Figure 1.3: Waseda University’s WABOT-2
In 1985, Kawasaki began to produce industrial robots. Their first robot was released one year
later. In 1986, Honda began its humanoid research and development program to create robots
capable of interacting successfully with humans.
1.3 Robotics at present
Robotics developed along different distinct paths:
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Manipulation of objects
Mobility of robots
Service robots
Social impacts
General purpose robots
Industrial robots (manipulating)
The development of manipulators began with devices to facilitate handling of materials which
are hazardous to human operators. These systems led to industrial manipulators to facilitate
tasks which are repetitive, tedious and tiring for human such as welding and spray painting.
Industrial robots usually consist of a jointed arm (multi-linked manipulator) and end effector
that is attached to a fixed surface. One of the most common types of end effector is a gripper
assembly.
(a) Utah/MIT hand.
(b) Salisbury Hand by Kenneth Salisbury
Figure 1.4: Sophisticated manipulators and robot hand.
Mobile robot
Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to
one physical location. An example of a mobile robot that is in common use today is the
automatic guided vehicle (AGV). An AGV is a mobile robot that follows markers or wires in
the floor, or uses vision or lasers. Mobile robots are also found in industry, military and
security environments. They also appear as consumer products, for entertainment or to
perform certain tasks like vacuum cleaning. Mobile robots are the focus of a great deal of
current research and almost every major university has one or more labs that focus on mobile
robot research.
(a) Pioneer robots with gripper
(b) SCITOS robots
Figure 1.5: Different variants of mobile robots
Service robot
Most commonly industrial robots are fixed robotic arms and manipulators used primarily for
production and distribution of goods. The term "service robot" is less well-defined. IFR has
proposed a tentative definition: A service robot is a robot which operates semi- or fullyautonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans and equipment,
excluding manufacturing operations. In 2002, the US robotics company iRobot released the
first popular robotic vacuum cleaner, Roomba, at a base price of $199. In Europe a vacuum
cleaning robot, Trilobite, was manufactured by Electrolux.
(a) US service robot - Roomba
(b) European service robot -
Trilobite
Figure 1.6: Service robots
Robot fish
The biomimetic robot Robotuna was built by doctoral student David Barrett at the MIT in
1996 to study how fish swim in water. RoboTuna is designed to swim and resemble a blue fin
tuna.
Figure 1.7: MIT’s fist robot RoboTuna
(A Video clip of a robot fish is available in PPT presentation)
General-purpose autonomous robots
General-purpose autonomous robots typically can navigate independently in known spaces,
handle their own re-charging needs, interface with electronic doors and elevators and perform
other basic tasks. Like computers, general-purpose robots can link with networks, software
and accessories that increase their usefulness. They may recognize people or objects, talk,
provide companionship, monitor environmental quality, respond to alarms, pick up supplies
and perform other useful tasks. General-purpose robots may perform a variety of functions
simultaneously or they may take on different roles at different times of day. Some such robots
try to mimic human beings and may even resemble people in appearance.
Sony QRIO Robot
In 1999, Sony introduced the AIBO, a robotic dog capable of interacting with humans, the
first models released in Japan sold out in 20 minutes.
Sony also revealed its Sony Dream Robots, small humanoid robots in development for
entertainment. QRIO ("Quest for cuRIOsity", originally named Sony Dream Robot or SDR)
was to be a bipedal humanoid entertainment robot developed and marketed (but never sold)
by Sony to follow up on the success of its AIBO toy. QRIO stood approximately 0.6 m (2
feet) tall and weighed 7.3 kg. The QRIO prototypes were developed and manufactured by
Sony Intelligence Dynamics Laboratory, Inc. The number of these prototypes in existence is
unknown. They have been seen performing a dance routine together.
Figure 1.8: Sony’s QRIO entertainment robot.
(A Video clip of QRIO robots is available in PPT presentation)
Honda’s humanoid robot ASIMO
Honda's P2 humanoid robot was first shown in 1996. Standing for "Prototype Model 2", P2
was an integral part of Honda's humanoid development project; over 6 feet tall, P2 was
smaller than its predecessors and appeared to be more human like in its motions. The P3
humanoid robot was revealed by Honda in 1998 as a part of the company's continuing
humanoid project. Honda revealed the most advanced result of their humanoid project in
2000, named ASIMO. ASIMO is capable of running, walking, communication with humans,
facial and environmental recognition, voice and posture recognition, and interacting with its
environment.
ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda. The name ASIMO is an acronym for
Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. Standing at 4 feet 3 inches and weighing 54 kgs, the
robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk or run on two feet at
speeds up to 4.3 mph. ASIMO was created at Honda's Research & Development Wako
Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan. It is the current model in a line of twelve
that began in 1986 with E0.
ASIMO resembles a child in size and is the most human-like robot HONDA has made so far.
The robot has 7 DOF (Degrees of freedom) in each arm - two joints of 3 DOF, shoulder and
wrist, giving 6 DOF and 1 DOF at the elbow; 6 DOF in each leg - 3 DOF at the crotch, 2
DOF at the ankle and 1 DOF at the knee and 3 DOF in the neck joint. The hands have 2 DOF
-1 DOF in each thumb and 1 in each finger. This gives a total of 34 DOF in all joints. As of
February 2009, there are over 100 ASIMO units in existence. Each costs under $1 million to
manufacture.
Figure 1.9: P3 model (left) and ASIMO (right)
Figure 1.10: ASIMO of Honda
(A Video clip of ASIMO is available in PPT presentation)
European Union iCUB
The iCub is a humanoid robot test-bed for research into human cognition and artificial
intelligence designed by the RobotCub Consortium of several European universities funded
by European Commission’s 7th Frame Work Program. The robot is open-source, with the
hardware design, software and documentation all released under the GPL license. The name is
a partial acronym, cub standing for Cognitive Universal Body.
The dimensions of the iCub are similar to that of a 3.5 year old child (1 metre high). The
robot is controlled by an on-board PC104 controller which communicates with actuators and
sensors using CANBus. It utilizes tendon driven joints for the hand and shoulder, with the
fingers flexed by teflon-coated cable tendons running inside teflon-coated tubes, and pulling
against spring returns. The finger tips can be equipped with tactile touch sensors, and a
distributed capacitive sensor skin is being developed. The software library is largely written in
C++ and uses YARP for external communication via Gigabit Ethernet with off-board
software implementing higher level functionality. In its final version, the robot has 53
actuated DOF organized as follows: 7 DOF in each arm, 9 DOF in each hand (3 for the
thumb, 2 for the index, 2 for the middle finger, 1 for the coupled ring and little finger, 1 for
the adduction/abduction), 6 DOF in the head (3 for the neck and 3 for the cameras), 3 DOF in
the torso/waist and 6 DOF in each leg.
Figure 1.11: European Union’s iCUB
Actroid
The ultra-lifelike robot Repliee Q1 made quite an impression at the 2005 World Expo in
Japan, shown in Figure 1.12 below (left) with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru (right). Repliee Q1
has silicone for skin, rather than hard plastic. It has a number of sensors to allow it to react in
a manner that appears natural; it appears to flutter its eyelids, chest movements correspond to
breathing, and other tiny shifts in position that mimic unconscious human movement. The
android can mimic actions made by a human; this helps the robot's movements appear more
lifelike. By facing a person with reflective dots placed at key points (like wrist, elbow, palm),
the robot can try to match those points on its own body with those of the person who is
modeling the human movement.
Figure 1.12: Actroid with her creator
(A Video clip of actroid is available in PPT presentation)