ASIMO

ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company. The robot is 130cms tall and weighs 54kgs. It resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk or run on two feet at speeds up to 6 km/h. ASIMO was created at Honda’s Research & Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan. The ASIMO Project has been going on since 1986 with the first being E0 (experimental model 0).Officially, the name, A.S.I.M.O is an acronym for “Advanced Step inInnovative MObility”, and isn’t actually a reference to Isaac Asimov, a science fiction writer and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics. As of 2007, there are 46 ASIMO units in existence. Each one costs less than $1 million to manufacture, and some units are available to be hired out for $166,000 per year.The ASIMO is fitted with the latest recognition software and perform many complex tasks such as Recognition of moving objects, Recognition of postures and gestures, Environment recognition, Distinguishing sounds, and Facial recognition.

Parts of a Robot

Parts of a Robot

Controller – The computer or “brain” of the robot, tells the robot what to do through programs (sets of instructions written in code). Almost all robots are pre-programmed and can only do what they were programmed to do, but a few can do a lot more, and can learn new functions.

Arm – Many (but not all) resemble human arms, and have shoulders, elbows, wrists, even fingers. This gives the robot a lot of ways to position itself in its environment. Each joint is said to give the robot 1 degree of freedom.
So, a simple robot arm with 3 joints would have 3 degrees of freedom, and could move in 3 ways: up and down, left and right, forward and backward.

Drive – The drive is the “engine” that moves the links (the sections between the joints) into their desired position. Without a drive, a robot would just sit there, motionless. Most drives are powered by air, water pressure, or electricity.

End-Effecter – The end-effecter is the “hand” connected to the robot’s arm. It is often different from a human hand – it could be a tool such as a gripper, a vacuum pump, tweezers, scalpel, blowtorch or just about anything that helps it do its job. Some robot’s end-effectors can be changed, and be reprogrammed for a different set of tasks.

Sensor – Sensors provide feedback to a robot to let it do its job properly. Compared to the senses and abilities of even the simplest living things, robots have a very long way to go.
The sensor sends information, in the form of electronic signals back to the controller. Sensors also give the robot information about its surroundings and allows it to know the exact position of the arm, or its surroundings, which may influence its task in hand.

The 6 degrees of freedom

Horizontal
Vertical
Depth
Pitch
Yaw
Roll

Types of Robots

Here are two clearly different types of robots used in two clearly different situations

The Roomba Vacuum Cleaner
The ‘Roomba’ is an autonomous robot Vacuum cleaner. The robot is simply amazing it has up to 120 minutes of power and automatically goes back to its charging station when running low! It increases intensity when it detects dirt and it can adjust to different types of surfaces. When the Roomba bumps into walls or table and chair legs, it will change direction until it finds a path free from obstacles. It can also be controlled by an infra-red remote ! The most important part of the Roomba vacuum cleaner would be its drive; it wouldn’t be an autonomous vacuum cleaner if it couldn’t move by itself. Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a robot which is used to explore deep underwater areas, where people cannot go. They are battery-powered and can operate in water as deep as 6000 meters. The oil and gas industry uses AUVs to make detailed maps of the seafloor before they start building subsea infrastructure. The detailed maps from the AUVs allow the Oil Companies to install pipelines and sub-sea completions in the most cost effective manner with the minimum disruption to the environment. Scientists also use AUVs to study the ocean and the ocean floor. The most important part of the AUV would probably be its sensor. Without the sensor, it would have no use, as it is used to create detailed maps of its surrounding, it cannot do that if it has no sensor.

Purpose and Use of Robots

Industrial Robots

Welding robots
The most popular purpose of robots, is in the welding industry. Since robots just repeat a set of instructions which was designed for accuracy and speed, it’s incredible how much more efficient a robot can do a job rather than a person. In the welding industry a robot can complete two main types of welding, spot welding and arc welding, however laser welding is also implemented sometimes. The automotive industry is a major user of robotic spot welders.

Spray Painting robots
The next most popular purpose of robots, is spray painting robots. The swift and precise movement of the robot can give near perfect quality results, while wasting no paint, therefore are cheaper expense, with greater income. Who wouldn’t want one?

Domestic Robots

Robot Vacuum Cleaners
That’s right, you can now get a robot, that cleans your house for you. With a few minutes of setup, you can relax as your robot vacuum cleaner does all your chores . These robots have sensors in them to avoid collision with pets, furnisher, toys, or even you. They cannot detect stairs and open doors though, so you need to place magnetic strips around your home to prevent them from falling down stairs or leaving your house.

Robot Lawn Mowers
Robot lawn mowers work pretty much the same as robot vacuum cleaners, detect obstacles and work around them. The only difference is, robot lawn mowers don’t use magnetic strips; they use a charged wire that goes around the perimeter of your property

Robots used for entertainment

Robosaurus
The Robosaurus is a 40ft tall robot, designed to perform at Motorsports Events, Airshows, Nascar Tracks, Parades, City Events, Company Sales Promotions, and Theme Parks all over the world. Robosaurus is mostly known for destroying cars, trucks and other motor vehicles. This beast breathes 20ft fingers of flame, incinerating whatever’s in its way.

ASIMO
Created by the car manufacturing company ‘Honda’, ASIMO is known as “world’s most advanced humanoid robot”. With the ability to learn almost anything, ASIMO can run, jump, push, pull, carry objects, avoid obstacles, it can even recharge its own battery when it drops below a certain level. The ASIMO robot is simply amazing.

Repetitive and Dangerous tasks
The T-52 Enryu (sometimes referred to as “Hyper Rescue Robot”) is a five-ton, 3.5 meter tall, hydraulically-operated robot, built to cut a path through debris for rescue workers, in the case of an earthquake or other catastrophe. The T-52 Enryu can lift a ton of weight with its arms alone, and the arms have the full range of movement available to the human arm. The robot is guided by an operator who wears a telefactoring (remote manipulating) gauntlet; the robot arms mimic the actions of the human operator.

Historical perspectives of Robotics

When was the first actual robot invented and used?
The first actual robot was a paint spraying mechanism and was designed by Willard Pollard and Harold Roselund in 1938 for the DeVilbiss Company.

In 1942, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created a set of three imaginary Laws of Robotics. What was the name of the book Asimov wrote in 1942 in which he described the Laws of Robotics?
The book Isaac Asimov wrote was called “Runaround”.

The three laws of Robotics are:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

What is the so-called “Zeroth Law of Robotics? Why is it called the Zeroth Law?
The Zeroth Law of Robotics is: “A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm”. It is called the Zeroth Law in order to keep the pattern of lower numbered laws being more important than higher numbered laws.

What is a Robots and what is Robotics?

A Robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent. It’s usually an electro-mechanical system by its appearance or movements. Robots convey a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word Robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are often shortened to bots. 

Robotics is the science and technology of Robots, their design, manufacture, and application.