Week 1

1
Robotics History

• 1920 The idea of a robot is not new. For
  thousands of years man has been imagining
  intelligent mechanized devices that perform
  human-like tasks. He has built automatic toys and
  mechanisms and imagined robots in drawings,
  books, plays and science fiction movies.

2
Robotics History
What is the definition of a 'robot'?
"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator
designed to move material, parts, tools, or
specialized devices through various programmed
motions for the performance of a variety of
tasks" Robot Institute of America, 1979
Where did the word 'robot' come from?

• In fact, the term "robot" was first used in
  1920 in a play called "R.U.R." Or "Rossum's
  universal robots" by the Czech writer Karel
  Capek. The plot was simple man makes robot then
  robot kills man! Many movies that followed
  continued to show robots as harmful, menacing
  machines.

3
Robotics History
Robotics Terminology

• The term 'robotics' refers to the study and
  use of robots. The term was coined and first used
  by the Russian-born American scientist and writer
  Isaac Asimov (born Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6,
  1992). Asimov wrote prodigiously on a wide
  variety of subjects. He was best known for his
  many works of science fiction.

• The most famous include I Robot (1950), The
  Foundation Trilogy (1951-52), Foundation's Edge
  (1982), and The Gods Themselves (1972), which won
  both the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also wrote
  the three Laws of Robotics for which he is also
  famous.

4
Robotics History

• More recent movies, however, like the 1977
  "star wars", portray robots such as "C3PO" and
  "R2D2" as man's helpers. "Number five" in the
  movie "short circuit" and C3PO actually take on a
  human appearance. These robots,
• which are made to look.
• human are called "androids".

5
Robotics History

• However, robots of today are not exactly the
  walking, talking intelligent machines of of
  movies, stories and our dreams. Today, we find
  most robots working for people in factories,
  warehouses, and laboratories. In the future,
  robots may show up in other places our schools,
  our homes, even our bodies.

6
Robotics History

• Today fully functioning androids are many
  years away due to the many problems that must be
  solved. However, real, working, sophisticated
  robots are in use today and they are
  revolutionizing the workplace. These robots do
  not resemble the romantic android concept of
  robots. They are industrial manipulators and are
  really computer controlled "arms and hands".

7
Robotics History

• Robots have the potential to change our
  economy, our health, our standard of living, our
  knowledge and the world in which we live. As the
  technology progresses, we are finding new ways to
  use robots.

Each new use brings new hope and possibilities,
but also potential dangers and risks.
8
Robotics History
Benefits of Robots

• Robots offer specific benefits to workers,
  industries and countries. If introduced
  correctly, industrial robots can improve the
  quality of life by freeing workers from dirty,
  boring, dangerous and heavy labor.

9
Robotics History

• Robotics for bio-production

• Many robots for bio-production have been
  developed in the world and it is predicted that
  they will be commercialized in the 21st century,
  since some of them were already commercialized by
  some companies in Japan and European countries. A
  tomato and cherry tomato harvesting robot, a
  cucumber harvesting robot, strawberry harvesting
  robots, a multi-operation robot to work in
  grapevine yard, and a chrysanthemum cutting
  sticking robot.

10
Robotics History
EMT

• HAZBOT III is part of JPL's Emergency
  Response Robotics Project, a five-year effort
  begun in 1991 to apply robotics technology to the
  safe handling of hazardous materials. Robots such
  as HAZBOT also hold potential for use in mining
  and law enforcement. "It's almost standard now to
  have robots on bomb squads in major cities, but
  it took several years for the idea to catch on,"
  said Richard Welch, task manager of Emergency
  Response Robotics at JPL.

11
Robotics History
And Future

• Future missions to space will include many
  robotic vehicles designed to perform specific
  tasks both autonomous and remote controlled.

12
Robotics History
And Future

• The Mars 2003 Rover Project is designed to have
  two scientific rovers going to Mars in 2003. Each
  rover will search for evidence of liquid water
  that may have been present in Mars past. The
  rovers will be identical to each other, but will
  land at different regions of Mars.

13
Robotics History

• The planet Saturn, with its famous icy rings, and
  its enigmatic moon, Titan, are the prime
  scientific targets of the international Cassini
  mission, the most ambitious and far-reaching
  planetary exploration ever mounted.

• NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully
  launched on October 15, 1997. Its robotic rover
  is expected to land on Saturn in October of
  2004.

14
Robotics History
Jobs

• Enter the exciting world of robotics here!
  Learn here how NASA is using robotics and
  telerobotics to learn more about Earth and other
  planets.

15
Robotics History
Jobs

• NASA Programs
• JPL's Robotics Program
• Intelligent Mechanisms Group (IMG)
• NASA Space Telerobotics Program
• Other Careers
• Automation
• Animatronics
• Bioscience
• Mechanical Engineer

16
Robotics History
Robotic Terminology

• Articulated - Jointed arm.
• End Effector - Device at the end of a robot arm
  that is used to grasp or engage objects.
• Degrees of freedom - Each plane in which a robot
  can maneuver.
• Robot - Mechanical device that performs human
  tasks, either automatically or by remote control.
  (From the Czech word robota.)
• Robotics - Study and application of robot
  technology.
• Telerobotics - Robot that is operated remotely.

17
Robotics Glossary

• Au-ton-o-mous adj.
• Not controlled by others or by outside forces
  independent an autonomous judiciary an
  autonomous division of a corporate conglomerate.
• Independent in mind or judgment self-directed.
• Independent of the laws of another state or
  government self-governing.
• Of or relating to a self-governing entity an
  autonomous legislature.
• Self-governing with respect to local or internal
  affairs an autonomous region of a country.

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18
Robotics Glossary

• android \An"droid\ (an"droid),
• A machine or automaton in the form of a human
  being.
• Possessing human features. n.
• An automaton that is created from biological
  materials and resembles a human being. Also
  called humanoid.

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