Robotic Application Development

A Robot is
An electromechanical device that is:

• Reprogrammable
• Multifunctional
• Sensible for environment
 A Robot is
• A machine
– programmable by a computer
– capable of carrying out a complex series of actions
automatically
– guided by an external control device or an
embedded controller
– constructed to take on human form or machine
form
 ROBOT
• There’s no precise definition, but by general agreement,
Robots — machines with sensing, intelligence and
mobility.
• To be qualified as a robot, a machine has to be able to:
1) Sensing and perception: get information from its
surroundings

2) Carry out different tasks: Locomotion or manipulation, do

something physical–such as move or manipulate objects

3) Re-programmable: can do different things

4) Function autonomously and interact with human beings

 ROBOT
• Defined by Robotics Industry Association (RIA) as
– a re-programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed to
move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through
variable programmed motion for a variety of tasks

• Some robots possess certain anthropomorphic

characteristics
– mechanical arm
– sensors to respond to input
– Intelligence to make decisions
What is a Robot: I
Manipulator

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 What is a Robot: II

Legged Robot Wheeled Robot

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 What is a Robot: III

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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 What Can Robots Do: I

Jobs that are dangerous

for humans

Decontaminating Robot
Cleaning the main circulating pump housing
in the nuclear power plant
 What Can Robots Do: II

Repetitive jobs that are

boring, stressful, or labor-
intensive for humans

Welding Robot
 What Can Robots Do: III

Manual tasks that human

don’t want to do

The SCRUBMATE Robot

 The Three Laws of Robotics
1. A robot may not harm a human, or through inaction allow a
human to come to harm, unless this interferes with the
zeroth law.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by a human being

unless such orders interfere with the zeroth or first laws.

3. A robot must defend its own existence unless such defence

interferes with the zeroth, first or second laws.

0th Law : A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction

allow humanity to come to harm.
 Types of Robots
• Robots can be categorized
1. by their application
2. by the way they move
 Types of robots by application
• Industrial robots - used in an industrial manufacturing
environment.
– Usually these are articulated arms specifically developed for
applications like welding, material handling, painting and
automated guided vehicles (Line following robots)
• Domestic or household robots - Robots used at home.
– many quite different devices such as robotic vacuum cleaners,
robotic pool cleaners, sweepers, gutter cleaners and etc... Also,
some surveillance and telepresence robots could be regarded
as household robots if used in that environment.
Types of robots by application

• Military robots
– bomb disposal robots, different transportation robots,
reconnaissance drones. Robots can be used in law
enforcement, search and rescue and other related fields.

• Entertainment robots
– This is a very broad category. It starts with toy robots such
as robosapien or the running alarm clock and ends with
real heavyweights such as articulated robot arms used as
motion simulators.
Types of robots by application

• Space robots
– This type would include robots used on the International
Space Station, Canadarm that was used in Shuttles, as well
as Mars rovers and other robots used in space.

• Hobby and competition robots

– Line followers, sumo-bots, robots made just for fun and
robots made for competition.
Types of robots by application

• Medical robots - Robots used in medicine and medical

institutions.
– surgery robots, some automated guided vehicles and maybe
lifting aides.

• Service robots - Robots that don’t fall into other types

by usage.
– data gathering robots, robots made to show off technologies,
robots used for research, etc.
Types of robots by locomotion & kinematics
 In-class Exercise
• As a group, discuss an activity that you think could be
automated by using a robot.

• Define the tasks that the robot will perform.

• What kind of special tooling is required? Sketch if

you will use any.

• Can the activity be justified economically? Show your

development – do not simply say yes or no.
 History of Robotics

≈60 A.D. – Hero of Alexandria designs the first

automated programmable machine. These 'Automata'
were made from a container of gradually releasing
sand connected to a spindle via a string. By using
different configurations of these pulleys, it was possible
to repeatedly move a statue on a pre-defined path.
 History of Robotics

≈ 1250 - Bishop Albertus Magnus holds

banquet at which guests were served by metal
attendants. Upon seeing this, Saint Thomas
Aquinas smashed the attendants to bits and
called the bishop a sorcerer.

1640 - Descartes builds a female automaton

which he calls “Ma fille Francine.” She
accompanied Descartes on a voyage and
was thrown overboard by the captain, who
thought she was the work of Satan.

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 History of Robotics

1738 - Jacques de Vaucanson builds a

mechanical duck made of more that
4,000 parts. The duck could quack,
bathe, drink water, eat grain, digest it and
void it. Whereabouts of the duck are
unknown today.

1805 - Doll, made by Maillardet, that

wrote in either French or English and
could draw landscapes.

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 History of Robotics

1898 - The first radio-controlled submersible boat was invented by

Nikola Tesla.

1921 - 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. Robot comes from the Czech word
robota, which means “servitude, forced labor.”

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 History of Robotics
Robotics was first introduced into our vocabulary by Czech playwright
Karel Capek in his 1920’s play Rossum’s Universal Robots.

The word “robota” in Czech means simply work. Robots as machines

that resemble people, work tirelessly, and revolt against their creators. .

The same myth/concept is found in

many books/movies today:
“Terminator”, “Star-Wars” series.
Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein.
Frankenstein & The Borg are examples
Karel Capek of “cybernetic organisms”.

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 History of Robotics

1940 - Sparko, the Westinghouse dog, uses both

mechanical and electrical components.

1941 - Isaac Asimov introduced the word 'Robotics' in the

science fiction short story 'Liar!‘

1948 - William Grey Walter builds Elmer and Elsie, two of

the earliest autonomous robots with the appearance of
turtles. The robots used simple rules to produce complex
behaviors.

Cybernetics is a discipline that was created in the late

1940’s by Norbert Wiener, combining feedback control
theory, information sciences and biology to try to explain
the common principles of control and communications in
both animals and machines.

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 History of Robotics

1950`s - Computer technology advances and control machinery is

developed.
Questions Arise: Is the computer an immobile robot?

1954 - The first silicon transistor was produced by Texas

Instruments.

1954 – George Devol replaced the slave manipulator in a

teleoperator with the programmability of the CNC controller, thus
creating the first “industrial robot”, called the “Programmable
Article Transfer Device”.

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 History of Robotics

1955 – The Darmouth Summer Research Conference marks

the birth of AI. Marvin Minsky, from the AI lab at MIT defines an
intelligent machine as one that would tend to “build up within
itself an abstract model of the environment in which it is placed.
If it were given a problem, it could first explore solutions within
the internal abstract model of the environment and then attempt
external experiments”. This approach dominated robotics
research for the next 30 years.

1956 - Researchers aim to combine “perceptual and problem-

solving capabilities,” using computers, cameras, and touch
sensors. The idea is to study the types of intelligent actions
these robots are capable of. A new discipline is born: A.I.

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 History of Robotics

1956 - Joseph Engleberger, a Columbia physics student buys

the rights to Devol’s robot and founds the Unimation Company.

1956 - George Devol applied for a patent for the first

programmable robot, later named 'Unimate'.

1957 - Launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1.

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 History of Robotics

I, Robot

Sputnik I
Turtle robot

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 History of Robotics
• 1960`s - Industrial Robots created. Robotic Industries
Association states that an “industrial robot is a re-programmable,
multifunctional manipulator designed to move materials, parts,
tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed
motions to perform a variety of tasks”.

Robot Institute of America, 1979

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 History of Robotics
• 1961 - The first Unimate robot is installed in a Trenton, NJ General
Motors plant to tend a die casting machine. The key was the
reprogrammability and retooling of the machine to perform different tasks.
The Unimate robot was an innovative mechanical design based on a multi-
degree of freedom cantilever beam. The beam flexibility presented
challenges for control. Hydraulic actuation was eventually used to alleviate
precision problems.

• 1962 – 1963 – The introduction of sensors is seen as a way to enhance

the operation of robots. This includes force sensing for stacking blocks
(Ernst, 1961), vision system for binary decision for presence of obstacles
in the environment (McCarthy 1963), pressure sensors for grasping
(Tomovic and Boni, 1962). Robot interaction with an unstructured
environment at MIT’s AI lab (Man and Computer – MAC project).

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 History of Robotics

• 1965 - Gordon E. Moore introduces the concept 'Moore's law', which

predicts the number of components on a single chip would double
every two years.
• 1966 – 1968 'Shakey‘, a mobile robot is developed by SRI (Stanford
Research Institute). 'Shakey' was capable of planning, route-finding
and moving objects. It was placed in a special room with specially
colored objects. A vision system would recognize objects and pushed
objects according to a plan. This planning software was STRIPS, and it
maintained and updated a world model. The robot had pan/tilt and focus
for the camera, and bump sensors.
• 1968 – Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan acquires a license for
Unimate.
• 1969 - The Apollo 11 mission, puts the first man on the moon.
Landing was made inside the Lunar Module 'Eagle'.

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 History of Robotics

Unimate 1 Shakey

Moon Walk

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 History of Robotics
• 1970 - Luna 17 lands on the moon, carrying the roving remote-
controlled robot, Lunokhod 1.

• 1971 - Intel introduce the first commercially available microprocessor,

the 4004.

• 1971 -1973 – The Stanford Arm is developed, along with the first
language for programming robots - WAVE.

• 1972 – First snake-like robot – ACM III – Hirose – Tokyo Inst. Of Tech.

• 1970’s – JPL develops its first planetary exploration Rover using a TV

camera, laser range finder and tactile sensors.

• 1975 - The space probes Viking 1 and 2 were launched each with an
articulated robot arm.

• 1976 - The film Star Wars is released introducing R2-D2 and C-3PO.
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 History of Robotics

• 1977 – Development of mobile robot Hilaire at Laboratoise

d’Automatique et d’Analyse des Systemes (LAAS) in
Toulouse, France. This mobile robot had three wheels and it is
still in use.

Two famous robots:

• 1978- Puma (Programmable Universal Machine for
Assembly), by Unimation.

• 1979 - SCARA (Selective Compliant Articulated Robot for

Assembly) introduced in Japan and the US (by Adept
Technologies).

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History of Robotics - PUMA

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History of Robotics - SCARA

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 History of Robotics

• 1980’s – Innovation in improving the performance of robot arms –

feedback control to improve accuracy, program compliance, the
introduction of personal computers as controllers, and
commercialization of robots by a large number of companies: KUKA
(Germany), IBM 7535, Adept Robot (USA), Hitachi, Seiko (Japan).

• Early 1980’s – Multi-fingered hands developed, Utah-MIT arm (16

DOF) developed by Steve Jacobsen, Salisbury’s hand (9 dof).

• 1977-1983 – Stanford cart/CMU rover developed by Hans Moravec,

later on became the Nomad mobile robot.

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 History of Robotics

• 1980’s – Legged and hopping robots (BIPER – Shimoyama) and

Raibert 1986.

• 1984 -1991 – V. Braitenberg revived the tortoise mobile

robots of W. Grey Walter creating autonomous robots
exhibiting behaviors. Hogg, Martin and Resnick at MIT create
mobile robots using LEGO blocks (precursor to LEGO
Mindstorms). Rodney Brooks at MIT creates first insect robots
at MIT AI Lab – birth of behavioral robotics.

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 History of Robotics

• 1986 - Honda starts work on its first humanoid, robot named

'E0' (later to become ASIMO).
• 1988 - SCAMP designed as the first robot pet with emotions.
• 1989 - Mark Tilden introduces BEAM robotics, beam being an
acronym for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics.
• ‘90: modifiable robots for assembly. Mobile autonomous
robots. Vision controlled robots. Walking robots.
• 1991 - First HelpMate mobile autonomous robot used in
hospitals.

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 History of Robotics

• 1990’s – Humanoid robots – Cog, Kismet (MIT), Wasubot,

WHL-I – Japan, Honda P2 (1.82m, 210kg), and P3 (1.6m,
130kg), ASIMO.

• 1990’s – Entertainment and Education Robots – SARCOS

(“Jurassic Park”), Sony AIBO, LEGO Mindstorms, Khepera,
Parallax.

• ROBOCUP, the competition simulating the game of soccer

played by two teams of robots having been held around the
world since 1997 (Osaka) .

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 History of Robotics

• 1997 - Sojourner becomes the first rover to land on

Mars as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission.
• 1998 - Lego enters the robotics market with its first
version of Lego Mindstorms.
• 1999 - Sony introduces AIBO, an autonomous robotic
dog capable of seeing, walking and interacting with
its environment. This was followed a year later by the
SDR-3X humanoid robot later known as QRIO (both
discontinued in 2006).

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 History of Robotics

• 1990’s – Introduction of space robots (manipulators as well as

rovers – the MARS rover 1996), parallel manipulators
(Stewart-Gough Platforms), multiple manipulators, precision
robots (“Robotworld”), surgical robots (“RoboDoc”), first
service robots (as couriers in hospitals, etc)

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 History of Robotics
• 2000 - Honda unveils ASIMO, the first non-prototype
release of its humanoid robot.

• 2001 - US Air force test the MQ-1 Predator, the first

armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fitted with two
Hellfire missiles.

• 2000’s – IRobot introduces the first autonomous vacuum

– “Roomba”.

• 2000’s – Mini and micro robots, “Smart Dust” – Pister @

Berkeley, UTA, EPFL/Lausanne, microfactories.

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 History of Robotics

• 2000’s – Military applications - Robotic assistants for

dangerous environments and reconnaissance, AUV’s
and UUV’s, etc.

• 2000’s – Intuitive Surgical introduces the Da Vinci

surgical robot.

• 2000’s – Robotic Deployment of Sensor Networks

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 History of Robotics

Lunokhod 1 Intel 4004 R2-D2 and C-3PO

Asimo Sojourner Lego Mindstorms

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 History of Robotics

Sony AIBO
MQ-1 Predator

Sony QRIO

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 History of Robotics
• 2002 - iRobot introduces Roomba, a personal robotic vacuum
cleaner.
• 2003 - Osaka University unveils their first 'Actroid', the term
given for a humanoid robot with strong visual human
characteristics.
• 2004 - The first DARPA Grand challenge is help. Sponsored by
the US department of defence, the challenge is designed to
create autonomous vehicles for warfare.
• 2004 - The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity land on Mars. As
of November 25th 2009 The rover Spirit has completed 2150
days of its 92 day (90 sol) mission.
• 2010 - NASA and General Motors join forces to develop
Robonaut-2, the new version of NASA's humanoid robot
astronaut.

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 History of Robotics

Actroid

Robonaut-2

Mars Exploration Rover

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 History of Robotics
Should robots look like humans?
“anthropomorphic or humanoid robots”.
Need for these machines to also be
intelligent - link to “Artificial Intelligence
(AI)”.

Need for humans to create machines

similar to them is rooted in religious beliefs,
recommended reading “God in the
Machine” by Anne Foerst

It is not the appearance of the robot that

most connects it to humans: HAL in “Space
Odyssey 2001”, Lt. Data in “Startrek-
TNG”, R2D2 and C3PO in “Star Wars”.
Which one is more “likeable” and why?

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 Robotics disciplines

Robotics is a multi-disciplinary field. Best robotics

researchers and engineers will touch upon all disciplines.

• Mechanical Engineering – concerned primarily with

manipulator/mobile robot design, kinematics, dynamics,
compliance and actuation.
• Electrical Engineering – concerned primarily with robot
actuation, electronic interfacing to computers and
sensors, and control algorithms.
• Computer Science – concerned primarily with robot
programming, planning, and intelligent behavior.
• Many other

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Watch videos:

• KUKA, spot welding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3o_BXtRa_Q
• KUKA dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-sKs_TzN0
• Industrial robotics
• Arc welding robot
• ASIMO
• CyberDog
• Robot-Araigne
• Hexapod Robot
• Hexapod Project
• MTRAN Modular Robot
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