Definition and Overview
Robotics is the discipline of technology that spearheads the development, production, utilization, and employment of robots. These robots are machines that can perform jobs without or with a small number of commands. Robotics is extremely multidisciplinary as it integrates the components of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence. The aim is to make machines function in a way that they are either the same as or better than humans in some specific tasks.
Over time, robotics has been a subject that has instilled wonder in many minds. Isaac Asimov, a writer of science fiction, dealt with the mentioned subject in his “Three Laws of Robotics” tales. These regulations were an outline for the ethical behavior in robots as follows:
- A robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human to be injured.
- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except for where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Even though these laws are make-believe, they showcase the fact that ethics are becoming more and more important in robotics.
Characteristics of Robots
Several specific characteristics are vital to guiding the way a robot functions and the works it can do:
- Kinematic Chain: This can be said to be the line of links and joints that come together to form the robot’s hardware. Every point has the flexibility of the body (DoF), what changes it can make are decided by each of them.
- Degree of Freedom (DoF): It stands for the count of the movements that a robot can do without each movement affecting the others. Imagine if a robot with the three DoF could move in three varied directions (for example – up – down, right – left, and front/back)
- Maneuvering Degree: This word shows how well a robot can control its motion. More maneuvering degrees lead to more finely tuned movements that a robot performs that are necessary in difficult assignments.
- Architecture: In this regard, the architecture is the inner setup of the robot, as well as the hardware and control systems included. A robot can be made for a range of applications, for example, for assembly tasks, as a robot arm, or to serve as a mobile navigation robot.
- Precision: (That is, control on the part of the robot in performing tasks accurately.) There are, for instance, robots whose tasks are to build big objects. These use high precision to lift the parts in the right sequence.
- Working Space: The place where a robot can work in is the region within which it can move its arms or space through which it can move. This may be a small confined environment (for instance, an industrial robot arm) or a large one like that of a robot moving around the environment.
- Accessibility: It is, in particular, the cases when humans are involved in the interaction with the robot or the task performance in the environment is affected. For example, the tasks done by robots in the hazardous environments must be easy to be accessed for safety and effectiveness.
- Payload: The robot can bear or move the payload. It is very significant to fields such as manufacturing where the robots pick and carry heavy parts.
Types of Robots
Robots, which found in various designs are used for different tasks, like:
- Articulated Robots: These are robots that look like human arms with a lot of joints (revolute joints). These robots can do anything and they can move in more than one direction, so they are more often used for operations like picking, placing, and assembly lines. A.KUKA’s articulated robot
- Cartesian Robots: The robots that are three-dimensional and move on the axes of the coordinate plane are called the Cartesian robots. They are deployed for many uses such as 3D printing.
- Cylindrical Robots: These robots operate in a cylindrical coordinate system, and they have one rotary joint and one prismatic joint. Cylindrical robots are for tasks like assembly and material handling.
- Polar Robots: A rotary base, along with a polar arm that extends with radial and rotational movement, are the characteristic appearance of polarity robots. Their best possible uses are material movements from one place to another in circular paths.
- SCARA Robots: The robot is a computer-controlled machine which can move in both horizontal and vertical directions and is used in fast and precise activities like assembly and pick-and-place sectors.
- Delta Robots: Delta robots consist of parallel links mounted on a fixed frame. They operate on three axes as well as robots with revolute joints. They are often connected together into six forms to perform packaging, assembly, and manipulation.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Robots
Advantages:
- Efficiency: Robots do not get tired and can fulfil tasks in a shorter time period and with higher precision in comparison to human beings.
- Precision: Robots can precisely carry out the same tasks over and over again thanks to their nearly flawless accuracy, which is particularly important for applications such as electronics assembly where fine detail is required.
- Automation: Robots may extend their responsibilities to the management of the exhausting work or the prevention of the dangerous situations which nowadays are mainly covered by the staff of people who would then be able to move to do more complex things.
Disadvantages :
- Cost: A company may need to spend a lot of resources on deploying robots, e.g., acquisition and maintenance of robots particularly for small firms.
- Maintenance: Despite their design for longevity, they are subject to wear and tear, and occasional repairs are necessary for them to keep performing at optimal levels.
- Job Displacement: The automated operation of tasks can often cause the extinction of positions and the displacement of employees, a situation that appears in the manufacturing industry more often than any other.
Applications of Robotics
Robots are utilized in many industries and domains:
- Manufacturing: Robots are very prominent mainly in the area of assembly lines, welding, painting, and packaging. They have also been producing at a higher rate of products and have been able to maintain their standard of high-quality.
- Healthcare: Robotic machines are such as Da Vincirobots are used as assistants for doctors to carry out high accuracy surgeries. Robots are as well used for mobility, diagnostics, and elder citizen’s care.
- Aerospace and Defense: As explained above, robots are employed in space missions where the risk of human life is too high. For example, Mars rovers are one of the most common applications in this field. Robots are also used for activities such as the elimination of bombs and military missions.
- Agriculture: Robots which are used in agriculture have features that can be used in planting, harvesting, and crop monitoring. Devices such as Agbot are designed to automate the farming process and increase the production of crops by cutting labor costs.
- Service and Assistance: In the present time, robots are increasingly getting involved in the service industries such as hospitality and customer service by serving as the robot waiters in restaurants and the delivery robots in hotels.
Joints and Links in Robotics
Types of Joints:
- Revolute: Serves to rotate about an axis, which for example, a rotating robot arm is an example of.
- Prismatic: Comes under vertical, as it is a movement, which looks like a piston movement.
- Spherical: Serves to rotate about multiple axes.
- Cylindrical: The cylindrical (rookie) robot is capable of combining prismatic and revolute movements, and it is mostly used in cylinder robots.
- Planar: Moves along two dimensions (X and Y axes), mostly used for the robotic arms on flat surfaces.
Types of Links:
- Rigid: The most common type of link is a rigid link, usually made of hard materials.
- Flexible: These links can fold or bend, which can be used by robots to carry out more complicated tasks.
Serial vs. Parallel Structures:
- Serial structures articulate the interconnected links, forming a robot arm-like chain.
- Parallel structures are the ones to connect the joints in parallel during which the robot can execute more complex movements and has redundancy aola Delta robot.
Configurations of Robots
Robot Kinematics:
- Forward Kinematics: A robot that has the joint parameters such as (angles, positions) and it calculates the position and orientation of the robot’s end effector.
- Inverse Kinematics: The joint angle is the quantity required to the position the end effector into the desired position.
Workspace and Reachability: This includes the volume (3D) and area coverage a robot can have while operating. The robot’s workspace is the result of which design and the type of the joints it uses.
Robots in Hazardous Environments
Robots are necessary for the tasks that are nearly impossible to do by humans when it comes to dangerous environments:
- Space: A super intelligent robot like the Mars Rover is used for harsh environments and exploration, in which, taking samples and sending data to the control center are the two forming roles.
- Nuclear Power Stations: Robots assist by maintaining the reactors of a nuclear power station and also by conducting the tasks inaccessible to human beings such as handling radioactive materials or performing the repairs of the inaccessible areas.
- Rescue Operations: There is a possibility of entering trapped buildings or the disaster area and sending people to detect losses or remove those who are within to safety.
- Bomb Disposal: Nowadays, robots are equipped to safely disarm bombs, thus saving the bomb disposal experts from injuries or worse.
Robots are making changes in the industries and are also improving human behavior, as they have a growing influence on our daily lives. With the rapidly advancing technology, future robotics will be used everywhere around and it will be very useful for our lives, which will probably become safer and faster.
