Robots of Today

                    “Robot” Etymology

The word "Robot" comes from the 1921 play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots)by the Czech writer Karel Capek (pronounced"chop'ek").   "Robot" comes from the Czech word "robota", meaning "forced labor." 

The word "robotics" also comes from science fiction - it first
appeared in the short story "Runaround" (1942) by Isaac Asimov. 

        

          Robots and Ethics

                     Isaac Asimov’s 1983 novel   “I Robot”

Robots and Ethics

* Law Zero: The robot stories of Isaac Asimov

 introduced the "three laws of robotics."  Later, he added 

the "zeroth" law.

  A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, 

        allow humanity to come to harm.


* Law One:

 A robot may not injure a human being, or,

through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm,

unless this would violate a higher order law.

     * Law Two: 

      A robot must obey orders given it by human beings,

      except where such orders would confict with a higher order law. 


     * Law Three: 

     A robot must protect its own existence aas long

     as such protection does not conflict with

     higher order law.

        Robots and Ethics

               Steven Spielberg’s “Artificial Intelligence”

 

In the beginning…

Robots were designed to be a replacement for repetitive, labor oriented tasks

Humans are slow, imprecise, prone to injury and have physical and emotional limitations.

Machines are fast, precise, durable and their limitations make them ideally suited to repetitive/dangerous tasks

             Industrial Robots

The first modern industrial robots were probably

 the "Unimates", created by George Devol and 

Joe Engleberger in the 1950's and 60's.

  Engleberger started the first robotics company,

 called "Unimation",and has been called the

"father of robotics." 

Industrial Robots

Medical Robots

A human would not be able to make a hole exactly  

one 100th of a inch wide and long. 

When making medicines, robots can do the job much 

faster and more accurately than.

Also, a robot can be more delicate than a human. 

This bionic arm can do things like picking up fragile 

items such as a glass, just by the wearer just thinking 

about it. 

The arm is connected directly to the brain, so a 

person can use it like any other appendage. 

                

nElectrodes intercept the limb's residual nerve 

firings

 and feed them to a computer embedded in the

 forearm, which then commands six motors 

to move the device's shoulder, elbow and hand in 

unison.

 Thanks to hand sensors, the wearer can even

 gauge pressure and fine-tune his grip. 

  I, iBot

Dean Kamen invented what he calls “the

 world’s most sophisticated robot” to transport 

people with mobility impairments places they

 never thought they could go.

nTank Chair is a custom off-road wheelchair that can

go anywhere outdoors. Conquers streams, mud,

 snow, sand, and gravel, allowing you to get back to

 nature, and can also climb up and down stairs.   

Exploring Robots

nThe "Odyssey IIb" submersible robot is shown suspended in a tank. 

nThe inset shows the "Sojourner" microrover robot being repaired.  Sojourner landed on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1998 .

They store up muscle energy, so to speak, and then they boink themselves off in various directions.

They create a cellular communication network, on a node-to-node basis. 

We're envisioning a fleet of these little guys being sent to some promising landing site.

            Wall Climbing and Manipulating Robot

robotic automatic weather stations (AWS).

Security Robots

Remotec  Mine-Disposal Robots

John Bloomfield's prototype guardian robot 

nDeveloped by SARCOS, this wearable robot suit fits

around your body like an exoskeleton, enabling soldiers to

easily lift 200-pounds with little effort.

        Security Robots

1.  iRobot’s rugged and versatile robots handle dangerous tasks and keep personnel safe .

2.Police need certain types of robots for bomb

disposal and for bringing video cameras and microphones

into dangerous areas, where a human policeman might get

hurt or killed. 

3.The military also uses robots for (1) locating and

destroying mines on land and in water, (2) entering enemy

bases to gather information, and (3) spying on enemy

troops .

             Helping Robots 

  Friendly Robotics Robomow

IRobot Scooba

IRobot Looj

Helping Robots

 Tug, an assistive robot, helps shuttle supplies around hospitals.

 And one day, Tug might bring supplies to this Da Vinci surgery robot.

 Robots like Boston Dynamics' Atlas can offer disaster relief where humans can't.

                   

Harvest Automation's robots could become the new farmers

                

                Helping Robots

The HelpMate robots, made by the San Diego-based 

Pyxis Corp., can cart around hospital items, such as

food trays, pharmaceuticals, lab specimens, X-rays,

bandages and blankets. 

They save nurses trips to cafeterias, pharmacies and 

central supply areas. 

Saves hospitals the costs of human couriers.

               Cooperative Robots

Why build cooperating robots?

nDecreased cost (through simpler individual robot

design)

nDecreased task completion time (through

parallelism)

nIncreased reliability, robustness (through

redundancy)

nIncreased scope for missions inherently distributed in:

nSpace

nTime

nFunctionality 

Characterized as intelligent systems

that integrate perception, reasoning, and action to 

perform cooperative tasks under circumstances that 

are insufficiently known in advance, and dynamically

 changing during task execution.

              Cooperative robotics

nA self-assembly and reconfiguring truss system that 

can be used in construction type activities.

Application Domain

nmining

nconstruction

nplanetary exploration

nSimulation and modeling

nautomated manufacturing

nsearch and rescue missions

ncleanup of hazardous waste

nindustrial/household maintenance

nnuclear power plant decommissioning

nsecurity, surveillance, and reconnaissance

         Toy Robots

   Drive robot manually via web browser with live 

video feed

   Built in proximity sensors can be toggled on or off

 to assist when   driving the robot manually

   Archive video on demand or via   schedule

   Control access to robot and video feed   via multiple

 user accounts

   Roving mode allows autonomous   exploration with

 basic vision   detection

   Wireless control up to 300 feet from   host 

computer

   Fully open source and programmable .

 

             I, Robot