Robots
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robot is a machine—especially one
programmable by a computer— capable of carrying out a complex series of
actions automatically. Robots can be guided by an external control device or
the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed on the lines
of human form, but most robots are machines designed to perform a task with no
regard to their aesthetics.
Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and
range from humanoids such as Honda's Advanced Step in Innovative
Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong Playing
Robot (TOPIO) to industrial robots, medical operating robots,
patient assist robots, dog therapy robots, collectively
programmed swarm robots, UAV drones such as General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and even microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a
lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a sense of
intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are
expected to proliferate in the coming decade, with home robotics and
the autonomous car as some of the main drivers.
The branch of technology that deals with the
design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as
computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information
processing is robotics. These technologies deal with automated machines
that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments
or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, or
cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the
field of bio-inspired robotics. These robots have also created a newer
branch of robotics: soft robotics.
From the time of ancient civilization there have
been many accounts of user-configurable automated devices and
even automata resembling animals and humans, designed primarily as
entertainment. As mechanical techniques developed through the Industrial
age, there appeared more practical applications such as automated machines,
remote-control and wireless remote-control.
The term comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning
"forced labor"; the word 'robot' was first used to denote a
fictional humanoid in a 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální
Roboti - Rossum's Universal Robots) by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek but
it was Karel's brother Josef Čapek who was the word's true
inventor. Electronics evolved into the driving force of development with
the advent of the first electronic autonomous robots created by William
Grey Walter in Bristol, England in
1948, as well as Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine tools in the late 1940s by John
T. Parsons and Frank L. Stulen. The first commercial, digital and programmable robot was built by George Devol in 1954 and was named the Unimate. It was sold
to General Motors in 1961 where it
was used to lift pieces of hot metal from die casting machines at the Inland Fisher Guide
Plant in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, New Jersey.
MODERN ROBOTS ARE not
unlike toddlers: It’s hilarious to watch them fall over, but deep down we know
that if we laugh too hard, they might develop a complex and grow up to start
World War III. None of humanity’s creations inspires such a confusing mix of
awe, admiration, and fear: We want robots to make our lives easier and safer,
yet we can’t quite bring ourselves to trust them. We’re crafting them in our
own image, yet we are terrified they’ll supplant us.
But that hesitation is no obstacle to the booming field of
robotics. Robots have finally grown smart enough and physically capable enough
to make their way out of factories and labs to walk and roll and even leap among us. The
machines have arrived.
You may be worried a robot is going to steal your job, and
we get that. This is capitalism, after all, and automation is inevitable. But
you may be more likely to work alongside a
robot in the near future than have one replace you. And even better news:
You’re more likely to make friends with a robot than have one murder you.
Hooray for the future!
The definition of “robot” has been confusing from the very
beginning. The word first appeared in 1921, in Karel Capek’s play R.U.R.,
or Rossum's Universal Robots. “Robot” comes from the Czech for “forced labor.”
These robots were robots more in spirit than form, though. They looked like
humans, and instead of being made of metal, they were made of chemical batter.
The robots were far more efficient than their human counterparts, and also way
more murder-y—they ended up going on a killing spree.
R.U.R. would
establish the trope of the Not-to-Be-Trusted Machine (e.g., Terminator, The
Stepford Wives, Blade Runner, etc.) that
continues to this day—which is not to say pop culture hasn’t embraced
friendlier robots. Think Rosie from The Jetsons. (Ornery,
sure, but certainly not homicidal.) And it doesn’t get much family-friendlier
than Robin Williams as Bicentennial Man.
The real-world definition of “robot” is just as slippery
as those fictional depictions. Ask 10 roboticists and you’ll get 10 answers.
But they do agree on some general guidelines: A robot is an intelligent,
physically embodied machine. A robot can perform tasks autonomously. And a
robot can sense and manipulate its environment.
Robo-cabulary
Human-robot
interaction
A
field of robotics that studies the relationship between people and machines.
For example, a self-driving car could see a stop sign and hit the brakes at the
last minute, but that would terrify pedestrians and passengers alike. By
studying human-robot interaction, roboticists can shape a world in which people
and machines get along without breaking each other.
Singularity
The
hypothetical point where the machines grow so advanced that humans are forced
into a societal and existential crisis.
Multiplicity
The
idea that robots and AI won’t supplant humans, but complement them.
Actuator
Typically,
a combination of an electric motor and a gearbox. Actuators are what power most
robots.
Soft robotics
A
field of robotics that foregoes traditional materials and motors in favor of
generally softer materials and pumping air or oil to move its parts.
Lidar
Lidar,
or light detection and ranging, is a system that blasts a robot’s surroundings
with lasers to build a 3-D map. This is pivotal both for self-driving cars and
for service robots that need to work with humans without running them down.
Humanoid
The classical sci-fi robot.
This is perhaps the most challenging form of robot to engineer, on account of
it being both technically difficult and energetically costly to walk and
balance on two legs. But humanoids may hold promise in rescue operations, where
they’d be able to better navigate an environment designed for humans, like a
nuclear reactor.
Think of a simple drone that you pilot around. That’s no
robot. But give a drone the power to take off and land on its own and sense
objects and suddenly it’s a lot more robot-ish. It’s the intelligence and
sensing and autonomy that’s key.
But it wasn’t until the 1960s that a company built
something that started meeting those guidelines. That’s when SRI International
in Silicon Valley developed Shakey, the first
truly mobile and perceptive robot. This tower on wheels was well-named—awkward,
slow, twitchy. Equipped with a camera and bump sensors, Shakey could navigate a
complex environment. It wasn’t a particularly confident-looking machine, but it
was the beginning of the robotic revolution.
Around the time Shakey was trembling about, robot arms
were beginning to transform manufacturing. The first among them was Unimate, which
welded auto bodies. Today, its descendants rule car factories, performing
tedious, dangerous tasks with far more precision and speed than any human could
muster. Even though they’re stuck in place, they still very much fit our
definition of a robot—they’re intelligent machines that sense and manipulate
their environment.
Robots, though, remained largely confined to factories and
labs, where they either rolled about or were stuck in place lifting objects.
Then, in the mid-1980s Honda started up a humanoid robotics program. It
developed P3, which could walk pretty darn good and also wave and shake hands,
much to the delight of a roomful of suits.
The work would culminate in Asimo, the famed biped, which once tried to take out President Obama with
a well-kicked soccer ball. (OK, perhaps it was more innocent than that.)
Today, advanced robots are popping up everywhere.
For that you can thank three technologies in particular: sensors, actuators,
and AI.
So, sensors. Machines that roll on sidewalks to deliver falafel can
only navigate our world thanks in large part to the 2004 Darpa Grand Challenge,
in which teams of roboticists cobbled together self-driving cars to race through the
desert. Their secret? Lidar, which spews lasers to build a 3-D map of the
world. The ensuing private-sector race to develop self-driving cars has
dramatically driven down the price of lidar, to the point that engineers can
create perceptive robots on the (relative) cheap.
Lidar is often combined with something called machine
vision—2-D or 3-D cameras that allow the robot to build an even better picture
of its world. You know how Facebook automatically recognizes your mug and tags
you in pictures? Same principle with robots. Fancy algorithms allow them to pick out certain landmarks or
objects.
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