CTEC1414 Lecture 19

1. phones off(please) CTEC1414Lecture 19 Robotics Introduction to Robots Dr John Cowell

2. Overview • What is a Robot? • Static Robots v Mobile Robots • Environments • Robots in: • Industry • Education/Entertainment • Exploration • The future?

3. What is a Robot?

4. What is a Robot? • The word ‘robot’ was originated in 1921 by the author Karel Capek, from the Czech ‘robota’ meaning “forced labour” • ‘robotics’ appeared in 1942 in a novel by Isaac Asimov • According to the Japanese Industrial Robot Association (JIRA), robots are defined as • class 1: manual handling devices • device with several degrees of freedom actuated by operator • class 2: fixed sequence robot • handling device which performs the successive stages of a task according to a predetermined, unchanging method, which is difficult to modify

5. More Definitions • JIRA robot definitions, continued • class 3: variable sequence robot • as class 2, but the stages can be easily modified • class 4: playback robot • the robot can repeat (playback) a sequence of tasks recorded from a human operator leading or controlling the robot • class 5: numerical control robot • human operator supplies the robot with a movement program • class 6: intelligent robot • a robot with the means to understand its environment and the ability to complete tasks despite changes in conditions • The Robotics Institute of America (RIA) considers only machines in class 3 and above to be robots

6. Why Study Robotics? • Two main reasons • applied • to create robots to be used in various environments • industrial/commercial • educational/entertainment • medical • underwater • planetary exploration • nuclear power stations • bomb disposal • theoretical • to investigate intelligent behaviour • artificial intelligence • cognitive science • psychology

7. Static Robots v Mobile Robots

8. What are Static & Mobile Robots? • Robots are either • Static • fixed in place • eg industrial assembly • Mobile • the robot moves! • Both may have a certain amount of autonomy, but mobile robots usually require more • but there can be some difficulty with communication • eg underwater, in space • speed

9. Static Robots • Widely used in industry • generally fixed in place • usually have a range of interchangeable tools • welding, placing, fixing, shaping, etc • need just enough programming to do the specified job • basic are Computer Numerically Controlled machines

10. Autonomous Mobile Robots • Dictionary definitions of ‘autonomous’ • undertaken without outside control • carry on-board sensors, controllers and power supplies • for example, automated guided vehicles (AGV’s) that operate in factories by following tracks to move parts & equipment • ‘weak autonomy’ • having the power of self-government • able to adapt to changing environments • determine its course of action by its own reasoning process • the ability to build internal representations of the world • the ability to learn from experience and plan new actions • ‘strong autonomy’ / ‘intelligent mobile robots’

11. What is Intelligence? • Intelligence is very difficult to define • The extent to which we regard something as behaving in an intelligent manner is determined as much by our own state of mind and training as by the properties of the object under consideration. • If we are able to explain and predict its behaviour or if there seems to be little underlying plan, we have little temptation to imagine intelligence. • With the same object, therefore, it is possible that one man would consider it as intelligent and another would not; the second man would have found out the rules of its behaviour. • Alan Turing, 1947

12. Components of a Robot • A robot comprises three main component classes • sensors • a device giving a signal for the detection or measurement of a physical property to which it responds • O.E.D. • provides the inputs to the robot • software • programmed behaviour(s); data and ‘memory’ • makes decisions for the robot • actuators • a thing which moves to mechanical action, communicates motion to, or impels (an instrument, machine, or agent) • effects the outputs from the robot • eg motors, lights, sound, etc

13. General Purpose Robots? • A general purpose robot is not possible • a general purpose living thing does not exist • humans are the most intelligent (???) • but humans are poor at • flying (c.f. swallow, swift, Arctic tern, housefly) • swimming (c.f. tuna, sperm whale) but humans are • surviving (c.f. scorpions, ants) excellent generalisers! • A robot’s function and operation are defined by its own behaviour within a specific environment, taking into account a specific task • only the simultaneous description of a robot, its task and the environment describes the robot completely

14. Environments

15. robot task environment Relationships • A robot, its task and the environment all depend on, and influence, each other • e.g. • a spider in the bath! • quantum physics

16. Environment Types • There are many different types of environment in which a robot may be required to operate • Environments are typically categorised by their degree of structure • Although there is no solidly accepted definition of structures, environments can be split into one of the following categories • structured • partially structured • unstructured

17. Structured Environments • A structured environment has been specially designed for the robot to operate in • e.g. • an artificial maze • a factory floor with in-built ‘tracks’ to follow • an exact description of the environment can be supplied to the robot during its design phase • very little or perhaps no sensor data may be required • There are usually no unexpected or unplanned dynamic aspects to the environment • the environment does not change • the robot has been ‘told’ in advance of how and when the environment will change, and how to deal with it

18. Unstructured Environments • Complex environments for which no models or maps exist, or can even be accurately generated • robots generally operate purely in response to real-time sensor data • Such environments usually have significant dynamic changes • natural, real-world as opposed to artificially created • may have unknown attributes • e.g. deep-sea exploration • or may be almost entirely unknown • e.g. planetary probes

19. Partially Structured • Somewhere between the previous two extremes! • an environment which may be modelled to a certain extent, but with insufficient model detail to fully support task completion • Possibly, the static component of the environment has been modelled, but the dynamic changes are unpredictable and must be sensed • for example, a factory floor with in-built ‘tracks’ to follow, but with unpredictable (e.g. human) obstacles to avoid • the second Mars explorer!

20. Robots in Industry

21. Assembly Line Robots • Probably the most common use of robots is on assembly/production lines in factories • Robots don’t get bored or tired • or take industrial action • Most of these industrial robots are multi-purpose • they can be used for a variety of jobs • assembly, welding, cutting, milling, etc Building a 7-series BMW

22. Robots in Education/Entertainment

23. Robots in Films • Many of our present concerns/worries have been created by the appearance of robots in films • Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) • Maria (left) • the first ‘artificial human’ in film • apparently George Lucas based C3PO on her • Forbidden Planet • Robbie the Robot (right) • The Day the Earth Stood Still • Gort • interstellar policeman • Terminator (&T2, T3) • from the future to change history • I, Robot (movie) • based on the writings of I Asimov • the robotic brain broke the ‘3 Laws of Robotics’

24. Fischertechnik • Make a range of educational/industrial simulation kits • Can make a complete production line from plug-together components! • The claim is that a company can test before ordering the real thing! • Also used for training • Gotohttp://www.fischertechnik.com/

25. Robot Dogs • Sony made the AIBO® Entertainment Robot ($1899) • In autonomous mode, the ERS-7M2 walks more fluidly, plays soccer with its Pink Ball, plays with its AIBOne, sits, lies down, rights itself, and even self-charges. The ERS-7M2 also uses its Illume-Face, tail, ears, lights, and MIDI sounds to express a wide variety of emotions and instincts to entertain you. The ERS-7M2 also now pays special attention to 3 owners and remembers AIBO’s favorite place thanks to new voice and visual recognition technology. http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=ERS7M2%2fW&Dept=AIBO&CategoryName=aibo_AIBOs_7%2fWSeries#features

26. Lego MindStorm • RCX – programmable ‘brick’ • 3 inputs, 3 outputs • PC interface and IDE – RoboLab • Transfer program to RCX via an InfraRed port

27. Robots as Explorers

28. Inaccessible areas • There are many areas that are difficult or dangerous for humans to go • underwater, planetary exploration, nuclear power stations, bomb disposal • Small, inexpensive (!) and easily replaceable robots can be used instead

29. Space Exploration • Mars landers • Sojourner (17/7/97) • Mars Rover (4/1/2004) • Titan (Saturn’s Moon • Huygens (with Cassini) Sojourner Huygens is the gold dome on the side of Cassini. Note the size of Cassini Mars Rover

30. Robots Underwater • Building SubMarine robots is all about water proofing • http://orionrobots.co.uk/tiki-index.php?page=SubMarine • Radio control is difficult underwater, so a high degree of autonomous programming is required • E.g. • unmanned submarines • robotic fish • mine clearance ‘crabs’ • mineral extraction • exploration/recovery • E.g. Titanic and Bismark • tourism

31. The Future?

32. Nano Robots • A team of New York University researchers has taken a major step in building a more robust, controllable machine from DNA, the genetic material of all living organisms • Constructed from synthetic DNA molecules, the device improves upon previously developed nano-scale DNA devices because it allows for better-controlled movement within larger DNA constructs • The researchers say that the new device may help build the foundation for the development of sophisticated machines at a molecular scale, ultimately evolving to the development of nano-robots that might some day build new molecules, computer circuits or fight infectious diseases. • http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nanotech-02a.html

33. Robots in Medicine • Nanodevices will be used for the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens • They will have a diameter of about 0.5 to 3 microns and will be constructed out of parts with dimensions in the range of 1 to 100 nanometers • The main element used will be carbon in the form of diamond/fullerene nanocomposites because of the strength and chemical inertness of these forms • A navigational network may be installed in the body, with stationkeeping navigational elements providing high positional accuracy to all passing nanorobots that interrogate them, wanting to know their location • enables the physician to keep track of the various devices in the body • When the task of the nanorobots is completed, they can be retrieved by allowing them to exfuse themselves via the usual human excretory channels • they can also be removed by active scavenger systems • http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/bombay/news3/page4.html

34. Useful Web-sites • There are many robotics web-sites • start from, for example • http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/cs/robotics • http://spider.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~parsons/courses/840-fall-2004/robots.html • LEGO Mindstorms • http://www.legomindstorms.com • Androids • http://www.androidworld.com/prod02.htm

35. Books • Mobile Robotics: A Practical Introduction • Ulrich Nehmzow, Springer, 2000, ISBN: 1-85233-173-9 • very heavily biased towards neural network control • The Unofficial Guide to LEGO Mindstorms Robots • J.B. Knudsen, O’Reilly, 1999, ISBN: 1-565-92692-7 • includes a practical example of subsumption architecture

36. Summary • What is a Robot? • Static Robots v Mobile Robots • Environments • Robots in: • Industry • Education/Entertainment • Exploration • The future?