Information about Robots – Sheldon Kalnitsky

A robot is a autonomous device which performs automated tasks, either according to direct human control, partial control with human supervision, or completely autonomously. Robots are typically used to do tasks that are too dull, dirty, or dangerous for humans. Industrial robots used in manufacturing lines used to be the most common form of robots, but that has recently been replaced by consumer robots cleaning floors and mowing lawns. Other applications include toxic waste cleanup, underwater and space exploration, surgery, mining, search and rescue, and mine finding. Robots are also finding their way into entertainment and home health care.
Overview
The word robot comes from the Czech word robota meaning “drudgery”, “servitude”, or “forced labor”. A robot can be defined as a man-made entity with an intelligent connection between perception and action. A robot may include a feedback-driven connection between sense and action, not under direct human control. The action may take the form of electro-magnetic motors or effectors that move an arm, open and close grippers, or propel the robot. Two basic ways of using effectors are to move the robot around or to move other objects around. This distinction divides robotics into two mostly separate categories: mobile robotics and manipulator robotics. The step by step control and feedback is provided by a computer program run on either an external or embedded computer or a microcontroller.
Alternately, robot has been used as the general term for a mechanical man, or an automaton resembling an animal, either real or imaginary. It has come to be applied to many machines which directly replace a human or animal in work or play. In this way, a robot can be seen as a form of biomimicry. Anthropomorphism is perhaps what makes us reluctant to refer to the highly complex modern washer-dryer as a robot. However, in modern understanding, the term implies a degree of independence that would exclude many automatic machine tools from being called robots. It is the search for ever more highly autonomous robots which is the major focus of robotics research and which drives much work in artificial intelligence.
Though we tend to think of robots as extremely complicated, thanks typically to their anthropomorphic physical design and our excess of indoctrination to the “Danger, Will Robinson!” robots of 1960s television, the fundamental elements are very simple. Motion is achieved by motors controlled by digital circuits that incorporate a key power semiconductor switching element called a thyristor or silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). The robot turns when only one of two parallel motors is actuated: for example, stopping the left motor while running the right motor causes the dummy to turn left. Digital signals fed to the motor control circuitry determine which motors move at which times.
The problem can range from very simple (e.g., turning left or right) to very complex (e.g., controlling an elbow and wrist to move an item from a conveyor belt to a shelf). The signals can be sent by an outside element (e.g., a human operator) or by internal circuitry that makes “decisions” based upon observations of the robot’s environment and may alter these decisions based upon whether the motion is proceeding acceptably (see feedback).
Underlying simplicities not withstanding, combinations of various computer systems and electromechanical subsystems can produce the appearance of profound sophistication, e.g., a “chess-playing robot” that really should be viewed as two discreet systems Chess-playing software that has nothing to do with robotics; A Robot that interacts with the chess board.