The topic of robotics (also robotics) is concerned with the attempt to reduce the concept of interaction with the physical world to principles of information technology as well as technically feasible kinetics. The term “robot” describes an entity that combines these two concepts by implementing interaction with the physical world based on sensors, actuators and information processing. The core area of robotics is the development and control of such robots. It covers sub-areas of computer science (especially of artificial intelligence), electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. The aim of robotics is to produce a controlled collaboration of robotic electronics and robotic mechanics through programming. The term was invented and shaped by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, first mentioned in his short story Runaround (German Marauder) in March 1942 in the Astounding magazine. According to Asimov’s definition, robotics is the study of robots.
Already in antiquity first attempts with automats were accomplished. Well-known are automatic theaters and music machines, conceived by Heron of Alexandria. With the decline of ancient cultures temporarily disappeared, the scientific findings of the time (see book losses in late antiquity). Around 1205, Al-Dzhazari, a Muslim-Arab engineer and author of the 12th century, wrote his work on mechanical apparatus, the Kitab fī ma’rifat al-Hiyal al-handasīya, “Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices,” also known as “Automata”. became known in the western cultural sphere. In this work he states that he wrote it for the realm of the Ortoqids. He created early humanoid automata, and a programmable programmable volume (interpretable as a robot, hand washing machine, automated peacock shifting). Leonardo da Vinci is said to have been influenced by the classic automata of Al Jazeera. He is aware of fifteenth-century records and sketches that can be interpreted as plans for androids. However, the technical knowledge was not enough to realize such plans. Around 1740, Jacques de Vaucanson designed and built a flute-playing machine, an automatic duck and the first programmable fully automatic loom. In the literature, the latter merit is often attributed to Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1805. At the end of the 19th century, robots were assigned imputable military efforts (remote-controlled boats, torpedo controls). The writer Jules Verne wrote a story about a human machine. In 1920, writer Karel Čapek introduced the term robot to an android. After the Second World War, the field of robotics has made rapid progress. This was due to the invention of the transistor 1947 in the Bell Laboratories, integrated circuits and subsequently the development of powerful and space-saving computer. From about 1955 came first NC machines on the market (equipment for controlling machines) and in 1954 George Devol filed in the US a patent for a programmable manipulator. This date is considered the birth of the development of industrial robots. Devol was also co-founder of the company Unimation, which in 1960 introduced the first hydraulically operated industrial robot. In 1968, MIT developed the first mobile robot.
In Germany, robotics was only used productively from the beginning of the 1970s. Around 1970, the first autonomous mobile robot Shakey (the quiver) was developed at the Stanford Research Institute. In 1973, the development of the humanoid robot Wabot 1 was started at the Waseda University of Tokyo. In the same year, the German robotics pioneer KUKA built the world’s first industrial robot with six electromechanically driven axles known as FAMULUS. [1] One year later (1974), the Swedish ASEA presented its fully electrically powered robot (IRb6). In 1986, Honda launched the Humanoid Robot Research and Development Program. The result was the humanoid robot versions P1 to P3. An evolution presented Honda 2004 in the form of the humanoid robot ASIMO. In 1997, the first mobile robot landed on Mars (Sojourner). Even the toy industry has not closed to robotics. Examples of such products are Lego Mindstorms, iPitara, Robonova or the robot dog Aibo from Sony.
Robotics is a scientific discipline that deals with the development of robots. The mechanical design, the control and the electronic control play an essential role. The mechanical modeling of a robot is mostly based on methods of multi-body systems or multi-body dynamics, while the design of the controller for robots comes from the field of automation technology. Meanwhile, alternative techniques to the wheel as a means of transportation in the human environment are explored, such as walking on six, four, two or even one leg. While industrial robots usually perform manual or handling tasks in an environment adapted to them, such service robots are intended to provide services for and on humans. To do this, they must be able to move and find their way in the human environment, which is the subject of scientific research. Like a game, but with serious scientific research as background, robotic football games are between teams of similar robots. The goal of the researchers is to develop by 2050 a football team of autonomous bipedal robots that can compete against the football world champion. Industrial robots are usually used in man for dangerous or unreasonable environments. Modern robots today do stupid assembly line work faster and much more accurately than a person and can replace it in more and more areas (automation). Cars are nowadays built with the strong involvement of robots, and even a modern microprocessor would not be manufacturable without a robot. Service robots have been used for some time to make people’s daily lives easier or maintain them, such as Robosapien. There are already household robots that are able to vacuum dust, wipe the floor, or mow the lawn. Although they specialize in only one task, they can do it relatively autonomously. Research robots explore, among other things, distant planets or disaster areas [3] and penetrate into volcanoes or sewage pipes. AUVs are used for a wide variety of detection missions in the marine area. There are concepts and first prototypes for cryobots and hydrobots that will be used in space exploration in the future. There are also considerations to use robots for sample return missions and asteroid mining.
In medicine robots are used for examinations, operations and rehabilitation and perform simple tasks in everyday hospital life. A prototype for tiny nanorobots that can move in the bloodstream was tested on one eye in 2004 at ETH Zurich. They are controlled by magnetic fields from the outside. The assistant robot FRIEND, which was developed at the Institute of Automation Technology of the University of Bremen, is designed to support disabled and elderly people in the activities of daily life (for example, preparing a meal) and to enable them to reintegrate into professional life. Modular robot modular systems are used as physical rapid prototyping for mobile service robots, above all in research and development. The approach of component-based, open interfaces to reusable hardware and software modules enables a fast and cost-efficient realization of robotic prototypes. Particularly in the area of service robotics, the complexity of the required tasks requires new, dynamic, flexible and cost-effective approaches in the development of corresponding robot systems. [4] First entertainment robots like the robotic dog Aibo from Sony are a step towards the electronic pet. In addition to Aibo, there are other robot products in the toy and entertainment industry that can be programmed with a computer in a mostly simple language, for example, to follow a light source or a dash on the floor or to sort colored building blocks.
Another hobby is home-made robots. This can be supported by prepared robot kits or by free imagination. In this case, for example, you have to construct a car-like vehicle yourself, determine with suitable sensors distances to the target or the color of the ground and determine from these results a course to drive the vehicle. The real task is to link the sensor data with the speed and direction of the vehicle. This is done in a microcontroller that has to be programmed. The required electronics are offered in different versions as C-Control or Arduino. Well-known, but also very elaborate role models are the Rover. Many are fascinated, for example, by the construction of “combat robots” who use remote weapons with martial weapons to destroy each other. Since these machines are remotely controlled and have no appreciable intelligence of their own, they are not yet robots in the true sense of the word.
Robots are also a popular subject in science fiction. There are humanoid robots that often have artificial intelligence. If they are still pure fiction, Isaac Asimov’s robot laws certainly shape the thinking about robots. An additional variation of the robot, realized in a very simple way, is the cyborg as a fusion of robotic technology with human anatomy. Androids – artificial human beings – can be robots, but robots do not necessarily have to be androids. A first advanced approach is the robot ASIMO Honda.
Sources:
– R. Andrew Russell (1990). Robot Tactile Sensing. New York: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-781592-0.
– E McGaughey, ‘Will Robots Automate Your Job Away? Full Employment, Basic Income, and Economic Democracy’ (2018)
– http://dokus.w4f.eu/2019/03/04/meet-germanys-first-robot-lecturer-dw-documentary/
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